“There Is No Free Lunch”: Strategies to Prevent Industry Influence

Nurse practitioners (NPs) are frequently exposed to industry influences, particularly that of pharmaceutical companies. These exposures occur in practices or at NP organization meetings and conferences. It is important to adopt meaningful methods to overcome industry influence. NPs should be equipped to avoid prescribing practices that are not evidence-based and provided with tools that enable them to apply evidence-based practice principles to combat biased industry influence. Protocols such as the STEPS mnemonic can help NPs to evaluate new medications and industry information. It is the ongoing responsibility of NPs to inform and educate colleagues on this issue.