Letter in response to: Dean, J., Loh, E., & Coleman, J. J. (2016). Pharmaceutical industry exposure in our hospitals: the final frontier. Medical Journal of Australia, 204(1), 20–22. https://doi.org/10.5694/mja15.00734

Dean, Loh and Coleman appropriately state that one of the strategies to counter pharmaceutical industry influence on prescribing is education. However lacking in their discussion is an indication of the content or manner of education. Rather than to ‘inculcate’ with ‘aims to eradicate the belief that an individual is exempt from influence, and to improve reception to organisational change’, education of medical professionals should assist in the development of clinical reasoning skills to ensure Quality Use of Medicines. While the acquisition of knowledge is vital for medical professionals the proper organisation of that knowledge, so that it is easily accessible for solving problems, is important for the development of clinical reasoning. Clinical reasoning is not just the acquisition of knowledge but includes collecting and analysing data and metacognition(1). Education of medical professionals should endeavour to structure information to facilitate the appropriate recall of key concepts and principles using a framework to provide an organised approach to solving complex problems. Good prescribing practice should be based on a framework, such as the World Health Organisation Guide to Good Prescribing and National Prescribing Service Prescribing Competencies Framework which enable the assessment of evidence on individual merit.