[IxDA Discuss] Incentives in medical domain

[Dan Saffer]

On May 3, 2007, at 6:51 AM, Maral Haar wrote:

> I work at a company who develops medical devices. There are strict
> regulations concerning bribary in this domain. Becuase of that my boss
> is very concerned about giving incentives to nurses or doctors who
> participate in an usability test or a focus group or something
> similar.

Bribery is when you get a gift for nothing or the (unspoken) promise  
of a later favor. Incentives for research participation aren't that  
at all: they are instead about paying people for their participation  
in your study, not for some possible favor. Medical professionals are  
no different from other professionals in that their time is valuable,  
as are their insights into your project. You are paying them for  
their subject area expertise. It is standard practice and outlined in  
the IRB:

http://www.fda.gov/oc/ohrt/irbs/toc4.html#payment

The legal issues are, as I understand them, around medical staff  
accepting gifts from pharmaceutical companies/sales reps in return  
for their prescribing their products.

Dan