Lovenox pen

This is a great looking, great feeling, cleverly designed pen. Unfortunately, the ink cartridges are vying with Crestor's failure for "the worst I've ever tried to use." Not impressive.

Merrem Goggles

I think Merrem makes a wider variety of toys than any other drug I've seen. Here's the latest from them, a pair of goggles. I'm not likely to use them, but at least this toy has its uses in the hospital, and the logo is unobtrusive.

Merrem/Diprivan stethoscope light

This drug rep toy is a great idea, but the reality is disappointing. It's a tiny light that clips onto one's stethoscope. There are two problems with the design. One, the fit is not as tight as it might be, and that rattling distracts from using a stethoscope for its intended purpose. The second is that the light is an LED, and therefore has a bluish cast to it, which makes it ok for checking the optic and occulomotor nerves, but makes looking at the back of a patient's throat difficult, as everything is a different color. Reluctantly, I'm putting this one in the "might have been good" category.

Gardasil pen

Gardasil is Merck's latest wonder vaccine and lightning rod for controversy. However the pen is (without equivocation) wonderful. It is heavy and solidly constructed, with a quality ink cartridge. Definitely a quality find.

Protonix pen

Apologies for missing last week's posting, though I hope to make up for the delay with a few interesting toys this week. First we have this one, a pen advertising Protonix, which has in its end a small, fluid filled chamber in which one can see tiny creatures drawn on plastic floating about. They are the same ones seen on the magazine and TV adverts for this drug, and bear no resemblance whatsoever to H. pylori. This is a pretty heavy, nice feeling pen, though I don't like pens that distract me while I'm writing, so I'm not planning on using this one.

Tygacil pen

Tygacil is an antibiotic. Despite the gift of the pen, I'm not a huge fan, and I'm very cautious with it, since the last time I used it with a patient, he developed pancreatitis. Plus the pen is this garish orange monstrosity. I'm less likely only to use the V-Fend behemoth than this.

Rozerem pen

This is a really nice, attractive, smoothly writing pen. It's the same kind as the Topamax pen I received earlier, with a different color scheme. I've been using them both a lot lately.

Provigil pen

This ranks as the number one drug I'd like to write my own prescription for. Provigil is really for patients with narcolepsy. Also perfect, I imagine, for those long nights on call. The pen isn't bad either.

Diovan pocket clip

I've already voiced my disapproval of using drug rep pocket clips, turning, as they do, one's pocket into a tiny billboard. Pens I don't mind so much, but putting one of these on seems to make a small, proud statement of support. This one is no different.

Benicar pen

The second Benicar pen I've picked up. See the first one here. This one is actually quite nice. Taking it apart, I found the ink cartrige advertised free refill cartriges, which was the first time I've seen this. I guess they want to preserve the lifespan of their little advert.

A quick visit to the website which supplies the refills discovers they actually cost $3.95, for shipping and handling. No, thanks. I got the pen for free, I'm not investing in the product.

Diovan Calipers

Another set of calipers in the pile this week. These actually match the other Diovan product I've picked up, the penlight I posted earlier. These calipers are a bit annoying though, in that they aren't sturdy enough to hold the space you set them to. The plastic arms are, well, plastic, and seem threatening to break at the slightest provocation. That, and they are huge. The Coreg calipers, for example, are about half the size of a normal pen. (roughly 7.5cm long) These are the size of an average highlighter. Plus they have the Novartis label in large lettering on the pocket clip. (see the second picture) I realize all this stuff is given out as advertisement, but I refuse to turn my person into a walking billboard. Not likely to use these anytime soon.

Abilify Clipboard

From the nice people at Bristol-Myers-Squibb comes this clipboard. I guess the picture is supposed to be peaceful and calming. Though I like the blue, I'm not so much a fan of clipboards in general. I'll be giving this one away.

Infasurf pen

I just dug this one out of a drawer, after getting it a while back from a rep in a field I'm not actually practicing in. It has something to do with pediatrics, and the pen is a bit fragile, like kids. That pink clicker top pops off really easily, and this picture is misleading in that I had to jam the thing down to get it to stay long enough to survive the photo shoot. It's in the trash now.

Gyrus pen

No, it's not a Greek resturant, they make really cosmic toys for minimally invasive surgeons. My initial reaction to this pen was "wow, cheap" but upon reflection, that's probably a good thing. They're probably spending more on their actual product that way.

Merrem hand sanitizer

Merrem gives out a lot of stuff. Previously I received their Mag-Lite, and now, less audacious, but probably more useful in daily life, is this spray-on hand sanitizer. The problem is, this does not smell nice as all, one of those sickly sweet, "I'm trying too hard to make you love me" smells. If I wanted that, I'd go to Bath and Body Works.

Celebrex Pen

This pen is awesome. A real work of art, with faux jade grip. And it is heavy. I like that a lot. But the clicker piece is pretty cheap and I think I'm going to break it if I carry it around. I'm sticking with Vytorin, at least in writing implements.

Zocor Mouse Pad

Apologies for the long hiatus. The hospital I am at this month has much stricter rules about drug reps, so the pickings have been slim, so to speak. I hope to make up for the pause at least with this amazing toy. It's a mouse pad (like anyone uses non-laser mice anymore) which doubles as a USB hub. Really cool. Good thing Zocor is a drug I use anyway.

Topamax pen

Finally, a migraine medicine with a pen that doesn't give you a migraine to look at it. See Imitrex for comparison. I like this one a lot, but you know, I've got all the rest on this page to choose from, and this one hasn't made it to the top of the heap in a while.

Lovenox ID tag

Pretty much everyone in the hospital needs an ID badge, and it has to displayed prominently. Pretty easy to see how the drug companies figured out that a badge holder might be prime real estate.

I use a holder I bought, because I think these kinds of things are borderline obnoxious.

Levaquin highlighter

Another Levaquin trinket. This is actually quite useful, a highlighter with no cap to lose. It's in my bag now.