Trust in the nurse—patient relationship is maintained not by how professionals perceive their actions but rather by how the public perceives them. However, little is known about the public's view of nurses and other health care professionals who participate in pharmaceutical marketing. Our study describes public perceptions of health care providers' role in pharmaceutical marketing and compares their responses with those of a random sample of licensed family nurse practitioners. The family nurse practitioners perceived their participation in marketing activities as (...) significantly more ethically appropriate than did the public responders. Further research is warranted before conclusions can be drawn, but these early findings suggest that nurse practitioners should consider a conservative approach to participating in pharmaceutical marketing. (shrink)