Maybe I'm in the minority but I think IS has a future. We have relationships in the hospitals that have taken years to build. Even if Pfizer is not investing any money or R&D in anti-infectives, I believe that they will find another product for us to sell. Yes the division may be drastically reduced and I don't know how HR will be able to tell which reps have the best relationships at certain key institutions, but they can't get rid of the whole division like that!
We have a different skill set than the other eliminated divisions in the past (Peds/Allergy, CNS, Ophthalmology). Those were all disease state divisions. We have that training - plus the added knowledge of working a hospital. Look at the Kaiser reps - they downsized them but didn't eliminate them altogether. There will be a few of us left.
It's not difficult to teach a rep the inner workings of a hospital but it takes TIME - P&T, formulary issues, protocols and standing orders, how to work a pharmacy, what Case Mgmt. is, how to Inservice an ICU or Tele/DOU unit, how to deal with residents, what Grand Rounds are, understanding reimbursement and DRGs, CMS and Core Measures, the flow of a patient from admission to discharge, why hospitals need to balance the length of stay of all patients and how that's dependent on their insurance status (sometimes), etc. These are all skills that take years and lots of experience in the actual institutional setting. You can't get that from a primary care or CSO rep.