How sales directors of pharmaceutical manufacturing firms and hospital pharmacy directors perceive the role of medical-service representatives (MSRs) in hospitals was studied. Pharmacy directors at U.S. hospitals and sales directors of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association member firms were surveyed by questionnaire in February 1988. Respondents were presented with a list of 13 product-related services and a list of 11 professional and informational services; they were asked to use a five-point scale to indicate how important they believed each service was and how frequently they believed that most MSRs performed the service. A total of 251 (47.0%) usable questionnaires were returned from the hospital pharmacy directors, and 35 (38.5%) were returned from the pharmaceutical sales directors. Hospital pharmacy directors perceived professional and informational services as more important than product-related services. The results suggest that pharmacy directors would like MSRs to place more emphasis on (1) providing drug information to pharmacy before promoting their products to physicians, (2) supporting the role of the clinical pharmacist in promoting appropriate and rational use of a product, and (3) complying with pharmacy and therapeutics committee formulary decisions. Compared with sales directors, pharmacy directors placed less emphasis on information about new dosage forms, assistance in drug recalls, and assistance in obtaining hospital-specific pricing. Differences in perceptions of the role of MSRs exist between hospital pharmacy directors and sales directors of pharmaceutical manufacturing firms.