Future Physicians Develop Conflict of Interest Curriculum for Nation’s Academic Medical Centers

Nov. 16, 2009 - PRLog -- The relationship between physicians and the pharmaceutical and device industries has been under recent scrutiny and several groups, including the American Medical Student Association (AMSA), have examined how medical education should prepare future physicians for the practical and ethical challenges that accompany these interactions. Today, in conjunction with the commencement of National PharmFree Week, AMSA is releasing its evidence and recommendations for a model “PharmFree” curriculum.

In the past two years, both the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Institute of Medicine have released reports detailing concerns about the relationship between industry and physicians. Both organizations recommended that academic medical centers and teaching hospitals should educate students, residents and faculty on conflicts of interest within medicine.

According to AMSA’s recommendations, industry has influenced the practice of medicine through traditional advertising, manipulation of the evidence base for pharmaceuticals and devices, and by more subtle means of promotion such as showering gifts, money, and lucrative contracts on physicians, who have frequently come to accept these benefits as a well-deserved right. These practices have influenced patient care, from the drugs that physicians prescribe to the clinical research that provides the evidence base for prescription decisions.  

Since its inception in 2002, AMSA’s PharmFree Campaign has sought to promote evidence-based prescribing, pharmaceutical innovation and access to medicines, specifically through the implementation of conflict of interest policies at academic medical centers.  Today’s recommendations seek to provide medical students with the knowledge and analytical skills necessary to:

1)   Understand the nature of conflicts-of-interest and how they pertain to the   practice of medicine
2)   Recognize how industry interaction can impact clinical care and develop strategies to mitigate the negative influences
3)   Properly manage industry relations to maximize benefit to patients and public health

“The physician-industry relationship is complex and industry affects the medical practice in many direct and indirect ways,” says Dr. Lauren Hughes, MPH, AMSA national president. ”Medical students need formal training on the various interactions that they will inevitably have with industry as physicians. AMSA is proud to have developed a comprehensive, balanced curriculum for academic medical centers to adopt.”

“The recommendations call for medical schools to implement curricula that prepare students to interact with industry in a way that protects individual patients, promotes public health and preserves the public trust in medicine,” comments Chris Manz, a Duke University medical student and lead researcher for the PharmFree curriculum.

Beginning today, medical students across the country will observe National PharmFree Week, holding events aimed to promote evidence-based prescribing, pharmaceutical innovation and access to medicines. For the full Model PharmFree Curriculum and more information on the PharmFree Campaign visit www.pharmfree.org.

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The American Medical Student Association (AMSA), with more than a half-century history of medical student activism, is the oldest and largest independent association of physicians-in-training in the United States. Founded in 1950, AMSA is a student-governed, non-profit organization committed to representing the concerns of physicians-in-training. With more than 62,000 members, including medical and premedical students, residents and practicing physicians, AMSA is committed to improving medical training as well as advancing the profession of medicine. To learn more about AMSA, our strategic priorities, or joining the organization, please visit us online at www.amsa.org/.