The medical profession, industry and continuing medical education: finding the balance that's right for patients

Peter Kearney, Maarten Simoons, Lars Ryden, Paulus Kirchhof, Axel Pries, Colm O'Morain, Jeroen J Bax

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
351 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Provision and participation in formal external continuing medical education (CME) is costly. Employer or state support of CME is the exception rather than the rule. The medical industry has supported both providers and consumers of educational activities, leading to concerns of commercial bias. Recent medical industry initiatives in Europe to improve the transparency of the relationship between industry and the profession, including the field of medical education, have had the paradoxical effect of the industry playing an increasingly direct role in the provision of physician education. Funding of medical professional society annual congresses has been directly and indirectly jeopardized. Acknowledging that there are areas of cooperation in the field of education between the medical profession and the medical industry from which both can benefit, we argue that medical education requires an objective approach that the primary fiduciary duty of medical industry companies precludes. Medical professional societies, as not-for-profit organizations whose core mission is the development and promotion of best practice, are best placed to guide and deliver medical education to their members.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)921-925
Number of pages5
JournalThe American Journal of Medicine
Volume132
Issue number8
Early online date7 Mar 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2019

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Keywords

  • continuing medical education
  • healthcare industry
  • medical professional societies
  • financial support
  • conflict of interest

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The medical profession, industry and continuing medical education: finding the balance that's right for patients'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this