Example guidelines on industry involvement in medical education
| Canadian Medical Association* | Association of American Medical Colleges | Stanford Medical School | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gift and reference book distribution | Practising physicians should not accept personal gifts of any significant monetary or other value from industry. Physicians should be aware that acceptance of gifts of any value has been shown to have the potential to influence clinical decision-making. (...) Practising physicians may accept patient teaching aids appropriate to their area of practice provided that these aids carry at most the logo of the donor company and do not refer to specific therapeutic agents, services or other products | Academic medical centres should establish and implement policies that prohibit the acceptance of any gifts from industry by physicians and other faculty, staff, students and trainees of academic medical centres, whether on-site or off-site | Medical staff, faculty, staff, students, trainees and employees may not accept gifts from industry anywhere at the Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital and Clinics... It is strongly advised that no form of personal gift from industry be accepted under any circumstances |
| Trade name usage | Generic names should be used in addition to trade names in the course of CME/CPD activities | (No specific mention) | (No specific mention) |
| Speakers bureaus membership of lecturer | (No specific mention) | With the exception of settings in which academic investigators are presenting results of their industry-sponsored studies to peers and there is opportunity for critical exchange, academic medical centres should strongly discourage participation by their faculty in industry-sponsored speakers bureaus | Participation in the following activities is not permitted: industry-sponsored ‘speakers bureaus’ (ie, contractual relationships to give talks in which the topic(s) and/or content are provided by the company) |
*The guidelines for CME/CPD events but ‘the same principles will also apply for educational events (such as noon-hour rounds and journal clubs) which are held as part of medical or residency training.’ The Canadian Medical Association guidelines have been endorsed by the Association of Faculty of Medicine of Canada.
CME/CPD, continuing medical education/continuing professional development.