|
|
|
Uploaded: Tuesday, August 26, 2008, 10:21 AM
Stanford med school restricts industry funding
|
| The Stanford University School of Medicine has announced it will no longer accept funding from pharmaceutical and medical device companies for specific programs to support its continuing medical education (CME) programs for practicing physicians.
The school spent $4.5 million for CME programs in fiscal year 2006-07, of which $1.8 million, or 38 percent, was provided by pharmaceutical and medical device companies.
"We want CME to be unbiased and science-driven, and we don't want it to be influenced by marketing," Medical School Dean Philip Pizzo said. "We want our educational activities for whomever we are serving — whether its our own faculty or our colleagues in the community, locally or globally — to be true to the science and the evidence, and not be influenced by any kind of financial industry support."
All physicians are required to take CME programs and seminars, varying between 12 and 50 hours a year, depending on the state where they practice. Stanford CME programs attract physicians from around the country.
In 2007, Stanford had 18,324 participants in its CME programs.
Medical schools at the universities of Massachusetts, Pittsburgh, Colorado, Kansas and at the University of California, Davis, have adopted similar policies, according to the New York Times.
All major medical schools provide CME programs for practicing physicians.
Industry funding "leads to a CME curriculum which is, at least in part, designed to address market needs rather than being focused entirely upon improving performance of practicing physicians," Robert Jackler, Stanford Medical School's associate dean for CME, said.
"We all agreed it is inappropriate for industry to influence content," Henry Greenberg, the school's senior associate dean for research, said. He is also a member of a 16-person task force Pizzo appointed last year to study the issue.
"If industry wants to enhance the education of clinicians, they should be given the opportunity to do so," Greenberg said. "But we wanted to create a situation in which they had no effect on the choice of topics or their content. So we're happy to have industry support as long as it is provided without strings or expectations about the course content."
All industry funding will go into a pool at the school's CME office, which will work with the faculty to determine how best to use the money, Greenberg added. — Don Kazak
|
|
| Comments
|
Posted by politic, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on Aug 27, 2008 at 11:57 am police are social controllers ,not law enforcement ,like they pretend to be
|
|
Posted by Walter_E_Wallis, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Aug 27, 2008 at 1:08 pm I can not agree with this. If someone is to be bought, Alan Cranston demonstrated there are many ways beside a direct bribe, like making a family member a non-working director. Pharma and device makers have an interest beyond selfish in the industries profiting, so as long as they are open in their gifts and not demanding an outcome of research or preferential treatment in later purchasing, go to it.
[full disclosure, a nephew owns a pharma company, albeit vet]
|
|
Posted by Prozac Nation, a resident of the Palo Alto Hills neighborhood, on Aug 27, 2008 at 7:28 pm This isn't about research, it's about continuing medical education (CME) programs. What they're trying to prevent is turning such programs - which are suppposed to update docs on the "latest and greatest" - from becoming thinly-veiled sales pitches for a particular drug or product/device. This is especially a problem with the drug-pushing industry (oh, I'm sorry, the "pharmaceutical industry").
|
|
Posted by Walter_E_Wallis, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Aug 28, 2008 at 9:04 am We don't all rush out and buy a Wonderbra just because of a commercial. The doctor will spend his life talking to detail men [folk?] and might as well learn to ask the questions to get behind the hype. I have been exposed to equipment peddlers for a half century and can still toss the BS flag when appropriate. At least we know what motivates the overt peddler. Very often the "Non-profit" lecturers have their own rice bowl.
|
|
Posted by Walter_E_Wallis, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Aug 28, 2008 at 9:20 am P.S. I am reminded of one of the few politicians I admired. He said of lobbyists "If you can't take their money, drink their liquor, [be nice to] their women, and then come in here the next day and vote against them, you don't belong here."
|
|
Posted by HMS Longwood Refugee, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Aug 28, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Unlike iron-willed individuals such as Mr. Wallis, physicians are influenced by detail men (and women). Many doctors are too arrogant to believe it. The records for prescription drug sales are publicly available. The sales patterns of many drugs cannot be explained by any rational selection process by physicians. It’s not like most doctors actually read and understand the literature.
As for the gratuitous Alan Cranston remark, could you at least pick an example of someone who hasn’t been dead for over 10 years when you feel obligated to show your undying love of the GOP?
|
|
Posted by Walter_E_Wallis, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Aug 28, 2008 at 4:30 pm The good men do is oft interred with their bones... A pity Alan's 4 accomplices are still around.
And anyone who sees in me an undying love for the GOP when I was a republican only long enough to vote for Shirley Temple just isn't paying attention. The two politicians I most admire, Jesse Unruh and Willie Brown, knew how to wield power and have fun while doing it.
As for iron willed, a stainless steel ring on my right pinky reminds me of my duty. That and the fear of jail.
|
|
|
| |
2007 Awards from the California
Newspaper Publishers Association
Palo Alto Weekly
First Place
Local News Coverage
Local Breaking-News Story
Feature Story
Second Place
Feature Story
Environmental Reporting
Sports Coverage
General News Photo
Photo Essay
Freedom of Information
The Almanac
First Place
Environmental Reporting
Editorial Pages
Lifestyle Coverage
Second Place
Environmental Reporting
Mountain View Voice
Second Place
General Excellence
Editorial Comment
Front-Page Design
|
|
|
Send this story
Print this story
