Attitudes of Medical Students towards Conflict of Interest: A National Survey in France

Attitudes of Medical Students towards Conflict of Interest: A National Survey in France

Following recent health scandals in France, the French parliament adopted law n°2011-2012 to regulate ties between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry. The law also requires pharmaceutical companies to publicize financial and other benefits given to medical students. In this context, we admin...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Etain, Bruno, Guittet, Lydia, Weiss, Nicolas, Gajdos, Vincent, Katsahian, Sandrine
Format: Online
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science 2014
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3966819/
id pubmed-3966819
recordtype oai_dc
spelling pubmed-39668192014-03-31 Attitudes of Medical Students towards Conflict of Interest: A National Survey in France Etain, Bruno Guittet, Lydia Weiss, Nicolas Gajdos, Vincent Katsahian, Sandrine Research Article Following recent health scandals in France, the French parliament adopted law n°2011-2012 to regulate ties between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry. The law also requires pharmaceutical companies to publicize financial and other benefits given to medical students. In this context, we administered a survey to medical students in France, in an effort to identify priorities for future education regarding conflicts of interest (COI). This web-based survey encompassed knowledge about, training on, personal exposure to, and opinions on COI among preclinical and clinical students as well as residents. Two thousand one hundred and one (2,101) students participated. Although most students (64.6%) believed that they are able to define what a COI is, they failed to correctly identify several situations as COI (receiving a gift, being offered a meal, being invited to a conference). Most students reported feeling inadequately educated about COI (85.2%). Compared to other class levels, residents were more exposed to pharmaceutical sales representatives. This exposure is highly associated to receipt of gifts (OR 14.51, 95% CI 11.67–18.05). Medical students were aware of potential bias induced by COI with respect to drug prescriptions and research, but felt personally immune towards COI. In our survey, personal research performed by students was more likely to be associated with perception of potential bias on prescription for self (but not for others) than attending a lecture on COI. Promulgating laws that regulate ties between physicians/students and the pharmaceutical industry is a mandatory first step. However, complementary strategies should be implemented within medical schools, in particular, specific training about COI in early medical education. Public Library of Science 2014-03-26 /pmc/articles/PMC3966819/ /pubmed/24671179 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0092858 Text en © 2014 Etain et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
repository_type Open Access Journal
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building NCBI PubMed
collection Online Access
language English
format Online
author Etain, Bruno
Guittet, Lydia
Weiss, Nicolas
Gajdos, Vincent
Katsahian, Sandrine
spellingShingle Etain, Bruno
Guittet, Lydia
Weiss, Nicolas
Gajdos, Vincent
Katsahian, Sandrine
Attitudes of Medical Students towards Conflict of Interest: A National Survey in France
author_facet Etain, Bruno
Guittet, Lydia
Weiss, Nicolas
Gajdos, Vincent
Katsahian, Sandrine
author_sort Etain, Bruno
title Attitudes of Medical Students towards Conflict of Interest: A National Survey in France
title_short Attitudes of Medical Students towards Conflict of Interest: A National Survey in France
title_full Attitudes of Medical Students towards Conflict of Interest: A National Survey in France
title_fullStr Attitudes of Medical Students towards Conflict of Interest: A National Survey in France
title_full_unstemmed Attitudes of Medical Students towards Conflict of Interest: A National Survey in France
title_sort attitudes of medical students towards conflict of interest: a national survey in france
description Following recent health scandals in France, the French parliament adopted law n°2011-2012 to regulate ties between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry. The law also requires pharmaceutical companies to publicize financial and other benefits given to medical students. In this context, we administered a survey to medical students in France, in an effort to identify priorities for future education regarding conflicts of interest (COI). This web-based survey encompassed knowledge about, training on, personal exposure to, and opinions on COI among preclinical and clinical students as well as residents. Two thousand one hundred and one (2,101) students participated. Although most students (64.6%) believed that they are able to define what a COI is, they failed to correctly identify several situations as COI (receiving a gift, being offered a meal, being invited to a conference). Most students reported feeling inadequately educated about COI (85.2%). Compared to other class levels, residents were more exposed to pharmaceutical sales representatives. This exposure is highly associated to receipt of gifts (OR 14.51, 95% CI 11.67–18.05). Medical students were aware of potential bias induced by COI with respect to drug prescriptions and research, but felt personally immune towards COI. In our survey, personal research performed by students was more likely to be associated with perception of potential bias on prescription for self (but not for others) than attending a lecture on COI. Promulgating laws that regulate ties between physicians/students and the pharmaceutical industry is a mandatory first step. However, complementary strategies should be implemented within medical schools, in particular, specific training about COI in early medical education.
publisher Public Library of Science
publishDate 2014
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3966819/
_version_ 1612071538393088000

Similar Items