Profession
Conflict-of-interest scorecard finds few medical schools do top job
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted July 14, 2008
The American Medical Student Assn. says most medical schools fail to sufficiently address conflicts of interest with the pharmaceutical industry.
In the association's PharmFree Scorecard, only seven of 150 schools received an A for their conflict-of-interest policies, while 14 earned a B.
The scorecard ratings are done in collaboration with the Prescription Project, a nonprofit effort focused on eliminating conflicts of interest in medicine. The scorecard evaluates restrictions on gifts, paid speaking for products, acceptance of drug promotional samples, interaction with sales representatives and industry-funded education.
Top-ranked teaching institutions include: Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City; University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md.; University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine; University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; University of California, Davis, School of Medicine in Sacramento; and University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/07/14/prbf0714.htm.
