IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0092858.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Bruno Etain
  • Lydia Guittet
  • Nicolas Weiss
  • Vincent Gajdos
  • Sandrine Katsahian

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruno Etain & Lydia Guittet & Nicolas Weiss & Vincent Gajdos & Sandrine Katsahian, 2014. "Attitudes of Medical Students towards Conflict of Interest: A National Survey in France," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(3), pages 1-4, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0092858
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0092858
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0092858
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0092858&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0092858?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kirsten E Austad & Jerry Avorn & Aaron S Kesselheim, 2011. "Medical Students' Exposure to and Attitudes about the Pharmaceutical Industry: A Systematic Review," Working Papers id:4237, eSocialSciences.
    2. Declan Butler, 2011. "France toughens conflict rules," Nature, Nature, vol. 478(7368), pages 169-169, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anju Murayama & Yuki Senoo & Kayo Harada & Yasuhiro Kotera & Hiroaki Saito & Toyoaki Sawano & Yosuke Suzuki & Tetsuya Tanimoto & Akihiko Ozaki, 2022. "Awareness and Perceptions among Members of a Japanese Cancer Patient Advocacy Group Concerning the Financial Relationships between the Pharmaceutical Industry and Physicians," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-24, March.
    2. Paul Scheffer & Christian Guy-Coichard & David Outh-Gauer & Zoéline Calet-Froissart & Mathilde Boursier & Barbara Mintzes & Jean-Sébastien Borde, 2017. "Conflict of Interest Policies at French Medical Schools: Starting from the Bottom," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(1), pages 1-13, January.
    3. Holloway, Kelly, 2014. "Uneasy subjects: Medical students' conflicts over the pharmaceutical industry," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 113-120.
    4. Jesse R. Catlin & Cornelia (Connie) Pechmann, 2016. "An Investigation of Consumer and Doctor Regulatory Beliefs and Regulatory Knowledge about Pharmaceutical Drug Promotions," Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(3), pages 392-410.
    5. M Murat Civaner, 2020. "A follow-up study on the effects of an educational intervention against pharmaceutical promotion," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(10), pages 1-16, October.
    6. James S Yeh & Kirsten E Austad & Jessica M Franklin & Susan Chimonas & Eric G Campbell & Jerry Avorn & Aaron S Kesselheim, 2014. "Association of Medical Students' Reports of Interactions with the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Industries and Medical School Policies and Characteristics: A Cross-Sectional Study," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(10), pages 1-9, October.
    7. Christian Guy-Coichard & Gabriel Perraud & Anne Chailleu & Véronique Gaillac & Paul Scheffer & Barbara Mintzes, 2019. "Inadequate conflict of interest policies at most French teaching hospitals: A survey and website analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(11), pages 1-15, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0092858. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.