Medical Education in USA

60% of U.S. medical school leaders have financial ties to drugmakers, What do they teach then? how to care for people vs earn money.

"Nearly two-thirds of academic leaders surveyed at U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals have financial ties" to the pharmaceutical industry, according to a study published in the October 17 issue of the JAMA Eric Campbell, Ph.D., of the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and colleagues, "sent surveys last year to 688 department heads at all 125 accredited U.S. medical schools and the 15 largest teaching hospitals."

A total of 67 percent (459 people) responded. "Included were departments closely related to patient care, such as surgery or anesthesiology, and 'nonclinical' departments more closely related to basic science." The survey indicated that "60 percent of department heads reported some type of personal financial relationship with industry," and 27 percent of respondents said that "they had recently served as a paid consultant.

" The survey "was sent to the chairs of medicine and psychiatry, specialties more likely to receive industry funding for educational activities, and two randomly selected chairs of other clinical departments. Surveys also were sent to the chairs of microbiology and one randomly selected non-clinical chair." "The survey is the first to show ties between drugmakers and leaders of institutions that research diseases and new drugs." According to Dr. Campbell, "Drug companies have influence in every single aspect of medical education in the United States, and the question is how much is too much?"

Campbell added, "Anything that compromises the mission of medical schools, which is unbiased and independent research and education, shouldn't be allowed." "Institutional relationships" with drug companies "seemed to be just as widespread as those of individual physicians or scientists with industry.

'There is not a single aspect of medicine in which the drug companies do not have substantial and deep relationships, affecting not only doctors-in-training, resident physicians, researchers, physicians-in-practice, the people who review drugs for the federal government, and the people who review studies,'" Campbell said. He added that "policymakers and people who run medical schools...need to come up with some...new rules."