End of the free lunch?

doi:10.1136/bmj.a1399

Published 26 August 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a1399
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1399

Feature

Continuing Medical Education

End of the free lunch?

Mark Gould, freelance journalist

¹ London

mark@hickorywind.demon.co.uk

Features, doi: 10.1136/bmj.a925, doi: 10.1136/bmj.a1023, Analysis, doi: 10.1136/bmj.a973

As one big drug company cuts spending on continuing educationin the United States, Mark Gould assesses the implications forthe United Kingdom

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Doctors in the United States should brace themselves for a substantialdecrease in conference dinners but a big increase in the qualityof drug industry sponsored education. Responding to criticismsof the way that continuing medical education is funded by thedrug industry and run by profit making, third party companies,Pfizer last month decided to cut education funding in 2008 from$80m to $60m (£43m to £32m; ${euro}$ 55m to £41m).Its decision indicates a sea change in sponsorship of continuingeducation in the US that could have implications for the UnitedKingdom.

"Our analysis demonstrated that higher quality grants wouldincrease the percent of funding that directly benefited learningwhile reducing expenditures on non-educational expenses likemeals," the company stated. By September it says some 90% ofits funding will go into educational programmes run by academicinstitutions, hospitals, or medical societies.

In January, a report by the influential . . . [Full text of this article]

Add to CiteULike CiteULike Add to Complore Complore Add to Connotea Connotea Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us Add to Digg Digg Add to Reddit Reddit Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon Add to Technorati Technorati What's this?

Relevant Articles

Big subjects: education and obesity: Jane Smith
BMJ 2008 337: a1448. [Extract] [Full Text]

Pharma and CME: View from the US: Suzanne Fletcher
BMJ 2008 337: a1023. [Extract] [Full Text]

Is the relationship between pharma and medical education on the rocks?: Ray Moynihan
BMJ 2008 337: a925. [Extract] [Full Text]

Rethinking continuing medical education: Alfredo Pisacane
BMJ 2008 337: a973. [Extract] [Full Text]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Would Ford sponsor your driving lessons?: David R Warriner
bmj.com, 2 Sep 2008 [Full text]
Free lunch: no one is fooled!: Brad Abbey
bmj.com, 3 Sep 2008 [Full text]
Re: Free lunch: no one is fooled!: David G Tucker
bmj.com, 4 Sep 2008 [Full text]