Published 27 August 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a1448
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1448

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Big subjects: education and obesity

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

We might look back on the 2000s and see them as the time when medical education really did begin to lose its dependence on drug company funding. A cluster of articles in this week’s issue suggests a groundswell of change from around the world.

In the United States the Macy report, published earlier this year, recommends that organisations providing accredited continuing medical education should stop receiving funds from drug and device companies. Suzanne Fletcher, who chaired the committee that wrote the report, acknowledges that this process will probably take several years and "will also take professional leadership" (doi: 10.1136/bmj.a1023). Although the recommendation was made on ethical grounds, she points out that much industry funded education is based on lectures—which "we have known for a long time are not the best way to learn." Instead, the report recommends practice based learning and improvement.

In Italy Alfredo Pisacane offers practical experience . . . [Full text of this article]

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