Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24575152›Full record

ArticleGMS Zeitschrift fur medizinische Ausbildung2014

Conflicts of interest in medical school: missing policies and high need for student information at most German universities.

Klaus Lieb, Cora Koch

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in GMS Zeitschrift fur medizinische Ausbildung, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Klaus LiebUniversity Medical Center Mainz, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Mainz, Germany.
Cora KochWestfälische Wilhelms-University of Münster, Münster, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesMedical students interact with pharmaceutical representatives already during medical school. The goal of this study was to find out: Do policies exist at German medical faculties that govern the interactions between medical students and pharmaceutical representatives, do schools offer courses on the subject and do students attend these courses? And What are the attitudes of medical students concerning the role of pharmaceutical companies in medical teaching?

methodsAll 36 German medical faculty deans and 1151 medical students at eight German universities were asked to complete a questionnaire of 4 and 7 questions, respectively, regarding the above mentioned topics.

results30 (83.3%) deans and 1038 (90.3%) medical students filled in the questionnaire, respectively. According to the deans' answers, only one school had a policy concerning conflicts of interest and one had a policy governing the interactions between medical students and industry. 8 (26.7%) deans showed an interest in constructing a policy or educational an activity on this subject. 149 (14.4%) students had participated in an activity that focussed the subject of conflicts of interest and 779 (77.8%) wanted more education on the subject. 701 (73.4%) were opposed to an improvement of medical studies through financial support by pharmaceutical companies, whereas 216 (21.9%) were of the opinion that students should not meet with pharmaceutical representatives.

conclusionsUnlike in other countries, like the US, most German medical faculties do not have policies that govern the interactions between medical students and pharmaceutical companies. Since most students want to be taught more about these interactions, the implementation of respective policies and lectures would be desirable.

Indexed as

Attitude of Health PersonnelConflict of InterestCooperative BehaviorCurriculumDrug IndustryEducation, MedicalEthics, MedicalFaculty, MedicalGermanyHumansInterprofessional RelationsStudents, MedicalSurveys and QuestionnairesTraining SupportConflict of interestindependencemedical trainingpharmaceutical industryteaching

Identifiers

PMID24575152
PMCPMC3935160

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.