Managing
  Conflicts of Interest

The Physician Charter on Medical Professionalism clearly states that physicians have a commitment to manage conflicts of interest, and an obligation to recognize and disclose conflicts of interest that arise in the course of their professional duties and activities so as to not compromise the trust of the public.

The ABIM Foundation and Institute of Medicine as a Profession (IMAP) funded a group of experts to explore behaviors physicians should manifest to honor those commitments in the Physician Charter on Medical Professionalism. This work resulted in the recent publication in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), "Health Industry Practices that Create Conflicts of Interest: A Proposal for Academic Medical Centers" (2006) Vol. 295, pp. 429-433.

As a result of this article and growing interest in addressing conflicts of interest in medical education, Stamford University, Yale University, and the University of Pennsylvania have banned medical students and physicians from receiving gifts from the pharmaceutical industry. Other academic medical centers are also examining their conflict of interest policies. Additionally, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has developed a Task Force on Industry Support for Medical Education. The task force is reviewing policies and procedures at medical schools and teaching hospitals for managing industry support of educational activities and industry practices of presenting gifts to students, residents, faculty, and staff. The task force then plans to develop and recommend general principles and guidelines for academic medical institutions. For information on the AAMC taskforce, please visit http://www.aamc.org/newsroom/reporter/march07/coi.htm