Public Perception
The story about the University of Minnesota’s Medical School, and its development of a COI policy, continues to turn up interesting elements (commented on previously here). The following story (Public perceptions of conflicts of interest) by a journalist who participated in the review process highlights the importance of transparency in dealing with COI, both in its occurrence, and in the development of policies to manage COI.
How does the public perceive industry funding of continuing medical education? Would the public, if told, wonder why a recommendation to end industry funding of CME was removed from the final report? I was the only true “outsider” on this task force, and I don’t know why it was removed. On several occasions, I urged the task force to bring outside parties into the process. What has the Medical School done to gauge public perception of the issues considered by the task force?
Good questions!
