Medical Trainees and the Pharmaceutical Industry: a National Survey

Recently, policymakers in the US have become concerned about the relationships between medical trainees and pharmaceutical industry representatives, because such interactions may affect trainees' professional development and their future prescribing practices. Lab fellow Kirsten Austad's project involves investigating the extent of trainees' contacts with pharmaceutical industry representatives, as well as the impact of these interactions on trainees' attitudes about pharmaceutical policy issues and knowledge about evidence-based prescribing. The centerpiece of this project is a national, random-sample survey of first- and fourth-year medical students, as well as third-year residents, conducted in conjunction with Aaron Kesselheim and Jerry Avorn from the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, as well as Eric Campbell from the Mongan Institute for Health Policy of Massachusetts General Hospital. This survey is novel because of its national scope and its ability to assess differences in attitudes and behaviors among students at 3 stations in their professional training. The project addresses whether institutional factors that shape the professional learning environment-such as a medical school's policies regarding relationships between physicians and pharmaceutical companies-impact how trainees handle personal interactions with industry, view the role of sales representatives in their education, and display knowledge about evidence-based medicine. These results will be applied to the Lab's work more broadly by providing insights into how socialization may be an important component of initiation and maintenance of institutional corruption. Data collection for this project is coming to a close now, and the resulting publications from the project will be posted here once available.

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