2014/01/01 by Klaus Lieb, Lieb, Klaus, Cora Koch +1
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Medicine · Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics · #610 Medical sciences #Health and Medical Research Impacts #Interessenkonflikt #Lehre #Medicine #Medizinstudium #Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy #Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare #Unabhängigkeit #pharmazeutische Industrie
paper · doi:10.3205/zma000902
openalex publication_date 2014/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
OBJECTIVES: Medical 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? METHODS: All 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. RESULTS: 30 (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. CONCLUSIONS: Unlike 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.