Healthy Skepticism Library item: 6810

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Kendrick M.
The growing CME movement in Europe
Scrip Magazine 1998 Jun; (69):45-47
www.pjbpubs.co.uk/scrip/scrhome.htm

Abstract:

Continuing medical education is a large well organized system in the United States and is growing in Europe. As CME becomes a requirement for doctors throughout Europe the pharmaceutical industry will have to more careful about the representation of commercially valuable information. The creation of guidelines will mean that the content of CME activities will have to be approved by accrediting bodies and companies will have to share responsibility over the messages that go out to doctors about their product through CME. Industry could react by deciding not to support CME activities as in France and Norway but this might lead to a professional tax levied to fund CME. Once this type of funding is in place, it could become a regulation that CME events cannot be funded by industry as is the case in Norway. This would place a large barrier between the industry and the medical community and the industry. The alternative view is that the industry should embrace CME in Europe as an important opportunity to work more closely with the medical profession.

Keywords:
*analysis/Europe/continuing medical education/CME/corporate funding/guidelines, discussion of/PROMOTION DISGUISED: SUPPORT FOR CME