Competing interests of undergraduate medical education and industry: integration into longitudinal curricular themes

Recent changes in curricula around the globe with emphasis on teaching/learning and assessing professionalism in medical schools has been the priority. With the changing public expectations and professional demands, it has become imperative to develop clear guidelines and policies for students and faculty to better understand and meet the expectations of them as part of professionalism. In order to analyse this problem and highlight potential solutions, a literature search was conducted using Eric, Medline, Google Scholar and CINAHL Plus databases from 1985 to February 2013. We reviewed publications regarding the relationship between the pharmaceutical and device industry and medical education which is one of the most debated and divisive ethical issues. We also analysed the tenets of professionalism, including integrity, primary responsibility to our patients, self-regulation, and societal responsibility, as they provide the framework to make decisions that meet our standards and support the public and patient's faith and trust in us. We propose that every lecture to medical students must include a standardised disclosure. Role modelling, on-going education, and creating policies that eliminate, instead of simply mitigating the negative consequences of faculty's conflicts of interest, are specific interventions on which we will need to focus to prevent harm to future physicians, and most importantly, to patients.