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http://umanitoba.ca/outreach/evidencenetwork/archives/12514
The biggest concern, however, is the lack of education provided to medical students about the pervasiveness and effects of COI relationships with drug companies. Without such guidance, medical students, who will become prescribing physicians, graduate without being fully equipped to deal with either potential conflicts of interest in medical practice, or the influence of industry promotion on clinical judgement. Our findings mean that industry has the ability to influence the resources provided and information that is taught to medical students. Without effective, stringent policies to regulate industrys interactions with medical students and faculty, drug companies are granted the ability to be present in medical schools and play notably influential roles in the clinical training of medical students. If we want the best doctors in Canada, our medical schools need to revise and improve their policies to regulate conflicts of interest between medical faculty, residents and the pharmaceutical industry. These policies should address the medical curriculum and the ways in which relationships with pharmaceutical firms may affect the attitudes and information that is taught to medical students. Medical students should be educated by medical faculty using the best available clinical evidence that is unbiased by industry so that when medical students graduate, they are able to provide their patients with the best, most effective, and safest treatments possible. Adrienne Shnier is a PhD candidate in the Health Policy & Equity program at York University, Intern with the Patients Association of Canada (PAC), and Research Fellow with the Pharmaceutical Policy Research Collaboration (PPRC). Joel Lexchin is an advisor with EvidenceNetwork.ca, teaches health policy at York University and works as an emergency physician at the University Health Network. See the poster based on this commentary