Changing Interactions Between Physician Trainees and the Pharmaceutical Industry: A National Survey

BACKGROUND

Increasingly, medical school policies limit pharmaceutical representatives’ access to students and gifts from drugmakers, but little is known about how these policies affect student attitudes toward industry.

OBJECTIVE

To assess interactions between trainees and the pharmaceutical industry, and to determine whether learning environment characteristics influence students’ practices and attitudes.

DESIGN, PARTICIPANTS

We conducted a cross-sectional survey with a nationally-representative sample of first- and fourth-year medical students and third-year residents, stratified by medical school, including ≥ 14 randomly selected trainees at each level per school.

MAIN MEASURES

We measured frequency of industry interactions and attitudes regarding how such interactions affect medical training and the profession. Chi-squared tests assessed bivariate linear trend, and hierarchical logistic regression models were fitted to assess associations between trainees’ attitudes and their schools’ National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding levels and American Medical Student Association (AMSA) PharmFree Scorecard grades reflecting industry-related conflict of interest policies.

KEY RESULTS

Among 1,610 student (49.3 % response rate) and 739 resident (43.1 %) respondents, industry-sponsored gifts were common, rising from 33.0 % (first-year students) to 56.8 % (fourth-year students) and 54 % (residents) (p?<?0.001). These gifts included meals outside the hospital (reported by 5 % first-year students, 13.4 % fourth-year students, 27.5 % residents (p?<?0.001)) and free drug samples (reported by 7.4 % first-year students, 14.1 % fourth-year students, 14.3 % residents (p?<?0.001)). The perception that industry interactions lead to bias was prevalent, but the belief that physicians receive valuable education through these interactions increased (64.1 % to 67.5 % to 79.8 %, p?<?0.001). Students in schools receiving more NIH funding reported industry gifts less often (OR?=?0.51, 95 % CI: 0.38–0.68, p?<?0.001), but the strength of institutional conflict of interest policies was not associated with this variable.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite recent policy changes, a substantial number of trainees continue to receive gifts from pharmaceutical representatives. We found no relation between these outcomes and a school’s policies concerning interactions with industry.     

Bedwetting and behavioural and/or emotional problems

Objective: To assess the link between enuresis nocturna and the severity of behavioural and/or emotional problems in Dutch children and the course of these problems. Setting: West-Mine Region in the Netherlands. Subjects and methods: Prospective cohort study involving 66 of the 80 bedwetting children from all 1652 children born in 1983 in this region. After 1 y, contact was still possible with 64 of the enuretics. We used the Dutch version of the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and a questionnaire about bedwetting. Results: The mean T-score for Total Problems (CBCL score) in 1992 (M1; mean age 8. 6) was 52. 1, and 1 y later was 49. 2 (M2). There was no significant difference in the CBCL scores for Ml, M2 and a matching group from the Dutch CBCL norm population, either in the group who remained wet or in the group who became dry. There were no differences between the sexes. There was no link between the severity of behavioural and emotional problems and the frequency of bedwetting. However, more children with bedwetting than expected were in the clinical range. Conclusion: There was no difference in behavioural and/or emotional problems between the first and the second measurement and the matching group from the CBCL norm group. There were no differences in behavioural and/or emotional problems between primary and secondary bedwetters, nor were there any consequences related to the frequency of bedwetting.     

Relationship between visual field loss and contrast threshold elevation in glaucoma

Background  

There is a considerable body of literature which indicates that contrast thresholds for the detection of sinusoidal grating patterns are abnormally high in glaucoma, though just how these elevations are related to the location of visual field loss remains unknown. Our aim, therefore, has been to determine the relationship between contrast threshold elevation and visual field loss in corresponding regions of the peripheral visual field in glaucoma patients.     

Recent trends in the management of combined pancreatoduodenal injuries

In an effort to better characterize the natural history of pancreatoduodenal injuries, we present a review of clinical experiences in the treatment of combined traumatic pancreatoduodenal injuries, focusing on patients in extremis. Records of patients with abdominal trauma admitted to a level 1 trauma center from 1997 to 2001 were reviewed. Of 240 patients who sustained a pancreatic or duodenal injury, 33 had combined pancreatoduodenal injuries. Eighty-two per cent of the patients (27/33) in this series had penetrating injuries, 72 per cent (24) sustained gunshot wounds (GSW). Thirty-one patients were male, and the mean age was 33 years (range, 7-74). These patients presented with an average Injury Severity Score (ISS) of 22 +/- 12 and an average Glasgow Coma Score of 14 +/- 2. Overall length of stay was 39 +/- 59 days (range, 0-351 days). These 33 patients underwent a total of 57 laparotomies with an average of 1.7 operations per patient (range, 1 to 5 operations). Eighty-four per cent of the patients had an associated gastrointestinal injury and 45 per cent had a major vascular injury. Thirteen of the 33 (39%) patients presented in extremis, all 13 underwent an abbreviated laparotomy. The complication rate was 36 per cent, including fistula, abscess, pancreatitis, and organ dysfunction. There were 6 hospital deaths for a mortality rate of 18 per cent. Pancreatoduodenal injuries are associated with a variety of other serious injuries, which add to the overall complexity of these patients. Abbreviated laparotomy may be helpful when managing combined pancreatoduodenal injuries in patients who are in extremis.