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Volume 10 (3)
Volume 10, Issue 3, 1990 
J Contin Educ Health Prof 1990; 10(3):197-210
MEDICINE
R. Van Harrison, PhD Paul E. Mazmanian, PhD Charles E. Osborne, EdD A b s t r a c t Potential benefits and problems associated with commercial support of CME courses are often discussed. To put the discussion in a more concrete context, the extent of commercial funding for medical-school-based CME courses is examined along with the frequency of various uses of commercial support and the prevalence of some procedural policies regarding support. In 1988, 58 medical schools with membership in the Society of Medical College Directors of Continuing Medical Education responded to a survey inquiring about commercial support for CME courses. The results found that medical schools vary widely in the commercial support received. Overall, almost half of CME courses receive some commercial support. Most courses with commercial support would have been held without it. Compared to medical schools with larger CME programs, medical schools with smaller numbers of courses were more likely to have commercial support represent a larger portion of their CME revenue. The most frequent uses for commercial dollars are a general grant to a course and payment of speakers' honoraria and travel expenses. Procedural policies for handling support vary considerably. The results indicate that commercial support is a sizable secondary source of CME revenue which warrants monitoring and study. Screening for potentially inappropriate commercial influence in CME programs could focus on institutions with a high percentage of revenue from commercial sources and on CME programs with large amounts of support going to items not directly associated wit the educational effort. Research efforts could be directed toward better understanding the extent of bias in the most frequent situation: a course with limited commercial support paying for a speaker's honorarium and travel. Keywords: Continuing medical education; pharmaceutical industry; commercial support |
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