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Cited by 12Pharmaceutical industry and healthcareGlobal Public Health Policies and EpidemiologyAcademic integrity and plagiarism

Inadequate conflict of interest policies at most French teaching hospitals: A survey and website analysis

Open access
Guy-Coichard, Christian, Perraud, Gabriel, Chailleu, Anne, Gaillac, Véronique, Scheffer, Paul, Mintzes, Barbara·2019·PLOS ONE
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0224193PMC PMC6824557
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: There are 32 teaching hospitals in France, including 30 University hospitals and two Regional teaching hospitals. Teaching hospitals have three roles: health care provision, training of healthcare professionals, and medical research. These roles lead to frequent interactions with pharmaceutical and medical device companies, inevitably raising risks of conflicts of interests. Therefore, policies to manage conflict of interests (COI) are crucial. This study aims to examine COI policies in French teaching hospitals. METHODS: All French teaching hospitals (n = 32) were included in this study. All hospitals websites were screened for institutional COI policies and curriculum on COI, using standardized keyword searches. More data were collected through a questionnaire addressed to each chief executive officer (CEO) of the teaching hospital. We used predefined criteria (n = 20) inspired by similar surveys on COI policies in French, US and Canadian medical schools, with some additions to reflect the local hospital context. A global score for each hospital, ranging from 0 to 60 (higher scores denoting stronger policies) was calculated by summing points obtained for each criterion. RESULTS: All 32 hospitals had websites; 21 hospitals listed policies or regulations on their websites or provided them on request. In December 2017, 17 (53.1%) had rules and regulations for some items only, four of which (12.5%) have considered implementing a policy, and only two (6.3%) have begun implementation. 15 (46.9%) had no evidence of COI policies and a null score. The maximum score was 24 out of 60. CONCLUSION: This is the first systematic assessment of COI policies in teaching hospitals in France. Such policies are needed to protect patients, clinicians and students from undue commercial influence. Despite public and political pressure for better management of COI, few teaching hospitals have implemented comprehensive and protective policies, and some hospitals lacked policies altogether. These results highlight the need for greater attention to management of COI within teaching hospitals. One potential solution would be to integrate COI policies into hospital accreditation procedures, in order to ensure a baseline of management at all teaching hospitals.

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  • Conflict of interest restriction policies vary greatly in prevalence and strictness, with North American medical schools having more frequent and stricter policies than European institutions.

    “CoI restriction policies have been implemented to reduce the probability of prescribing a newly marketed drug as a result of marketing activities 270,271 , but their prevalence and strictness vary greatly, with North American medical schools having more frequent and stricter CoI policies as compared to European institutions 272,273 .”

    From Ethical challenges in contemporary psychiatry: an overview and an appraisal of possible strategies and research needs (2024) · cites this paper as [273]

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Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. [3]Jukti Kumar K. 2016. Hospital to retail spillover analysis and its impact on commercial decision making, presentation at Lifesciences Commercial data insight conference, http://www.cbinet.com/sites/default/files/files/Kalita_Jukti_pres.pdf. Checked on December 15, 2017.
  2. [34]Charter of the conference of deans of French medical schools. Available at http://unice.fr/faculte-de-medecine/contenus-riches/documents-telechargeables/doc_faculte/V3_Charte_facultes_medecine_odontologie_2017.pdf. Checked on February 2, 2018.
  3. [37]https://web.archive.org/web/20141005205156/ http://teaching-hospitals.amsascorecard.org:80/ https://www.amsa.org/about/amsa-press-room/press-release-grading-teaching-hospitals/ Accessed December 15,2017
  4. [44]Lo B, Field MJ. 2009. Conflicts of Interest in Research, Education and Practice Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2009. 20662118

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Authors
Guy-Coichard, C., Perraud, G., Chailleu, A., Gaillac, V., Scheffer, P., & Mintzes, B.
Affiliations
  • Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (FR)
  • Université de Bretagne Occidentale (FR)
  • Centre Hospitalier Sainte-Anne (FR)
  • Université Paris 8 (FR)
  • The University of Sydney (AU)
Corresponding author
Guy-Coichard, Christian
ORCID
Venue
PLOS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published
2019-11-01
Volume
14
Issue
11
Pages
e0224193
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0224193
PMC
PMC6824557
OpenAlex
W2942848779
Cited by
12
References
36
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 2
FWCI
1.51
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Pharmacology › Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Academic integrity and plagiarism
Keywords
conflict of interest policies, teaching hospitals, pharmaceutical industry influence, medical device industry, hospital websites, hospital accreditation
MeSH terms
France, Hospitals, Teaching, Humans, Surveys and Questionnaires, Organizational Policy, Conflict of Interest, Internet, Disclosure

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