U.S. Medical Schools, Drug Makers Share Strong Ties

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Clinical departments were also more likely to receive funds to buy food and beverages, support for professional meetings and subscriptions to professional journals.

"I have a master's degree in adult education and curriculum instruction and in my schooling, I don't ever remember learning that the first thing you do is pass out food sponsored by the companies whose products you're about to teach about," said Campbell. "A very large percentage of medical departments report getting money for food and beverages from drug companies. It's nice to have but, in the end, it's not necessary. It's not a principle of good education as far as I know."

More than two-thirds of department chairs felt that having a relationship with industry had no effect on their professional activities, while 72 percent thought that a chair engaging in more than one industry-related activity had a negative impact on a department's ability to carry out independent research.

"Now it's up to the policymakers and people who run medical schools," said Campbell. "They need to come up with some rules and they need to be new rules. I believe there's very little reasonable justification for why drug companies should be involved in the education of medical students. What knowledge do they have that is not currently available in the biggest medical schools in the country?"

More information

To learn more, visit the Institute on Medicine as a Profession.