From Anne Taylor-Vaisey: I wonder how much more can be written on this topic? Here’s another article, from the November issue of Annals of Emergency Medicine:

Marco CA, Moskop JC, Solomon RC, Geiderman JM, Larkin GL. Gifts to physicians from the pharmaceutical industry: an ethical analysis. Ann Emerg Med 2006; 48(5):513-521. Link.

From me: Well, Anne, here’s at least one more, from Canada.com: Doctors warned to back away from freebie buffet.

From Anne Taylor-Vaisey: The November 2006 issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings contains four articles that “exhibit the types of medical education research that must continue in the future if we are to further improve 21st century medical education and appropriately recognize innovations and innovators in the field”. Here is the editorial that describes these articles:

Habermann TM, Cascino TL. Education scholarship [editorial]. Mayo Clin Proc November 2006; 81 (11): 1423-1424.

Read more here. Or here, if the previous link doesn’t work.

This article on SiLive.com tells about how medical schools train docs on how to deal with pharmaceutical marketers—and I like the approach Mount Sinai is taking:

One of the programs being implemented at Mount Sinai will be a new type of class at its Morchand Education Center, famous for training exercises in which actors play patients. For these new sessions, though, the actors will be playing pharmaceutical company sales representatives.



Halm said doctors need better skills to navigate those sales meetings, which can be seductive affairs in which health care providers are treated to free meals and showered with data about a drug’s benefits.




“We want doctors to learn how to effectively spar with the drug reps” and question what they have to say, Halm said.

From Anne Taylor-Vaisey: Here’s what’s new in the literature:

New medical education journals

 

flawed NEJM MCQs

 

improved medical education teaching effectiveness

 

And it sounds like a great one at that. Based on a member survey, it includes, according to the Alliance for CME:

salary highs, lows, averages, medians, ranges, and standard deviations. For director, coordinator, and manager, data sets are presented graphically according to regions of the country (location), population, and provider sections.



A job description template is also provided along with examples of duties and responsibilities of directors, managers, and coordinators. This toolkit should provide valuable information on reported salaries for the three positions studied as well as job descriptions for each.

It’s free for Alliance members here. Next up, sometime this month will be an honoraria toolkit. That should come in really handy, I would think.

Remember when I mentioned that Medical Meetings Editor Tamar Hosansky will be receiving a 2007 President’s Award from the Alliance for CME? I just found out last night that I’m up for one, too (an e-mail glitch kept me from seeing the original announcement)! When I look at previous honorees, it is amazing to think I could find a place beside such incredible company.

I am so thrilled, honored, and beside myself to say any more about it, other than thank you for making me look good!

This article from Pharma Live about a survey of oncologists and urologists “reveals a lack of awareness and understanding of the clinical benefits of Combined Androgen Blockade (CAB) therapy for the management of advanced prostate cancer.” Why is that a CME issue? Check this out:

Mr David Gillatt, a panel member and Consultant Urologist at Southmead Hospital, Bristol, UK commented that: “In this era of targeted therapies and evolving innovations in healthcare and specifically prostate cancer, it is the new drugs that dominate proceedings at medical meetings and secure interest. We must not allow the benefits of established and proven treatments, such as CAB, to be overlooked to the detriment of patient care.”

I don’t know for a fact, but I would hazard a guess that this issue extends beyond prostate cancer care to many disease states. While it’s understandable to focus on the latest whiz-bang treatments (that is, after all, what grabs newspaper headlines after national society meetings, and what docs are coming to hear about), be sure your faculty doesn’t forget to mention less sexy but still effective therapies.

I just got a note from a hotel sales manager who wanted to unsubscribe from the weekly Capsules update because his responsibilities had shifted and he no longer served this market. I was so impressed that he read all the stuff here to better understand what his customers have to deal with. Now he is someone I would enjoy doing business with: a hotelier who really cares about his clients’ needs.