Beliefs and practices of emergency medicine faculty and residents regarding professional interactions with the biomedical industry

Study objectives: To examine emergency medicine resident training and understanding of general bioethics and resident and faculty attitudes and behavior regarding professional interactions with the biomedical industry. Design: Two companion questionnaire surveys. Setting: Annual resident in-service examination and written director survey with telephone follow-up. Participants: Emergency medicine residents and program directors. Interventions: χ² analysis was used for questions involving relationships among variables with dichotomous or categorical response. An analysis of variance or Pearson Product Moment Correlation was calculated for questions with continuous variables. Measurements and main results: The surveys were completed by 1,385 of 1,836 (75%) residents and 80 of 81 (99%) residency directors. On average, residents receive eight hours of bioethical instruction per year but believe that they need 12 hours per year. Seventy-five percent of residents believe that company representatives sometimes cross ethical boundaries. The amount of resident understanding of bioethical concepts correlated with the number of hours of bioethics training they received. A sensitivity to bioethical conflicts index was correlated with the residents' behavior. Conclusion: There is wide variation in beliefs and practices regarding the interaction between emergency medicine residents and directors and the biomedical industry. Our results suggest that residents need training regarding conflicts of interest, accepted standards of practice, and dealing with potential conflicts with the biomedical industry.