Tide of Change? Conflicts of Interest Policies at U.S. Family Medicine Residencies

Over the last decade, a trend toward creating and improving conflicts-of-interest (COI) policies in academic medicine is well-establised. However, whether this change has occured in residency training programs is not known. This was a national survey of drug company interaction in family medicine residencies to examine the interaction between the pharmaceutical industry and trainees in U.S. family medicine residencies. In this survey of all 461 U.S. family medicine residencies, 62% responded. Our results show that 50% of programs allow gifts or lunches, 45% accept samples, 52% allow representatives access to learners, and 28% allow industry-sponsored residency activities. 75 family medicine residencies (25%) in 21 states allow no interaction. Medical-school based residencies are no more likely than community-based residencies to be “pharma-free.” These findings show that a majority of family medicine residencies allow interaction with industry. However, many programs limit this relationship, and a sizeable minority do not permit any interaction. Given the impact of industry relationships on rational prescribing, programs and the larger governing bodies within medicine should continue to evaluate the role of industry interaction in residency education.