Current guidelines regarding industry-sponsored continuing medical education.

The importance of continuing medical education has been long recognized by the orthopaedic profession as vital in maintaining a current knowledge and skills base. There has been increasing concern over the expanding involvement of industry in sponsoring continuing medical education. Concomitant with rising costs of medical education is a decreasing source of funds from government and other sources; therefore industry has taken an active role in sponsoring continuing medical education, leading to a potential for serious conflict of interest. National and federal guidelines have been created to allow commercial sponsorship, yet leave the responsibility for the design, faculty, and content to the accredited provider. The guidelines are intended to prevent bias, keep commercial displays separate from educational presentations, and clearly state that industry-sponsored events should be primarily educational in nature and directly benefit the patient. Because of the potential conflict inherent within industry-sponsored continuing medical education, a cooperative relationship between educators, industry, and attendees of educational activities must be achieved to prevent bias and to keep the patient's best interest as paramount. Each orthopaedic surgeon has an ethical obligation to resolve any conflicts of interest in the best interest of the patient.