International experience of financial relationships of accredited continuing education and commercial interest

Abstract

In order to provide the best possible medical care to patients, medical or health care workers must be continuously educated. It is through continuing education during entire practical activity medical workers maintain and constantly improve their own professionalism.

Financial or commercial support and marketing play an important role in accredited continuing education. As the experience of developed countries has shown, interaction with commercial structures is necessary; it helps to improve the provision of continuing education.

To manage effective interaction with commercial structures in various countries, standards were developed many years ago, the implementation of which ensures that accredited continuing education is protected from commercial influence, creates a clear division between accredited continuing education and commercial interest, prevents commercial bias and marketing, ensures the management of commercial support in an appropriate manner, as well as disclose and resolving conflicts of interest.

Adherence to the standards of interaction of accredited activity with commercial interest is a guarantee that health care workers receive only good-quality, balanced, and scientifically based recommendations that are protected from advertising, marketing and commercial bias.

No conflict of interests was declared by the authors.