Abstract
ABSTRACT Background: Industry funding in continuing medical education has been extensively studied in the USA. Although continuing medical education is also a requirement for Chinese physicians, little is known about Chinese physician perceptions of industry support in continuing medical education. Objective: We aim to determine perceptions regarding industry support for CME among Chinese physicians at a large CME course, examine potential associations between Chinese physicians’ perceptions and their demographic characteristics, and compare Chinese and US physicians’ perceptions of industry support for CME. Design: We performed a cross-sectional survey of physicians at a nephrology continuing medical education conference in China. All participants received a previously published, anonymous survey consisting of 4 items, with questions asked in English and Mandarin Chinese. Responses were compared with those of a previous cohort in the USA. Results: The response rate was 24% (128/541). Most respondents were nephrologists (112/126, 89%), women (91/128, 71%), and aged 20 to 40 years (79/127, 62%). Most respondents preferred industry-supported continuing medical education (84/123, 68%) or had no preference (33/123, 27%). More clinicians than clinical researchers supported industry offsetting costs (76.9% vs 58.3%; P = .03). Almost half of participants (58/125, 46%) stated that industry-supported continuing medical education was biased in support of industry. Compared with US physicians, Chinese physicians were more likely to believe, or had no opinion, that industry-supported courses were biased (67.2% vs 47.0%; P < .001). Conclusions: Chinese continuing medical education participants preferred industry-sponsored continuing medical education and were strongly in favor of industry offsetting costs, but almost half believed that such education was biased in favor of supporting companies. Concern for bias was higher among Chinese than US physicians. Given participants’ concerns, further study examining industry bias in Chinese continuing medical education is recommended. Abbreviations: CME: Continuing medical education; US: USA
Highlights
Professional development, defined as ‘activities intended to improve professional knowledge, skills, or performance,’ is an expectation of all physicians in practice [1]
The Nephrology Update West Lake Forum is an annual 5-day course that is jointly organized by the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, Second Military Medical University, and China and Zhejiang University
All physicians who responded to the survey were practicing physicians in China
Summary
Professional development, defined as ‘activities intended to improve professional knowledge, skills, or performance,’ is an expectation of all physicians in practice [1]. Continuing medical education (CME) has been described as ‘a subset of professional development that awards formal credit for completing professional development activities’ [1,2,3,4,5]. Professional development requirements for physicians in the USA (US) have evolved with time to include maintenance of certification that encompasses professional standing, lifelong learning and self-assessment, assessment of knowledge, and participation in medical practice improvement [6]. Despite the magnitude and importance of keeping Chinese physicians in practice up to date, there has been little study of CME programs in China. Design: We performed a cross-sectional survey of physicians at a nephrology continuing medical education conference in China. Responses were compared with those of a previous cohort in the USA
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
