Conflicts of interest and medical publishing

摘要

Conflicts of interest are important considerations whenever we have relationships with more than one entity and are thus at risk of favoring the interests of one entity over another. This situation presents itself daily to practicing physicians when we simultaneously try to meet the needs of patients, ourselves, employers, facilities in which we work, medical companies providing the tools of our trade, and society. For example, every time we decide whether or not to use a sophisticated new approach to perform a procedure, we must consider not only what is best for our patients but also other factors such as institutional and personal reputations and income, relationships with industry, teaching responsibilities, and hospital requirements for maintenance of privileges, to name just a few.