It is the policy of ABA that all faculty participating in a CE-certified activity, are required to disclose to ABA and to learners relevant financial relationships that they or their first-degree relatives (spouse, parent, sibling, or child) have with any commercial interest(s). “Relevant financial relationships”1 include financial relationships in any amount occurring within the past 12 months that create a conflict of interest2. Typically, such relationships would be with companies that sell health care products or services that are consumed by or used in the treatment of patients. The intent of this disclosure is not to prevent participation in CE-certified educational activities by individuals with a relevant financial relationship with commercial interest(s), but rather to provide learners with information on which they can make their own determination whether or not said relationship(s) influenced the content of the educational activity.
Course director, moderator and speaker disclosure information is located on the Mobile App under each presenter’s name. Course directors, moderators and speakers have been asked to also make a verbal disclosure at the start of their presentations supplemented by a disclosure slide in order to verify the accuracy of the disclosure information in the Mobile App and ensure their disclosure information is shared with the learners PRIOR to the presentation taking place.
1 Relevant Financial Relationships: The ACCME defines ‟relevant financial relationships” as financial relationships in any amount occurring within the past twelve months that create a conflict of interest. Source: www.accme.org.
2 Conflict of Interest: When an individual’s interests are aligned with those of a commercial interest the interests of the individual are in “conflict‟ with the interests of the public. Source: www.accme.org
In accordance with the ACCME Standards for Commercial Support of CME, the American Burn Association has implemented mechanisms, prior to the planning and implementation of this CME activity, to identify and mitigate conflicts of interest for all individuals in a position to control the content of this CME activity.
The American Burn Association requires CE faculty (speakers) to disclose to attendees when products or procedures being discussed are off-label (not approved for the indications being discussed), unlabeled (not approved for any indications), experimental, and/or investigational (not FDA approved); and any limitations on the information that is presented, such as data that are preliminary or that represent ongoing research, interim analyses, and/or unsupported opinion. This information is intended solely for continuing medical education and is not intended to promote off-label use of these products/procedures. If you have questions, contact the medical affairs department of the manufacturer for the most recent approval information. Faculty at this meeting will be discussing information about pharmaceutical agents that is outside of U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved labeling.
The mission of the American Burn Association’s continuing medical education program is to improve patient care and health care outcomes by maintaining, developing and enhancing medical knowledge, patient care, interpersonal and communication skills and professionalism. As a provider accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and in support of this mission, the ABA is dedicated to providing continuing medical education that is independent, fair, balanced, objective and free of commercial bias.
The ABA employs several strategies to ensure these standards will be met. The program committee members submit and consider their own disclosure information and recuse themselves from planning educational activities should they have conflicts related to the subject area presented. When developing an educational program, the program committee reviews applications and conflict of interest disclosure forms, along with needs assessment and evaluative data from past activities in order to develop programming. Potential participants are sent detailed guidelines that provide direction on necessary components to ensure independence in continuing medical education activities and to resolve conflict.
ABA sponsored educational activities are designed to promote improvements or quality in health care and not promote a specific proprietary business interest or a commercial interest. Presentations and related materials must be based on scientific methods generally accepted by the medical community.
Presentations should be evidence-based and discuss the validity of the evidence upon which they base the opinion(s) (see Sackett et al, BMJ 1996;312:71-2). This ensures the audience that the recommendations are supported by the evidence and contributes to management of any potential conflicts of interest. Further, if the presentation includes discussion of unlabeled or investigational use of a commercial product, this also must be disclosed to the participants. CE must give a balanced view of therapeutic options. Use of generic names will contribute to this impartiality.
If CE educational material or content includes trade names, trade names from several companies should be used where available, as opposed to using trade names from just a single company. Educational materials such as slides, abstracts, posters and handouts cannot contain any advertising or product-group messages.
Several methods of evaluation are utilized in assessing the educational program. Course directors, moderators, speakers, attendees, and formal observers are all given the opportunity to evaluate the educational content and speaker performance. Included in this process are measures to rate the success of the ABA’s policies regarding independence in continuing medical education activities with particular focus on the absence of commercial bias.
In addition, the ABA may review speaker presentations stored on the meeting servers to collect aggregate data regarding disclosure. This data is only used to determine effectiveness of the ABA’s policies and procedures regarding disclosure. Should it be determined that a member of the ABA’s educational program violated the ABA’s “Policy to Ensure Independence in Continuing Medical Education,” the individual may not be asked to participate in future educational programs.
The American Burn Association is not responsible for statements made by presenters. Statements or opinions expressed in this program reflect the views of the presenters and do not reflect the official policy of the American Burn Association. The information provided at this CE activity is for continuing education purposes only and is not meant to substitute for the independent medical judgment of a healthcare provider relative to the diagnostic, management and treatment options of a specific patient’s medical condition.