Conflicts of Interest and An Approach to Managing Them

Abstract

Conflicts of interest (COI) exist in every step of life, including in medicine and science. Professionals who work in different areas of Health systems, such as physicians in care patient, in pharmaceutical and biomedical devices industries, in management positions, in teaching or in research, all must apply rigid ethical principles. It is possible with these actions that COI were detected in several circumstances such as in the prescribing therapy, in production or employment of technology in services of Health system, in article publications, and in decision-making for those who have decided to occupy positions of responsibility in scientific and healthcare institutions, in industry or professional associations, among others. These actions must be consistent with the essential principles of Bioethics. At present, COI disclosure has been irreversibly installed in Medicine. A detailed description of the classification of conflicts of interest and its ethical and legal implications in the practice of health sciences such as those that appear in the practice of clinical and laboratory medicine, pharmaceutical industry and also, research and publications are included. Final considerations on the management of COI are also included.

Keywords: conflict of interest; disclosure; ethics; management.