In the February 13 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), a survey was made on selected US medical schools about conflicts of interests. It was focused primarily on financial interests of institutional officials.

The survey found out that only a minority of US medical schools have adopted policies to address conflicts of interests, particularly financial interests. This is due to the fact that most senior officials have a financial relationship with or financial interest in a public or private company. These relationships are found to affect institutional processes and compromise the integrity of the institution so careful considerations and measures should be implemented.

I think that in every institution, conflicts of interests arise which make it rational for them to create policies that will set limitations and priorities as a way of correcting these problems.