Commercial Support Guidelines

One of the priorities of the Peripheral Nerve Society (PNS) is the education and training of clinicians, scientists, and healthcare professionals. PNS educational activities reflect the multidisciplinary nature of the Society, whose members are both clinicians and basic scientists. Educational activities consist of symposia and teaching courses held at various Scientific Societies Congresses, as well as separate ad-hoc Teaching Courses prepared in collaboration with national societies, single lectures, or clinical demonstrations. If you or your organization would like to partner with the PNS to support an educational activity, please review the commercial support guidelines below.

To submit a Commercial Support Agreement, complete the interactive pdf and send to info@PNSociety.com.

QUESTIONS? Please contact info@PNSociety.com for additional information on upcoming opportunities that may be of interest to you or your organization.

The following general principles, govern the acceptance of commercial support:

The Selection of overall content, specific topics, speakers, and evaluation must be completely independent of any influence by the donor.
The fiscal support must be received, in its entirety, in the form of an unrestricted educational grant to the course. Expenses such as visiting speakers' honoraria, travel expenses, etc., may be paid separately by the donor. The grantor may request information about how grant monies were used in the course.
Education grant support must be reported to the audience. This must be done at the time of the course and, when possible, before the course such as on the course flyer.

Any "in-kind" services (i.e. equipment, meeting planning, etc.) accepted from a commercial source will be reported to the participants.
A full tuition charge may be assessed for courses regardless of industry support.
The Peripheral Nerve Society reserves all rights for marketing the course as well as marketing/distribution of any educational products (books, tapes, etc.) deriving from the course.
The course will be open to all who wish to attend. Any fee-waived attendees (i.e. "scholarships") will be at the discretion of the Peripheral Nerve Society.
Hospitality functions will occur at a site that is not contiguous with that of the course.

Fees to cover the cost of an exhibit at a course are not considered to be an educational grant. Please do not submit a Commercial Support Agreement for exhibiting.

Educational Support from a Single Company
The Peripheral Nerve Society has indicated that they distinguish between obtaining relatively small educational grants from multiple sources and accepting a single, usually large grant from a single company to organize a course. Because the potential for real or perceived bias is so great in the latter case, single-company supported courses must take special care to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

It is recognized that the guidelines relate to specific activities and practices but cannot cover all of the possible relevant situations that might arise in any given relationship. Thus, proposals for single-company supported courses will be reviewed by the PNS Educational Committee with particular scrutiny for activities that might be interpreted to be promotional rather than educational.