Oct 1 Chat – Healthcare Conferences

Post by Colin Hung

This past weekend many healthcare experts, healthcare leaders and healthcare social media icons gathered at the MedicineX conference (hashtag #MedX) organized by Stanford. Our very own Lisa Fields presented a session on Saturday (picture above) entitled “Twitter in the learning healthcare system: The tweetchat and professional development”. There were also many members and friends of the #HCLDR community in attendance (this is not a comprehensive list):

• Jack Andraka, @JackAndraka, #MedX session
• Regina Holliday, @ReginaHolliday, #MedX session
• Michael Weiss, @HospitalPatient , #MedX session
• Alex Fair, @Medstartr and @alexbfair, #MedX session
• Scott Finkelstein, @ConsanoScott, #MedX session
• Dr. Becker Schutte, @DrBeckerSchutte, #MedX session

This got me thinking about conferences in general. You can throw a dart and it seems that every week there is a healthcare gathering of some sort. Whether you are a patient, a practitioner, an institution, a device-maker, researcher or in the pharma business, it seems that there is always a conference happening – just for you.

Personally I really enjoy conferences. I love attending sessions and absorbing the latest news, trends and ideas from the speakers. Of course, I also enjoy live tweeting the sessions (I’m tweeting not emailing!). In the last couple of year, getting the chance to meet people in real life that I have been interacting with online has been an added benefit of conferences.

Sadly, not all conferences are valuable or worthwhile. Sometimes it’s just a personal feeling. Sometimes it’s shared by the entire audience. In my opinion a poor lineup of speakers who are only interested in hocking their wares and poor organization are the easiest ways to drive people away repeat attendance.

This week on #HCLDR I thought we would explore healthcare conferences. What makes them valueable? What could be improved? What can we do to ensure the energy and knowledge we gain from conferences translates into our daily routines?

Topics:

• T1: What are the ingredients for a valuable/good healthcare conference? Networking, education, innovative vendors, venue?
• T2: What should healthcare conferences do more of? Less? (example, more patients? Non-healthcare keynotes?)
• T3: Any tips or tricks on how to carry momentum from a conference once you get back to your daily routine?
• T4: Shout out your favourite healthcare conference. Links too.

Join us Tuesday October 1st at 8:30pm Eastern Time (North America) for our weekly #HCLDR chat.

Resources

“Are Medical Conferences Useful? And for Whom?” John P.A. Ioannidis, MD, Dsc, JAMA http://www.medicossinmarca.cl/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Are-medical-conferences-useful-for-whom.pdf

“Medical Conferences No More?” Idea Engine http://www.ideaengine.fi/2012/07/medical-conferences-no-more-2/

“Weighing the costs of conferencing” ScienceNews http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/339633/description/Weighing_the_costs_of_conferencing

“Getting the Most out of Medical Conferences” Physician’s Money Digest http://www.hcplive.com/physicians-money-digest/blogs/financial-health-check-up/05-2010/getting-most-out-of-medical-conferences

“Should medical students attend academic conferences?” Manu Et Corde
http://manuetcorde.org/2013/06/10/should-medical-students-attend-academic-conferences/

“Benefits to Physician Conferences One May Not Think of” Physician Strategy College http://www.physicianstrategycollege.com/benefits-to-physician-conferences-one-may-not-think-of/

Image Credit 

http://medicinex.stanford.edu/portfolio/first-look-jack-andraka/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanfordmedx/9990697195/in/set-72157635994225495/

Tags: #hcsm, conference, doctors, healthcare, Jack Andraka, leadership, listening, live tweeting, patients, physicians