"3 things I have seen this week:Medical Conference/Seminars"

"3 things I have seen this week:Medical Conference/Seminars"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Doctors need a total of 45 CPD points in order to renew their licences on their birthdays. In order to get these points they need to attend a number of lectures , seminars or conventions. Some are more interesting than others and some are actual snorefests when you have probably heard the same thing for the Nth time from round table discussions and such.

My eyes tend to wonder and observe others so here are 3 things that I have seen this week while in a Medical Conference surrounded by other doctors.

1) Doctors Interest level

Doctors have the unspoken talent of looking always mildly interested. It comes on all the time and can be adjusted from mild to enthusiastic , from pulling back and crossing arms to leaning forward and listening intently. It applies to when the doctor maybe listening to a patient or to a consultant giving a lecture. You can see my interest level. I am writing this while pretending to take notes.

2) Freebilicious!

Freebies and more Freebies. Some doctors seem to lose all of their dignities in fighting for mere trinkets. Some Scour the Pharmaceutical booths for the best booty like pirates in the Caribbean. I understand all the samples that you can gather for a profit or to give away to help others but roaming the entire place for pens? How many pens does one doctor need anyway? For some people I saw today , the answer is that all that you have and more from the booth next to yours.

3) Full Online Registration. Empty Seats.

Sometimes I ask how do you assess an events success? Is it with the number of people who register online? Those who actually came? Or those who actually listened to the speaker and improved their clinical practices later on? (This is harder to prove though).

The first two might be easy to measure but short of decades long follow up the last one might be a little tricky to know.