Tag Archives: cme

Anesthesiology, CME, COVID-19, Medical Education, Regional Anesthesiology, Research, Social Media

Conference Cancelled Due to COVID-19? Go Virtual!

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the usual spring meeting season for medical societies never got started. In San Francisco, all events hosting more than 1000 people were prohibited. As a result, the 2020 annual ASRA regional anesthesiology and acute pain medicine meeting was cancelled.

However, there were nearly 400 scientific abstract posters submitted to the meeting and posted online. For so many registered attendees, the ASRA meeting was an opportunity to share their latest research and medically challenging cases with their colleagues and solicit feedback.

Continue reading Conference Cancelled Due to COVID-19? Go Virtual! →

There was no way to preserve the complex structure of an ASRA meeting (e.g., workshops, plenary lectures, problem-based learning discussion, networking sessions), but a moderated poster session was feasible using common videoconferencing applications. The Chair of the 2019 ASRA spring meeting, Dr. Raj Gupta, took it to the next level by using StreamYard to simultaneously broadcast the video feed to multiple social media platforms (e.g., Twitter/Periscope, Facebook, YouTube). In addition to accessing the livestream for free, participants could make comments and pose questions to the speakers and moderator through their social media applications.

Dr. Gupta hosted 6 sessions, and these were archived on YouTube for later viewing. As an example, here is one session focused on regional anesthesia abstracts in which I participated:

Although it was disappointing to not have an ASRA spring meeting this year, something good came out of it. The livestreamed poster discussions were an innovative way to showcase the science and educational cases as well as leverage social media to attract a global audience. Since medical conferences may never completely return to pre-COVID normal, embracing technology and incorporating online sessions should be considered by continuing medical education planners going forward.

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Anesthesiology, CME, Healthcare, Medical Education, Pain Medicine, Patient Safety, Regional Anesthesiology, Research

My Top Ten Articles for #RAUK20

I have the honor of being the next Bruce Scott Lecturer for the 2020 Regional Anaesthesia United Kingdom (RA-UK) meeting in Sheffield on May 18 and 19, 2020.

As part of the preparation for what will be a fantastic conference filled with the latest education in regional anesthesia, point-of-care ultrasound, acute pain management, and social media for medical education, Dr. Amit Pawa has started a thread on Twitter featuring my “Top Ten” published articles.

I hope to see you at #RAUK20! You can access the thread and check out the list of articles by clicking the tweet below:

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Anesthesiology, CME, Medical Education, Pain Medicine, Patient Safety

My Reasons to Visit San Francisco for #ANES18

This year’s American Society of Anesthesiologists meeting (#ANES18) happens to be in my “neck of the woods”—one of the greatest cities in the world—San Francisco, California. Here are a few things you may or may not have known about San Francisco.

San Francisco is the biggest little city. At just under 47 square miles and with more than 800,000 inhabitants, San Francisco is second only to New York City in terms of population density. Despite its relatively small size, “the City” (as we suburbanites refer to it) consists of many small neighborhoods, each with its own charm and character: Union Square, the Financial District, Pacific Heights, the Marina, Haight-Ashbury, Chinatown, Little Italy, Nob Hill, Russian Hill, SoMa (South of Market), the Fillmore, Japantown, Mission District, Noe Valley, Twin Peaks, Castro, Sunset, Tenderloin, and others. This is probably why die-hard New Yorkers love it so much.

In the summer especially, San Francisco weather is somewhat unpredictable even when going from one side of the city to the other (part of the unique experience of visiting the city). “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco,” a quote often mistakenly attributed to Mark Twain (no one really knows who actually said it), is nevertheless often true. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, our local meteorologists provide daily forecasts for each of the region’s microclimates. The western side of the City along California’s coast is regularly plagued with fog while the eastern side of the City tends to be sunny most days of the year. It’s always a good idea to check the microclimate forecast before heading over to see the Golden Gate Bridge just in case it happens to be shrouded in fog. Average July temperatures in the City range in the 50s-60s Fahrenheit (no different than average November temperatures), so summer tourists often contribute to the local economy by buying “SF” logo sweatshirts for their walk across the City’s most famous bridge. Fortunately, #ANES18 is in the fall, and the weather near Moscone Center and the popular shopping area Union Square tends to stay reliably nice most of the year.

San Francisco is very family-friendly. If you’re debating whether or not to make a family trip out of #ANES18, my advice is to do it. Right around the convention center there are a number of attractions and events worth checking out. I highly recommend visiting the farmers market at the Ferry Building. While there, you can also take a ferry ride to a number of other destinations in the Bay Area (try Sausalito, a short trip that takes you past Alcatraz). For kids, there are parks within walking distance as well as the Children’s Creativity Museum, the San Francisco Railway Museum, Exploratorium, and the cable car turnabout at Powell and Market Street. Trips to Fisherman’s Wharf, Ghiradelli Square, or the aquarium are a short taxi or cable car ride away. In addition, runners will love running up and down the Embarcadero which gives you a view of the Bay Bridge and takes you past the City’s many piers. Shoppers will be in heaven, and foodies will have to make the impossible decision of choosing where to eat for every meal.

But don’t take my word for it—come to #ANES18 and see for yourself!

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Healthcare, Medical Education, Research, Social Media

Tips for Live Tweeting a Meeting

Live tweeting during a scientific conference offers many benefits. For attendees at the meeting, it allows sharing of learning points from multiple concurrent sessions. This also decreases the incidence of “FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)” since you can only be in one session at any given time but can learn vicariously through others. For your Twitter community outside the meeting venue, your live tweeting can help to disseminate the key messages from the conference to a broader audience and ultimately may facilitate changes in clinical practice.

Check out these “Ten Simple Rules for Live Tweeting at Scientific Conferences” and Marie Ennis-O’Connor’s “15 Tips for Live Tweeting an Event” for a comprehensive overview of this subject.

Here are a couple of my own general rules to tweet by:

  1. Register your scientific conference hashtag on Symplur. This gives you access to free analytics and transcript services for a limited time.
  2. Be sure to use the correct conference hashtag and include it in all your tweets related to the conference. This is probably included in your conference materials or emails from the organizer. The hashtag allows others to easily find your tweets related to the conference and include your tweets in transcript summaries after the conference is over.
  3. Go for quality and not quantity. It is too difficult (and unnecessary) to give a phrase-by-phrase reproduction of a speaker’s entire lecture. Remember that you are primarily in attendance to learn, so make sure you spend most of your time listening and not tweeting. Consider summarizing two or three salient points into one tweet or tweeting photos of slides with a short commentary to provide context to your Twitter community.
  4. Give credit where credit is due. Do a little homework before tweeting. If a speaker has a Twitter handle, include it in your tweet. If the speaker references a relevant article, find the link and include it in your tweet. These elements make your tweet more informative to the reader and may increase the likelihood of its being retweeted or generating further conversation on Twitter.
  5. Don’t say anything in a tweet that you wouldn’t say to someone in public. Healthy debate is one of the best parts of scientific conferences, but keep the discussion on Twitter clean and professional and of course protect patient privacy and confidentiality.

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CME, Medical Education, Pain Medicine

ASRA Comes to San Francisco!

GGB
Golden Gate Bridge

This year’s American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine’s 13th Annual Fall Pain Medicine meeting happens to be in my “neck of the woods”—one of the greatest cities in the world—San Francisco, California.  Here are a few things you may or may not have known about San Francisco.

San Francisco is the biggest little city.  At just under 47 square miles and with more than 200,000 inhabitants, San Francisco is second only to New York City in terms of population density.  Despite its relatively small size, “the City” (as we suburbanites refer to it) consists of many small neighborhoods, each with its own charm and character:  Union Square, the Financial District, Pacific Heights, the Marina, Haight-Ashbury, Chinatown, Little Italy, Nob Hill, Russian Hill, SoMa (South of Market), the Fillmore, Japantown, Mission District, Noe Valley, Twin Peaks, Castro, Sunset, Tenderloin, and others.  For this reason, San Francisco may arguably be the only option for die-hard New Yorkers who wish to relocate away from snow.

Chinatown
Chinatown

Even though it doesn’t snow, San Francisco weather is incredibly unpredictable, even when going from one side of the city to the other.  “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco,” a quote often mistakenly attributed to Mark Twain (no one really knows who actually said it), is nevertheless often true.  Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, our local meteorologists provide daily forecasts for each of the region’s microclimates.  The western side of the City along California’s coast is regularly plagued with fog while the eastern side of the City tends to be sunny most days of the year.  It’s always a good idea to check the microclimate forecast before heading over to see the Golden Gate Bridge just in case it happens to be shrouded in fog.  Also, average July temperatures in the City range in the 50s-60s Fahrenheit (no different than average November temperatures), so summer tourists often contribute to the local economy by buying “SF” logo sweatshirts for their walk across the City’s most famous bridge.

Ferry Bldg
Ferry Building

San Francisco is very family-friendly.  If you’re debating whether or not to make a family trip out of the Fall Pain Meeting, my advice is to do it.  Right around the conference hotel, the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, there are a number of attractions and events worth checking out.  Every Saturday there is a huge farmers market at the Ferry Building across the street from the hotel.  As you probably figured out, from the Ferry Building you can also take a ferry ride to a number of other destinations in the Bay Area (I recommend Sausalito, a short trip that takes you past Alcatraz).  For kids, there are 3 parks within walking distance, the San Francisco Railway Museum, Exploratorium, and the cable car turnabout at Powell and Market Street; trips to Fisherman’s Wharf or the aquarium are a short taxi or cable car ride away.  In addition, runners will love running up and down the Embarcadero which gives you a view of the Bay Bridge and takes you past the City’s many piers; shoppers will be in heaven; and foodies have an impossible decision to make when choosing the location for every meal (try Slanted Door at the Ferry Building at least once).

Enough about San Francisco—you’ll have to see it for yourself.  To register for the Fall Pain Medicine meeting, visit http://www.asrameetings.com/. For an overview of scheduled events in the words of meeting Chair, Dr. David Provenzano, see the August 2014 issue of ASRA News.  This issue also includes fantastic original content covering the topics of digital subtraction angiography, pain outcomes, ASRA’s first entry into the app market, and much more!

 

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CME, Medical Education, Pain Medicine

Save the Date for SIMPAR 2015

SIMPAR4

Save the Date for the 7th SIMPAR Meeting, which will be held in Rome, Italy, March 27th-28th, 2015.

The purpose of SIMPAR is to gather some of the world’s most innovative pain medicine specialists and promote the international sharing of experience and knowledge, creating common directions in pain management and research in order to optimize pharmacological and interventional therapies toward evidence-based management of the fifth vital sign.

The Conference is typically divided into two working days. The first day is organized into Parallel Symposia focused on these topics: “Acute Pain,” “Chronic Pain,” and “Basic Science (bench to bedside).” The Plenary Session will be held on the second day, and it will focus on the newest advances in pain diagnosis and treatment.

SIMPAR will welcome abstract submissions and offers a travel award for the top abstract. Please continue to check the SIMPAR website for updates:  http://simpar.eu.

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