Has USCAP jumped the shark
Started by Vicinal
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they eat puffins in iceland, the cute little penguin like creatures. Do you eat puffin meat while you immerse yourself in cyto in Iceland?
This is a trend in all medical conferences - combine a vacation with a learning experience. I get it, but I don't really get it. Do people bring their familes on these things?
I have seen lots of ads for pathology conferences in Hawaii, for example, where the education takes place for 3 hours every morning and then the rest of the day is free. Conference lasts like 5 days. This does not sound appealing to me - but I guess for people bringing a spouse along it might be. I personally want conferences short and compressed. If I want to spend more time in the place it's at, I will extend my visit a few days. Went to a great one that MGH put on last spring, two days, first day was 8am-8pm, second day 8am-5pm. Tons of learning.
I have seen lots of ads for pathology conferences in Hawaii, for example, where the education takes place for 3 hours every morning and then the rest of the day is free. Conference lasts like 5 days. This does not sound appealing to me - but I guess for people bringing a spouse along it might be. I personally want conferences short and compressed. If I want to spend more time in the place it's at, I will extend my visit a few days. Went to a great one that MGH put on last spring, two days, first day was 8am-8pm, second day 8am-5pm. Tons of learning.
I saw one conference called “Cruising through the digestive tract”. I personally would not bring family along, it is very distracting for those who have young kids. I highly doubt departments would pay for you to attend a conference which puts you on a Mediterranean cruise.
Part of it is driven by academic centers. Their staff pathologists get time and sometimes money that can be used for CME activities but not as vacation. So the pathologist gets a partial vacation they wouldn't otherwise get and the conference gets their money. Win-win.
Also, I don't know about you, but I'm definitely not getting 12 hours of learning out of an 8a-8p schedule. If you're just trying to satisfy requirements as efficiently as possible, that's one thing, but my ability to focus in a conference scenario drops off rapidly especially given that only a handful of speakers are even remotely engaging.
I have never seen any other medical specialty have these types of meetings. The relationships of certain academic pathologists with publishers and conference venues is getting old. Especially in a time where everything is available online. It seems that the same topics are reheated by the same crew over and over relentlessly. When do these people retire and move on?
Oh wow, I literally just did this. That new company that is based out of some place in Michigan and spams conferences in tourist destinations with the 3-4 hour block in the morning/afternoon free schedule.
Still havent got my SAM credits now 2 months on, so caveat emptor!
