What You Can Learn From Medical Conferences

Hoover  9 Feb, 2008  Medical School

I disliked medical conferences in general. I wasn’t interested in the topics and they were typically only a short break from my work on the wards. While they often put me to sleep, I did take something away from conferences that was not blatantly obvious while I was attending them.

To be proficient in medicine requires a huge time commitment. Think for a minute at the number of conferences you attend on a weekly (if not daily) basis:

  • Grand Rounds
  • Morning Report
  • M&M
  • Noon Conference
  • Guest speakers
  • Program-specific conferences (i.e. unknowns in Pathology)
  • Tumor Board

I don’t know about you guys, but I attended at least three conferences mentioned above every week during my 3rd year. I’m sure the residents probably attended even more. I particularly disliked noon conference, because I wanted to use my lunch as time to hang out with fellow classmates and talk about something, anything, other than medicine. Most of the other students didn’t see it that way, and I usually went up to the cafeteria or an outside picnic table to eat (pending I was fortunate enough to have a lunch break to begin with) while they listened about treating hypertension for the 50th time.

Now combine the above conferences with your workload on the wards and the outside reading and studying that you probably do. Guess what?

You’re eating, breathing, sleeping and shitting medicine.

If you aren’t passionate about it, however, you’re simply wasting your time. Those are hours down the drain, never to return. You better damn well make the most of them.

If you would put in even a fraction of the amount of time and effort that medical training requires and apply that effort to alternatives outside of medicine that you are truly passionate about, you guys would absolutely kill it. I wrote about medicine developing my work ethic in an earlier post, and this idea is a spin off of that broad concept.

While I never learned shit about a new drug or the latest treatment regimen for pulmonary hypertension, medical conferences taught me that I could be more successful, more profitable, happier, and have more free time with a smaller time commitment while still following the “daily learning” equation that medical education subscribes to. I just had to apply that equation in other industries.

Thanks again, medicine. I owe ya one.

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15 Comments so far »

  1. Old MD Girl said

    February 10 2008 @ 2:34 pm

    I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels this way about noon conference. What a complete utter fucking waste of time. By that time, you’ve already been in the hospital for 5-6 hours (at least) rounding and rounding and rounding. The last thing you need is to sit and listen some more (like you’d retain anything anyway). I find it semi-disgusting that catching a few moments out in the sun/talking about something other than medicine for 20 minutes is considered a waste of time. Does EVERY moment of your life need to be spent learning something about medicine? Sheesh.

  2. LB said

    February 10 2008 @ 11:03 pm

    I was talking with someone about how surgery hours get in the way of drinking, and the resident muttered under his breath “When you go home you should be reading.”

    Get a life. Drinking>>>>>reading

  3. Hoover said

    February 11 2008 @ 12:15 am

    ^^
    I concur. Sounds like that surgery resident needs to get laid a time or two.

  4. Future Doc said

    February 11 2008 @ 7:23 pm

    I alway enjoy your blogs but rarely post any comments, so I decided know was a good as ever to tell you that I love you blog. You are honest, engaging and realistic. While living in the UK I still expect to use your blog as a key resource for working through medical education.

    You’ll probably tell me to get out while I still can, but I just wanted to say thanks and congrats on a great blog. I look forward to more posts.

    Future Doc

  5. medicinesux said

    February 12 2008 @ 11:04 pm

    Oh and don’t forget about CME’s after residency to maintain licensure- where you get to spend your vacations swallowing down even more medicine and watching colleagues stroke each other’s egos.
    A partial solution to counteract the tedium of all these conferences:
    http://www.bullshitbingo.net/cards/medical/

  6. Hoover said

    February 13 2008 @ 8:52 am

    Future Doc,

    Thanks for the comments, I really appreciate it.

    Hoov

  7. Half M.D. said

    February 15 2008 @ 12:23 am

    Ah yes, bullshit bingo. I remember playing a couple of games at a conference a few years ago. While I never won the game, I had a few rounds where I came awfully close over the course of just the first 10 minutes.

    Grand rounds is particularly bad. Most of the information is meant for residents and fellows, yet medical students are forced to attend as if we would get something out of these meetings. I usually take that time to surf the web on my palm pilot and catch up on replying to e-mails. So I guess it’s not a total waste.

  8. Mikey said

    February 19 2008 @ 3:55 am

    I wish you had a forum - it would be so helpful for those contemplating medicine (or staying in it lol)

    For the record, are you still in medicine or did you quit?

  9. Hoover said

    February 19 2008 @ 9:06 am

    Mikey, I’m out of medicine but I finished medical school.

    Oddly enough, I was laying in bed last night thinking about starting a forum here soon.

  10. jim said

    February 19 2008 @ 9:30 am

    yes, start a forum big dog

  11. bronx43 said

    February 20 2008 @ 2:32 am

    Haha, I’ve been saying this for a few months now. Remember that topic that had 40 comments?

  12. Hoover said

    February 20 2008 @ 1:25 pm

    Yep, I remember that comment bronx. The forum design is being worked on now…

  13. bronx43 said

    February 20 2008 @ 3:31 pm

    Great to hear that Hoover. Can I be a mod?

  14. Hoover said

    February 20 2008 @ 4:55 pm

    Sure thing, I’ll need a few peeps to moderate. Send me an email through the contact form.

    Thanks for volunteering.

  15. Randseed said

    June 28 2008 @ 10:42 am

    One of the major problems is that the program directors and regulatory bodies are completely unrealistic.

    Look, I come in at 6AM, round on my patients, _then_ get checkout from the night team (how much sense does this make?), then immediately round with the attending, which lasts until at least noon. (One day it went from 8AM to 4PM. No joke.)

    Then in the afternoon, I have lectures, clinic, conferences, or whatever else someone pulls out of their butt. This in addition to being post-call every third day.

    WHEN do you expect me to study for ANYTHING?

    Medicine needs to seriously get a grip and start living in the real world. Even if that were the real world of workaholics, it would STILL be better than what is going on now.

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