Attending Orthopaedic Conferences: Academic, Networking, Holiday or more?

Volume 17 | Issue 3 | July – September 2022 | Page 3-4 | Dhiraj V. Sonawane


Authers: Dhiraj V. Sonawane [1]

[1] Department of Orthopaedics, Grant Medical College And Sir J.J. Group Of Hospitals, Byculla, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

Address of Correspondence
Dr. Dhiraj Sonawane,
Department of Orthopaedics, Grant Medical College And Sir J.J. Group Of Hospitals, Byculla,Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
E-mail: a2zspine@gmail.com


Attending Orthopaedic Conferences: Academic, Networking, Holiday or more?

In recent times there is rise in number of conferences with every small or big, local/national/ International society wishes to carry annual meeting. The number of delegates in conferences are too on rise; The flora in orthopaedic conference(OC) is mainly practising general orthopaedic surgeon, residents, Practising Medical teacher, Sub-speciality surgeons, Allied subject colleague etc. Now-a-days most of us are part of many societies from local, district, IMA, sub-speciality, disease specific societies , national, & international societies etc & every society wish to throw a conference under their aegis which has given rise to a competition among them and made more difficult for delegates to decide which conference to choose. Here we are trying to look in brief

How important is it to attend various conference?
Does OC helps us in changing our practise?
How is each one of us gets maximum from such meetings?
How frequently shall we attend conferences?
Future of conferences? Virtual & more

If we go by definition “Medical Conference means an assemblage of health professionals at which medical information/ Education is communicated”. But it much more than this for every orthopod whether its attending delegate , faculty, & organiser.

One must know prior to answering these question what conference gives us. Its basic human nature to get satisfaction from giving, sharing, greeting, exploring, & meeting. OC with organising team, supporting team, gives platform to achieve all this at a given time. With academic in centre speakers & Masters are screened as per expertise to serves us information or educate us.
These speakers from various location visit & shares their work results from their vast experience in few minutes aiming to help us all serve better to patients. OC provides us tons of academics, along with networking, meeting friends & professional colleagues, take a break from routine work, explore the places which you haven’t visited. So its what you are looking at that particular time, if it’s presenting your work, enjoying your favourite destination, or exploring new.
A young orthopod might look mainly at academic part, & meeting masters in person for further training, get tips for catch 22 situations. One must balance between intellectual need or relaxation & fun to register and manage time calendar accordingly. It is of prime importance that practising subspecialty surgeon like Spine or Joints he too must share his work in general orthopaedic conference and not just limit themselves to particular speciality meetings.

A delegate shall go through the programme prior and decide his priorities of particular session to be attended. One should only focus more on topics of his interest rather than speaker of a session. In a conference instead of taking tons of information, only significant practise changing points or key facts must be noted; this should not be more than 2-3 in a particular day or a session. Never hesitate to ask questions or discuss problems you face considering it as opportunity. Orthopod must attend minimum 2-3 conference in a year irrespective of his stature, age, experience, faculty or delegate.

Digital conference might be future of conference with rise in smart phone use, 3D live streaming, artificial intelligence is started being used. It might be more economical, advantages of not taking a break from busy practise. In case we are looking at academic only, but it’s not likely to replace traditional OC as its much beyond academics. These digital conference fail to satisfy meeting human satisfaction of face-to-face interactions meeting, however hybrid meeting which is physical + digital might have advantages of both bringing down the cost, time, with advantages of traditional meetings. Biggest challenge surrounding hybrid events lies in the adaptation of the on-site event into a virtual experience with all the opportunities and benefits of attending in person which might be future in OC.

Dr. Dhiraj V. Sonawane
Chief Editor – Journal of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery


How to Cite this article: Sonawane D. Tuberculosis of Spine – Do we know everything about it?. Journal of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery July-Sep 2022;17(3): 3-4.

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