Too Long, Too Short, or Just Right?

March 12th, 2013

Too Long, Too Short, or Just Right?

Tariq Ahmad, MD, MPH

Several Cardiology Fellows who are attending ACC.13 in San Francisco this week are blogging for CardioExchange. The Fellows include Tariq Ahmad, Megan Coylewright, Jeremiah Depta, Kumar Dharmarajan, Payal Kohli, and Sandeep Mangalmurti. View the previous post here.

ACC 2013 was only 3 days. AHA 2012, in comparison, was 5 days.

I figured that since this meeting was far shorter, day 3 would be as packed as day 1.

That was not the case: most of my friends and mentors had left by the morning or afternoon today. Those who stayed in town spent the day exploring the city or visiting Napa Valley. The meeting looked like a ghost town around 2:30 PM.

Is there a better format for these meetings?

Should more of the educational content be online and the meetings be more of an opportunity to interact on a personal level? Should there be time set aside to take advantage of the host city? Should we do away with rigidly formatted oral sessions where interaction is kept to a minimum and most presenters just read off PowerPoint slides?

I would vote yes.

How would you like to see the ACC format of the future?

For more of our ACC.13 coverage of late-breaking clinical trials, interviews with the authors of the most important research, and blogs from our fellows on the most interesting presentations at the meeting, check out our Coverage Headquarters.

CardioExchange Archive

CardioExchange, an NEJM practice community for medical professionals dedicated to improving cardiac patient care, was active from 2009 to 2015. CardioExchange fostered discussion between clinicians from across the globe.

March 12th, 2013