Conferencing, Medical Style

I have blogged about conferencing before--for instance, this post about conference fashion, or this one about work accessories--so consider this the medical edition update.

I was at the Society of General Internal Medicine annual conference, held at an American West-themed hotel complex near the airport and far from the city of Denver. Some duct work had fallen into the pool the previous weekend, so it was off limits; otherwise the best part about being on Mountain Time was waking up early enough to exercise every morning.

Although I've been a member since I joined the editorial board of their journal, it was the first time (thanks to COVID and hospital rounding duties), that I had attended this conference. Something like 2,500 people had registered, the biggest meeting I've ever attended.

I feel like this moose is giving some serious side eye.

Left: I missed the memo about the black-and-white dress code.

Right: I ate at the diner next to the cheaper hotel I stayed in the night before things kicked off at the main conference location.

There was work: I presented a poster with two colleagues from other institutions.

And I went to a LOT of panels: on taking care of patients and trainees/colleagues with disabilities; on diagnosing and treating sleep apnea; on medical marijuana; on long COVID; on teaching nutrition; on diabetes and pre-operative evaluation updates; and all the plenaries.

There was also play:

I found the stuffed yeti the organizers used as a conference mascot.

I made a sign: "Every patient deserves a medical home and a home home. #HousingIsHealthcare #SGIM23" This was the only part of the vendor section with which I interacted; I've definitely seen other (bigger!) meetings with way more industry and job-recruiting presence. SGIM seems to have a strong social justice predilection, so I assume that has something to do with it.

And I played trivia! We were 5 people from different institutions who didn't know each other but sat together. Our first choice name, "Team NOS" [not otherwise specified] was taken by a group up front, so we changed it to "Team Correlate Clinically." And despite the fact that we thought we did poorly in the first round, we ended up in second place!

It was exhausting (and expensive), but I enjoyed meeting colleagues and hopefully making friends. Next year: Bean Town! Theme: Gun Violence