Eric Santamaria
When was the last time you saw your colleagues and pals at a conference?
Do you remember the first time you heard in person at a meeting from the experts you
learned from by reading their books and papers?
How long has it been since you had the opportunity to experience live scientific advances
and the development of new instruments in your specialty?
These are just some of the reasons why face-to-face congresses should resume as soon
as possible.
As of November 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world. Medical education has been
significantly affected, surgical training has been blocked, and the learning curve
flattened. Sanitary measures to prevent contagion, and to prioritize the lives of
each one of us have restricted traveling, forcing us to postpone or cancel almost
all our domestic and international congresses.
On the other hand, thanks to the development of telecommunications, webinars and virtual
meetings have increased during these desperate times, making it possible to improve
medical education, establishing a connection between education centers and experts
that would not be possible without communication technology. The advantages of virtual
learning tools have been previously acknowledged: the access to information is available
across geographic barriers, teaching is delivered by experts from around the world,
educators and learners alike demonstrate unprecedented flexibility; didactic lectures
are frequently recorded to accommodate those unable to attend, and learning objectives
are often clearly defined.[1 ]
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It is well known that Medical Associations must meet periodically in congresses. If
we go to the Latin origin of the word Association, it means to unite people, collaborate
on a specific topic, act. This activity cannot be performed exclusively in a virtual
way, we would lose the human essence, we need to socialize, we need personal contact,
and a life where we can relate.
We must take advantage of the momentum related to the development of virtuality to
enhance scientific meetings, not to replace them. We must try to keep the events growing
again in-person and at the same time, increase virtual attendance.
Hybrid events are already growing and are becoming more frequent, but we have always
seen them as a “plus” to the face-to-face event, as a tool. In the transmission of
knowledge, it is extremely difficult to use this medium for training, or even for
the development of discussion tables with people who could not gather in the same
physical place.
To resume face-to-face meetings, the topics of health and technology connection will
be one of the most recurrent themes and will become one of the main ones when planning
an event. This exchange of information will help the entire sector to speed up its
reactivation. Those with the best management in this area will have a significant
advantage over the others.
In addition to having a solid protocol about COVID-19 or other situations that may
arise, the health response to any situation will be one of the most critical and well-planned
issues to consider. Medical societies and government offices and entities must partner
closely. To achieve this goal, vaccination and the health passport seem to be an inevitable
reality as it is necessary to return to what we all want, to travel and socialize
again, in short, meet again.
Finally, let's not forget the great opportunity that face-to-face congresses represent
to meet mentors or masters. We all remember, when for the first time we had the experience
of meeting in-person the teachers from whom we learned by reading their books and
articles during the training. To be able to shake hands or take a picture together.
These memories with role models surely impacted our future professional development.
Not to mention having the chance to make lifelong friendships and international work
ties, through social coexistence and activities that go beyond academics.
Another irreplaceable aspect of face-to-face congresses is being able to learn about
the new products and technological advances of commercial sponsors, through live demonstrations
or workshops.
No less important is the enormous opportunity that congresses give us to get to know
other geographical destinations, their people, their culture, and gastronomy, among
others. Traveling, you enjoy life more, broaden your horizons of knowledge and experiences.
In short, you enrich the soul, and that is the essence of resuming face-to-face meetings.
