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Which conference should I attend?

Which conference should I attend? Clinicians are required to sustain their knowledge, skills and enthusiasm for their discipline. In part, this requires them to attend medical conferences to update their knowledge in their specialist area. Indeed, continued validation to practise will depend on presenting evidence of continued medical education or continued professional development. The difficulty is in deciding which conferences are the most appropriate to attend. There are opportunities to attend local meetings, regional, national, European, North American and international conferences. For the pediatric specialist, the difficulties are compounded by the need to consider whether to attend both pediatric‐ and system‐based meetings. For the pediatric allergist, the situation is still worse because allergy spans so many system‐based disciplines, including pulmonology, dermatology, gastroenterology, otorhinolaryngology, ophthalmology, immunology and infectious disease. How can we ever rationalize our timetables such that we continue in clinical practice and at the same time sustain our knowledge? It would be possible to embark on a continuous world tour attending conferences! My own feeling is that the decision should be based on an evaluation of the needs of our patients. If the predominant patient referral is for asthma and allergic rhinitis, then attendance at a chest medicine oriented congress would seem most appropriate. Whether this is international or national should depend on the quality of the scientific programme. However, societies organizing the conferences have other important roles. They often act as advocates for the discipline and therefore for our patients, and set standards in relation to clinical practice. Latterly they have also become involved in the establishment of standards for training programs, and promote not only postgraduate education but also research and development. Thus it becomes important for us to consider where we allocate our support to these many societies. Over the last two decades, the major movers in pediatric allergy have been Europe and North America. However, the majority of the world's child population do not live in Europe or North America and there is a gross under‐representation of the majority of the child population from Asia, Africa and South America. If we are truly to act as advocates for all children with allergic and immunological disorders, then it is imperative that we work closely with our colleagues in these under‐represented regions of the world. It is with this in mind that the International Pediatric Respiratory Allergy & Immunology Society was established. This has now been involved in two very successful international meetings, the first in Sydney, Australia, and the second in Prague. The third such meeting will occur in Hong Kong between 10 and 15 July 2004. I would strongly urge everyone to put these dates down in their diaries and consider attending. There is no doubt that the meeting will be of high scientific quality, will offer excellent postgraduate education and will at the same time provide an enormous impetus to the development of the discipline in Asia. The key organisers are Professor Y.L. Lau and Dr Alfred Tam. For further information, contact the Congress Secretariat as follows: Meeting Planners International (HK) Ltd; e‐mail: ipraic@mphk.com . For this and the next issue of the Journal, I will not be including an In This Issue section. We have an enormous number of manuscripts awaiting publication and need to ensure that we have the maximum amount of space to incorporate them within the page limits set by the publishers. I hope, however, to reintroduce In This Issue next year. J. O. Warner , Editor‐in‐Chief http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Pediatric Allergy and Immunology Wiley

Which conference should I attend?

Warner, J.O.
Pediatric Allergy and Immunology , Volume 13 (5) – Oct 1, 2002
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Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company
ISSN
0905-6157
eISSN
1399-3038
DOI
10.1034/j.1399-3038.2002.305.x
Publisher site
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Abstract

Clinicians are required to sustain their knowledge, skills and enthusiasm for their discipline. In part, this requires them to attend medical conferences to update their knowledge in their specialist area. Indeed, continued validation to practise will depend on presenting evidence of continued medical education or continued professional development. The difficulty is in deciding which conferences are the most appropriate to attend. There are opportunities to attend local meetings, regional, national, European, North American and international conferences. For the pediatric specialist, the difficulties are compounded by the need to consider whether to attend both pediatric‐ and system‐based meetings. For the pediatric allergist, the situation is still worse because allergy spans so many system‐based disciplines, including pulmonology, dermatology, gastroenterology, otorhinolaryngology, ophthalmology, immunology and infectious disease. How can we ever rationalize our timetables such that we continue in clinical practice and at the same time sustain our knowledge? It would be possible to embark on a continuous world tour attending conferences! My own feeling is that the decision should be based on an evaluation of the needs of our patients. If the predominant patient referral is for asthma and allergic rhinitis, then attendance at a chest medicine oriented congress would seem most appropriate. Whether this is international or national should depend on the quality of the scientific programme. However, societies organizing the conferences have other important roles. They often act as advocates for the discipline and therefore for our patients, and set standards in relation to clinical practice. Latterly they have also become involved in the establishment of standards for training programs, and promote not only postgraduate education but also research and development. Thus it becomes important for us to consider where we allocate our support to these many societies. Over the last two decades, the major movers in pediatric allergy have been Europe and North America. However, the majority of the world's child population do not live in Europe or North America and there is a gross under‐representation of the majority of the child population from Asia, Africa and South America. If we are truly to act as advocates for all children with allergic and immunological disorders, then it is imperative that we work closely with our colleagues in these under‐represented regions of the world. It is with this in mind that the International Pediatric Respiratory Allergy & Immunology Society was established. This has now been involved in two very successful international meetings, the first in Sydney, Australia, and the second in Prague. The third such meeting will occur in Hong Kong between 10 and 15 July 2004. I would strongly urge everyone to put these dates down in their diaries and consider attending. There is no doubt that the meeting will be of high scientific quality, will offer excellent postgraduate education and will at the same time provide an enormous impetus to the development of the discipline in Asia. The key organisers are Professor Y.L. Lau and Dr Alfred Tam. For further information, contact the Congress Secretariat as follows: Meeting Planners International (HK) Ltd; e‐mail: ipraic@mphk.com . For this and the next issue of the Journal, I will not be including an In This Issue section. We have an enormous number of manuscripts awaiting publication and need to ensure that we have the maximum amount of space to incorporate them within the page limits set by the publishers. I hope, however, to reintroduce In This Issue next year. J. O. Warner , Editor‐in‐Chief

Journal

Pediatric Allergy and Immunology – Wiley

Published: Oct 1, 2002

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