Veterinary continuing education (or CE) conferences happen all year around, all over the globe. Pet Connection sent a team of five of us to the Western Veterinary Conference in Las Vegas to give you all the low-down on what happens in Vegas (baby). I am on the plane home right now, slightly lighter in the wallet, slightly smarter and minus a goodly portion of my liver.
This is the third time I have attended this CE conference – the first being when I was in veterinary school (at Washington State University – Dr. Marty’s alma mater) and the second being last year, when I delivered several lectures on emergency medicine topics and was lucky enough to be voted speaker of the year. I was able to finagle a press pass for this trip – the first of my life. Since my dad was a dyed-in-the-wool reporter (in the days when there were still newspapers around), this trip had special significance for me.
Dr. Marty, Gina, Arden Moore, Kim Campbell Thornton and I made up the team, which I have dubbed Becker Team Sparkly Starfish Optimus Awesome, or Away Team One (I can’t decide which – I am waiting on input from the other members). David stayed home to make sure everything hummed along smoothly at PetConnection.com, and also because he is banned from entering the state of Nevada until the year 2035. I am not sure on the specifics, but I believe it involved a showgirl, a missing slot machine, and either Roy, Siegfried or both.
Conferences are an opportunity for your vet to hone skills, network and have a little fun. All states have a requirement that veterinarians must attend a certain number of continuing education classes every year to keep their skills sharp and stay abreast of changes and advances in our profession. A vet who makes it a point to attend conferences and lectures (beyond the minimum requirement) is one who is demonstrating a commitment to personal and professional excellence. It would not be a bad idea to discuss what areas your vet seeks out for professional advancement and CE the next time you are in their office.
On the ‘honing skills’ front, there are usually 8 to 10 lectures to choose from every hour on a variety of topics, for both small, exotic and large animal practitioners. (As a side note, I learned that in Vegas the word ‘exotic’ does not have the same connotations that it does for most veterinarians; for example an ‘exotic’ animal veterinarian treats hedgehogs and iguanas, while an ‘exotic’ dancer in Vegas is a naked person, usually female).
Lectures this year were offered from Sunday through Thursday (I fled a day early). Lectures are offered from 8 a.m. until 6 or so p.m., so the day usually starts by scanning the schedule grid and looking for suitable talks to attend. I made it to several ER topics this time – from dealing with GDV (gastric dilation volvulus syndrome) to managing patients after cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and a smattering of others. Gina was going to be cruel and make me attend lectures on the dreaded topic of dermatology (I am assuming that she buys into that whole ‘suffering builds character’ mystique) but she relented when my big brown eyes filled up with tears and my lower lip quivered a bit.
If your vet has a particular area of interest or expertise, say pain management or reproduction, they can focus on these and just attend lectures in this arena; the talks tend to be grouped by similar themes and topics, so it is fairly easy to get in the groove and gain some in-depth knowledge on special areas of interest. Your vet could also choose to expand their horizons a bit and branch out into areas they may not be familiar with – attend a lecture on acupuncture or check out what’s new in nutrition. It can get a little frustrating when there are several topics running at the same time that you may have an interest in, so you have to pick and choose your talks carefully. The talks can vary in degree of usability – from ones where you are scrambling madly to write down every little nugget of information, on down to snooze-fests where you are desperately trying to stay awake and hoping a fire breaks out so the hall is evacuated. I found the caliber of the talks to be slightly below par this year when compared to prior years and other CE conferences, but this may have had something to do with some of the extracurricular activities that we took part in, and not the actual talks themselves.
Most CE conferences offer additional learning opportunities beyond just lectures for picking up some new skills (or improving old ones). There are often labs that vets can take (usually for an extra fee), round-table discussions to participate in and lunches with experts. The labs offer hands-on experience with new surgeries or techniques and are usually very popular and well-attended.
Conferences are typically held in ‘destination cities’ and usually in rather large and glitzy venues. The WVC was held in the rather large and glitzy Mandalay Bay hotel, but veterinarians tend towards being a rather frumpy and non-glitzy crowd (my wife excluded – she is a pretty and sparkly princess; her rhinestone-studded flippy-floppies meshed perfectly with the Vegas milieu). I think conferences serve an important function in keeping vets on top of their game, but also allowing for a chance to get away and see cities they may not otherwise be able to (many vets can write off the trip for tax purposes, or are reimbursed by their employers, or perhaps both).
The other thing that these conferences are good for is networking – when you get a whole buncha people who are interested in the same thing gathered together under the same roof, connections inevitably form. One place that this occurs is the exhibit hall; this is a giant room (we’re talking several football fields in size) that is filled to the brim with corporate sponsors. I am fairly used to them by now, but when I was a student I remember being totally floored by the sheer number of crappy free things I could make off with (example: a free dog food company logo pen that lights up when you press a button! Free! It does not write – but it lights up!). You take armloads of the stuff and then get home and think “What the hell do I need all this junk for?” The sponsors are even thoughtful enough to give you crappy free logo bags to hold all the crappy free logo items as well – they have really thought of everything, and have only our best interests at heart.
The exhibit hall is a great place to meet other veterinarians and suppliers and hash out deals on equipment, surgical instruments, drugs or any of the myriad other things that keep a veterinary practice running. I know of many jobs that were lined up through conference networking, and more than a few romantic entanglements.
I will highlight some of the PetConnection networking that took place at WVC in the next installment, as well as give you a censored and family-friendly version of the ‘have some fun’ part – turns out there is a lot more than just gambling to be had in Vegas! (Here’s a sneak peek)
Photo credits: Top, wildnatureimages. Bottom, Dr. Tony Johnson.
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