医学会议趋于数字化

未来医学会议在今年的经导管心血管治疗(TCT)年会上显现雏形，其包含的元素包括：无纸化、电子、互动式，毫无疑问还有高科技。

主办方向每个付费的参会者提供预装相关应用软件和资料的全新三星平板电脑，参会者可以在会议结束时带走平板电脑或退回平板电脑。如果参会者想要将应用软件下载到他们自己的设备上，那也甚好，许多参与者也确实这么做了。(我在新闻发布室借得一部平板电脑，发现其易于使用)


TCT参会者在会议间隙使用平板电脑

主办方并没有把平板电脑的费用附加到注册费中，而是将原本用于海量打印和其他材料的资金购置平板电脑。主办方没有利用企业赞助来为平板电脑买单，并且平板电脑主页上没有广告，也不将其用于收集任何类型的用户数据，不过预装的应用软件含有一些广告。

无纸化医学会议并非新鲜事物，目前许多会议都避免使用纸张，为参会者提供可将资料装载到其电脑上的zip驱动器，以代替打印。对于那些自己就有智能手机或平板电脑的人，在大型医学会议中对应用软件的使用非常常见。但这是我第一次见到有会议派发平板电脑，并且平板电脑包含互动式社交媒体功能、便捷的继续医学教育(CME)机制和更多功能。

通过这些应用软件，参会者可浏览会议中心，查看摘要，下载演讲者的幻灯片和利益披露信息，观看现场病例，记笔记，联系相关机构，查找班车、酒店和餐馆，以及获取展览材料。在参加完会议后，参会者可通过应用软件记录时间、撰写评论和申请CME学分。如果他们愿意启用某些设置，他们还可找到附近的参会者并与其交流。


TCT会议间一个大型显示屏显示实时推特信息(tweets)

每个分会场除了设有一个常规的主持人之外，还设有一个“数字主持人”。与会者不必在麦克风前排队提问，而是可发送文本形式的评论和问题，这些评论和问题会显示在演讲人幻灯片的一侧，这样一来每个人都能实时地看到评论和问题。这一功能并未像某些人担心的那样被滥用——医生们大部分时间仍然将注意力放在演讲者身上，而不是低头盯着自己的设备。

TCT一直以来都是介入心脏病学这一非常高科技的专业中科技含量最高的会议之一。主论坛的典型多任务处理设置与既往会议相似：一个长的演讲人讲台和多个显示屏，并配有个人耳机，可让你收听当时最感兴趣的“频道”。屏幕的两侧显示现场病例，中间显示演讲人及其幻灯片，穿插在其他屏幕之间的是显示即将举行的会议和参会者文本信息的屏幕。

一位新闻发布室的发言人告诉我，TCT会议经常在旧金山举办的原因是这座城市具备符合这些技术要求的基础设施。我询问，如果未来科技发展到非常高的地步，那么参会者会不会宁愿选择虚拟的参与形式而不真正到场参与会议呢？发言人表示，这种可能性存在但不高，因为如同大部分人一样，医生们仍然很重视面对面交流。

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By: SHERRY BOSCHERT, Cardiology News Digital Network

The medical conferences of the future made a preview appearance at this year’s Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics annual meeting in San Francisco. Paperless, electronic, interactive, and definitely high tech it was.

Every paid attendee was offered a new Samsung tablet computer, preloaded with pertinent apps and information, to personalize and keep if they wanted or return at the end of the meeting. If attendees preferred to download the apps to their own devices, that was fine too, and many of them did. (I got a loaner through the press room, and found it easy to use.)
 
TCT attendees use their tablets between sessions.
 
Rather than tack the cost of the tablets onto registration fees, the organizers shifted funds from the no-longer-needed bulky printed programs and other materials to pay for the tablets, according to the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, cosponsor of the TCT meeting with the American College of Cardiology. No funds from industry were solicited for the tablets, no advertising appeared on the home screens, and the tablets were not being used to mine for user data of any kind, but the preloaded apps did contain some advertisements.

Paperless medical conferences are not new – many conferences eschew pulp these days, providing materials on zip drives instead of printed programs that attendees can load onto their computers. And apps for the larger medical conferences now are commonplace, too, for those who have their own smartphones or tablets. But this is the first time I’ve seen a conference give out tablets and include interactive social media features, convenient continuing medical education mechanisms, and more.

Through the apps, attendees could navigate the convention center; view abstracts; download speaker slides and disclosures; watch live cases; take notes; contact some faculty; find shuttle buses, hotels, and restaurants; and access exhibition materials. After attending a session, they could log their hours, write a review, and apply for CME credits through the apps. If they were willing to enable certain settings, they could see who else at the meeting was in their vicinity, and communicate with them.
 
Each of the major sessions I covered included a "digital moderator" in addition to the regular moderator. Instead of standing in line at microphones to ask questions, members of the audience texted comments and questions that appeared on a screen to the side of the main screen showing the presenter’s slides, so everyone could see them in real time. This feature wasn’t as much used as one might fear – doctors were still paying attention to the speaker, not staring down at their devices, for the most part. From what I could see, the digital moderators provided most of the texted comments and questions, though at one session the live moderator noted that audience texts were asking the speaker to comment about stroke risk, so he raised the question.

Keep in mind, the TCT always has been one of the most high-tech conferences happening in a very high-tech specialty, interventional cardiology. The typical setup in their main forum was similar to that in past meetings, a multitasking-palooza featuring a long dais of speakers and multiple video screens, with individual headsets that let you tune into whichever "channel" interests you most at the moment. Screens with live cases flank either end, with the presenter and his or her slides in the middle and screens promoting upcoming sessions and showing the audience texts in between the other screens.

TCT comes to San Francisco regularly because the city has the infrastructure to support these technologic demands, a spokeswoman in their press room told me. Some other locations haven’t been able to handle their needs.

I wondered if the technology will be so appealing that attendees might prefer virtual attendance rather than having to be there. It’s possible, she said, but unlikely. Like most people, these doctors value their face time.