Other speakers included Dr. Michael Baggish from the University of California in San Francisco, Dr. Amy Garcia, Medical Director at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Dr. John Gebhart director of Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, Dr. Javier F. Magrina Professor of Obstetrics-Gynecology at the  Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Dr. Mark Walters, Vice Chair of Gynecology Center of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

It was a delight listening to Dr. Garcia talk about office hysteroscopic sterilization and supracervical hysterectomies, she has Dr. Kate O’Hanlan’s stage charisma and sense of humour. It is also refreshing to see a female leader among many male leaders that constitute the faculty of this conference. She spoke from the listen-to-what-the-patient-wants perspective.

 

• The venue – you can not possibly beat Las Vegas for a conference destination. The Venetian/Palazzo hotel is also a great facility.
• offering free wifi which allows social media interaction even thought the only one, besides myself, tweeting from the conference was their sponsor @OBGmanagement.
• Presenting all different approaches to hysterectomy, even though each presenter was obviously biased towards their approach of choice, the conference as a whole was not.
• Having the whole syllabus and presentations available online so attendees can follow on their tablets/laptops.
• presenting “Pelvic and Abdominal Anatomy from the Laparoscopic Surgeon’s view” by Dr. Falcone. This is definitely not a topic that was covered in medical school or even residency training. Even my old Anatomy books did not have much to say/draw about that. It is a much needed topic especially that our field is heading fast toward minimally invasive surgery.

• Add hands-on training. A surgeon can watch videos online and for free all day long without having to travel to a conference. The biggest asset of a surgical conference in my opinion is the presence on hands-on training. This will help build confidence that one can take back to their operating room. It is also safer to try what you learn on a pelvic simulator or cadaver lab first before you try them on a patient.
• Focus the topics. The course is comprehensive and covers a wide range of topics in gynecologic surgery. This is a double edged sword. You end up feeling you learned a little about a lot of topics but this is easily achievable with personal learning efforts.
• Avoid muscle-flexing. I definitely did not want to spend an hour watching surgeries that I will never perform, like laparoscopic endometriosis resection from bladder and bowel or laparoscopic ureter reanastomosis. (To PAGS’ defence, this was during a breakout session where I had the chance to choose another topic.) I am not against watching those and I am sure there is a lot to learn from them, but a short conference is not the right place for it. The topics should be high yield.