As I dealt with the difficulties of being at the 2009 Academic Practice Management Conference I kept telling myself that I needed to be strong. An incredible hotel with great restaurants nearby and a short cab ride to almost any major location that one might want to see in Los Angeles just wasn’t fair. What should we do with our free time? Do we take a walk to Beverly Hills or a ride to Malibu? Catch a Dodgers game or visit Disneyland? As the stress of these decisions built up I was concerned for many of my colleagues – we all have breaking points and I certainly tried to ensure that none of them reached theirs, at least not on my watch.
The conference sessions certainly added to my stress. Too many great concurrent breakout sessions to decide which to attend! I’m still a bit upset with the general session speakers and had a few questions that I wasn’t able to ask.
- Dr. Atul Grover (AAMC) – It is a late Sunday afternoon, 90 degrees outside and the pool temperature is like bathwater – why must you give an incredible talk about President Obama’s new administration and the impact on the health care agenda now?
- Dr. Richard Cooper – Was looking forward to sleeping in, but you decide to give an engaging talk about the coming era of too few physicians. (Luckily on the East Coast it was already 11:00am so in a way I did sleep in).
- Dr. Bill Crounse (Microsoft) – I actually heard the blender mixing the margaritas at the bar before I was pulled into your session on healthcare trends that will shake the world – did you have to make it such a great presentation with incredible use of technology?
- Marilyn Moats Kennedy – Finally, what I thought would be a boring session discussing a demographic look at workforce planning. I figured that in the large room I could easily tilt my Blackberry just right and respond to many emails while still appearing to be listening to the speaker. Why did you ruin my plans and deliver such an engaging presentation that was full of such interesting and important information? I never had the chance to pull out the Blackberry. You were just too interesting.
I hope Austin is not as painful.
Phil Mesisca is COO of the Department of Anesthesia & Otorhinolaryngology for the University of Pennslyvania Health System in Philadelphia, Pa.