This week I have had some major fear of missing out (FOMO). There were three national meetings that I would love to have attended, but unfortunately it was my turn to take call so they were not to be.
The first meeting was the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS) Annual Meeting taking place in Dallas, Texas. This is always an exceptionally good meeting where there is quality content for the entire meeting. I always enjoy the meeting and networking at this meeting. Since I now primarily take care of breast cancer and breast diseases, it is extremely high yield for my practice. My partners and I take turns going to this meeting and because I attended last year, I was not able to attend this year. Fortunately, there are a lot of attendees who tweet from this meeting, so at least I have been able to follow along from afar.
The second meeting took place earlier this week and is the Surgeons as Leaders Course put on by the American College of Surgeons in Durham, NC. I wanted to apply for this meeting this year, but as it is taking place almost at the same time as the ASBrS meeting, I knew I would not be able to attend. Every participant I have known who has attended has nothing but positive things to say about this meeting. I believe surgeons make really good leaders and should take the mantle of leadership, so as long as the dates work out, I am planning to apply to attend the meeting next year.
In addition to surgical leadership, the American Association of Physician Leaders annual meeting is taking place this weekend in Washington, DC. I have not had the opportunity to attend one of these meetings in person, but I would like to in the future. I was able to get my MBA through this organization, so I would like to attend a meeting in the future.
The truth is I always have FOMO related to national and regional meetings. I wish I could attend all of them but time and finances keep that from happening. I have long said that if I could figure out how to make a living going to these meetings and learning I would do it. There are so many good meetings that I could probably attend a meeting of some sort every week of the year. At least I have Twitter so I can follow along with the meetings I can not attend in person.