Each year, the ACR solicits feedback from annual meeting attendees. This feedback isn’t just stored in a file somewhere; it is reviewed and action is taken as a part of the ACR’s commitment to providing a quality educational experience at every annual meeting.
Last year, the two most frequent suggestions were related to improving the Meet the Professor and Workshop registration process and ensuring the final versions of the syllabi were received.
In response to these requests, the ACR has delayed opening registration for the much-coveted Meet the Professor and Workshop session slots until later in the year, when concurrent abstract sessions have been determined. This will help you make informed decisions when selecting sessions that will best meet your educational needs.
The ACR also has made adjustments to accommodate the request to receive final versions of the syllabi. In the past, speakers were asked to provide copies of their presentations months in advance of the meeting. This practice rushed faculty to prepare abbreviated presentations and, as a result, their final presentations were not included in the syllabi. In an attempt to improve this, the ACR has taken a new approach to collecting syllabi. Syllabi will now be collected onsite and will be available online to attendees within 24 hours of the speakers submitting their materials. If you are unable to bring your own computer to the meeting, you will be able to access the syllabi in the Internet Center.
Because some speakers may use unpublished data in their presentations, a small percentage of syllabi may not be available for review. Attendees registered for Preconference courses, Meet the Professor sessions, and Workshops will continue to receive printed syllabi onsite.
All concurrent abstract sessions have been posted at www.rheumatology.org/annual, and registration for Meet the Professor sessions and Workshops is now open.
The ACR hopes these changes will improve your annual meeting experience and welcomes your continued feedback on the annual meeting. Visit www.rheumatology.org/annual today to view the meeting program in its entirety and begin planning your annual meeting experience.
ARHP Advanced Practice Skills Training Course Offered at Annual Meeting
The ARHP will offer its Advanced Practice Skills Training Course on Saturday, October 17, prior to the 2009 ACR/ARHP Annual Scientific Meeting in Philadelphia.
The Advanced Practice Skills Training Course is a fun, interactive, multi–skill building course for nurse practitioners, physician assistants, fellows-in-training, and other clinicians who are interested in adult and pediatric rheumatology.
In April, the ARHP offered this preconference course before the ACR’s State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium. The program received complimentary reviews, and the demand for additional opportunities to participate in the course led to its addition to the annual meeting pre-conference course list.
Save Money on Your Registration!
Nonmembers looking to save on registration for this course should apply for membership prior to registering to qualify for the member discount. Visit www.rheumatology.org/arhp to apply for membership.
“[The course] really helped advance my joint injection and physical examination skills,” explains Kokila Thirumurthi, DO, of the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth and a participant in the April course who is already implementing what she learned in the course into her daily practice.
Patient volunteers from the Philadelphia area will be available for identification of common rheumatologic joint findings. During the hands-on station, attendees will cover upper- and lower-extremity examinations on adult and pediatric patients as well as directed musculoskeletal assessments and joint-injection practice on prosthetics. They will also learn and practice scoring disease-activity measurement tools such as the HAQ and DAS28.
Past attendee Manuel Chavez, RN, FNP, of Texas Tech University Health Science Center in El Paso, found the design of the course to be beneficial to his learning experience. “I liked the lectures prior to the hands-on skills session. It helped me from going in blindly to the hands-on session, which I enjoyed,” he says. “The patient volunteers were an added plus.” Even more beneficial to Chavez were the joint-injection sessions, which gave him practical skills that he brought back to his practice with the intention of immediate implementation.
This preconference course will enable attendees to walk back into their daily practices with a new set of skills and advanced knowledge of what is required in the treatment of their patients with rheumatic diseases. Space for this course is limited. To register, visit www.rheumatology.org/annual. For additional information, contact Ramona A. Hilliard at (404) 633-3777 or [email protected].
