IPCAA NEWSLETTER

As far as can be ascertained, the first real “virtual congress” in the medical sector took place back in 1994 (INABIS – the Internet World Congress for Biomedical Sciences). There have been various virtual international medical congresses since, notably in general practice, cardiology, radiology, pathology, neurology and some areas of surgery.

In the ensuing fifteen years or so, there has been regular discussion on the topic, but it is safe to say that virtual medical congresses still remain the exception, rather than the rule.

The most common advantages cited for promoting the concept of virtual meetings relate to: wider participation and lower costs – for the organisers and the participants. Indeed, absence of travel and accommodation costs, rental of large convention centres and auditoria have a considerable financial impact. Convenience (avoiding increasingly difficult and “unpopular” overseas travel, and being able to be time-flexible) has also to be considered a major factor.

Today’s technology – constantly being developed and improved – makes on-line acquisition of scientific and medical educational data a comfortable and convenient experience.

Inevitably, when comparing virtual meetings with the traditional type of international congress, the benefit of “live networking” is normally claimed as the major reason for maintaining the traditional congress form. The face to face peer contact and the ability to physically meet with renowned global specialists and other colleagues, in a more relaxed environment than the usual clinical setting, still seems to be favoured by most congress delegates. This factor may dissuade potential participants from a virtual congress, which they might see as “impersonal”.

Although CME material is being made more and more available online (particularly in the USA), there are also views that medical education needs to be live and supervised.

External pressures which could have an effect on the organisation of future physical international congresses include: increasing inconvenience with air travel (security and ecological issues), ever-tightening regulatory constraints on industry supporters, financial and economic aspects, and industry development perspectives.

With ongoing development in the attitude towards virtual meetings, and the technology and services marketed to support them, traditional events may well need rethinking, if the body responsible for their organisation wishes to remain in the forefront of modern practice.

Whilst today’s society is increasingly an electronic and web-oriented “global village”, mankind still seems to need a high content of human contact in its data and behavioural learning and information exchange. Perhaps many years from now, nobody will need to set foot outside their own front door for anything, but for the foreseeable future physical and virtual networking seem destined to live side by side.

Everyone involved in medical conferencing issues – medical societies, organisers of meetings, industry supporters, and others, surely needs to view the prospect of virtual meetings as a new advantage to be implemented under appropriate circumstances and to fulfil identified needs; in other words, further research is necessary, and virtual meetings should not assume a “fashion” element!

It is currently taken for granted that generous sponsorship from industrial supporters will continue to enable international medical congresses to continue and even grow in size (and cost!) Growing discussion and recent debate, however, suggest that industry’s ability to maintain sponsorship budgets is weakening. At the same time there are growing opinions, that significant aspects of direct industry support for healthcare professionals’ educational and scientific activities will in future no longer be considered permissible.

It is certainly advisable for medical societies, their management, secretariats and others involved in the planning of congresses, to continue to critically assess future activities. If funding of traditional forms of congress becomes more restricted, “non-traditional” sponsors may have to be found, rationalisation in meetings implemented, different systems developed; this will certainly help to identify how to balance the physical with the virtual, and ultimately this balance will most probably be self-defining.

IPCAA was founded at a time when “virtual” was not a word to be found in the same sentence as “congresses”. Times clearly change and IPCAA and its members will embrace movement towards virtual meetings – essentially, all the principles which the Association stands for and defends must be considered for any form of international congress. As and when virtual congresses develop further, the IPCAA will ensure that any necessary updates in guidelines are implemented, and will of course, always be available for advice in aspects of industry participation in virtual events.