ASA II

I spent a good amount of time in the exhibit hall of the conference which was mostly occupied by industry. I realize all the evidence on how industry influences physicians, but that will be the topic of a future post. I did pick up some free gifts, and I have to admit, they keep getting fancier and fancier (a USB drive? engraved penlight?). But, the really cool stuff was playing with some of the new biotech toys. Since it was an anesthesiology conference, there were a ton of biotech booths hawking new equipment for intubation and other procedures. I got to use a fiberoptic camera endotracheal tube, which was fun. The industry guy walked me through how to use the MAC blade, visualize the uvula, snake the endotracheal tube through, and use the fiberoptic camera to visualize the vocal cords. I'm sure though, the model was anatomically structured to be extra easy to make the product look good. I also got to do a fake lumbar puncture, and I learned about some new anesthetics (or new formulations of old anesthetics). The absolutely best way, though, to keep a crowd around a biotech booth is with a magician. It was ridiculous. The guy was an incredibly good showman (of course the magic word was the product they were trying to sell) and he performed some very impressive tricks. It's pretty hard to keep a crowd of rational, disbelieving doctors captivated.

I also heard several talks and panels. Interestingly, one research talk was by a woman who is a rival to my old lab at Stanford, so I knew a whole lot about her research and who she was. I attended a panel on medical student and resident education which I found worthwhile. I like these kinds of sessions, but it's pretty passive learning.