SMACC - Doing it for the Love

SMACC stands for Social Media and Critical Care.  It is an annual conference hosted by a team of brilliant people found here.  As put by members of their team, they share their talks freely after the conference "for the love."

It feels almost impossible to keep up with the many podcast posts that SMACC puts out.  Even with listening to approximately two hours of podcasts every day on the commute to work, it feels like quite the task.  However, SMACC can be inspiring.  Although many of its talks have quality content that teaches important medical topics, some are truly meant to inspire us to lead and succeed.  Take for example Cliff Reid's "How to be a Hero" or "Crack the Chest.  Get Crucified" by the late, great John Hinds.  

SMACC is all about catering to the delegates (the people who attend the conference).  Delegates have a say in every aspect of the meeting, including the speakers chosen, program topics, theming and styling, social events, and the questions asked in sessions.  In turn there have been improvements and innovations to the program such as increasing level of female faculty, providing on-site child care, and a #smaccByte competition.  Additional benefits from the conference has been how to engage, inspire and make critical care education enjoyable such as keeping the talks short (15-20 minutes), choosing them carefully, handpick speakers who are known to educate and inspire, and discourage reliance on PowerPoint presentations. 

The next conference will be #dasSMACC held in Berlin, Germany in 2017.  There will be some differences in this conference including only one track with speakers talking to the whole group versus break-out sessions like in the past.  Tickets go by quick so if interested, go to their site and see when registration is available.

Remember that with SMACC this is often at the cutting edge of emergency medicine and critical care.  It may be so advanced that the topics discussed may put you or the rest of your team a little on edge.  One benefit though is that by listening to these, the overall clinical abilities can improve and the knowledge of medicine reaches a whole new level.  It further allows for a discussion that can then occur based on the experts and research that is out there.  

Do not fail patients by not giving them the best care possible.  Let SMACC be one of those many opportunities to learn more about how to manage sick or complicated patients.  After all, these lectures are free and readily available.  SMACC is "doing it for the love" and as those who take care of patients we should be taking every chance we get on advancing ourselves.