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| Approaching Potential Exhibitors—we all need to be saying the same thing. |
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by Bob Blumm, MA, PA-C, DFAAPA - June 2, 2010
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PAs and NPs are faced with the opportunity to expand their knowledge at conferences and CME events. There are plenty of online CME activities but they are missing the aspect of personal communication, contact and comradery. It’s sort of like speaking to your girl friend on a phone separated by many miles versus being with her in person. The idea that I am trying to communicate is not farfetched as the aspect of networking has always been a most important part of our gathering. Today, larger national organizations are manipulating rules and regulations to approve CME or to ascertain who can exhibit at our meetings. They actually want a list of who is exhibiting as this gives them opportunity to suggest that they go to the “big meeting.” This is both unfair and unethical as a business practice as the smaller specialty groups as well as state organizations need to able to act autonomously. I don’t believe that we need “big brother” to either approve or in any manner be involved with the logistics of our conferences. This is your specialty organization and you are responsible for all of the problems such as overbooking housing and meals and therefore you need to control every aspect of your meeting unless the “big daddy” wants to assume culpability for your meeting. That being said, we all should want our specialty meeting to be “the greatest show on earth.”
One of the incentives for the conference participants is the ability to interact with various exhibitors and get the newest information on their products. Cutting edge knowledge becomes evidence based medicine with the proper input. The problem is, how do I get the exhibitors to be supportive of my group? I am going to offer a few suggestions that have proven effect and if all members of a group pitch in with the staff of their specialty group, this should yield more product theaters as well as a greater number of exhibitors. Here is the list, but remember, if you are a member of a group, you have the opportunity and the privilege of approaching these exhibitors as they detail your office or facility.
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Let the company know that we expect them to detail us. We are licensed providers with scheduled privileges and have the right to be detailed. If they will not detail an NP or a PA, we should not allow them access into our offices.
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The potential exhibitor needs to know that the fancy pen is not as important as the latest literature and studies concerning the utilization of their product.
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PAs and NPs love monographs. Therefore it is a positive move on behalf of their sales and marketing departments to use this vector of education on new products.
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Place all information on their websites or offer a CD of the product and its utilization. For a fee, they can have that information or CD available on your specialty website so that it reaches an even greater number of clinicians.
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Offer educational programs with CME or CEUs and a NP or PA speaker.
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Consider both exhibiting as well as providing an educational grant for a speaker or session. The specialty staff can suggest a speaker or the company can use an exciting speaker from their own speaker’s bureau.
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As an additional bonus for being an exhibitor or speaker sponsor, we can allow the company to develop a short survey monkey that we will place on our website for two weeks. This will rotate so that all who wish to may apply.
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When advertising say “Only Your Healthcare Provider Can Prescribe” this is the only acceptable language when working with NP and PA groups.
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Templates of diagnostic protocols that can be carried or maintained by the HCP or APC.
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What CME is useful to our professions? Advertising in our Journals, Newsletters and magazines. Internet information and monographs.
If all members of our organizations integrate this philosophy into their professional lives, we will have bigger and better specialty conferences that attract all those working in our area of expertise.
Robert M. Blumm has received national recognition as a distinguished fellow of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA). He is the past president of the Association of Plastic Surgery Physician Assistants, and was past-president of the American Association of Surgical Physician Assistants, past president of the American College of Clinicians and NYSSPA, as well as Chairman of the Surgical Congress of the AAPA. In addition, Bob received the John Kirklin MD Award for Professional Excellence from the American Association of Surgical Physician Assistants. Along with his associate, Dr. Acker, Bob was the first recipient of the AAPA PAragon Physician-PA Partnership Award. He has been a contributing author of three textbooks, written 150 plus articles and is a sought out conference speaker throughout the United States.
The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.
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| Bob Blumm (Amityville, NY) |
on 10 Jun 2010 at 3:27 pm |
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I am afraid that I need to deny your comment. If you read carefully, any suggestions as to templates, CDs , information , etc are for their exhibit table. the companies are permitted to have this type of material at their tables but not have slides, lecturers, etc that promote their product in the lecture. I am saying, we don't want your pens and fancy gadgets but we do want your information and that is the purpose of exhibiting. They can use PA speakers, NP speakers or their own speakers bureau as long as they adhere to the standards that have been set forth. I have served on this committee for a national organization that is the watchdog for CME and this falls within guidelines. Perhaps you can send me specifics and I will be glad to discuss this with you. My e-mail address is surgblumm@gmail.com
Bob
Cell 631-252-1876 |
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| Steven Meltzer, PA-C (Spokane, WA) |
on 10 Jun 2010 at 1:19 pm |
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| Bob: with all due respect, you are advocating in direct contradiction to every national medical organization in the country as well as pharmaceutical companies. The past few years has seen increasing pressure from ACGME, AAMC, AAFP and academic health centers to move further away from direct influence of pharmaceutical "education". Having been involved in conference management for MDs and PAs for over 25 years, I can appreciate the need for their financial support to make those learning events affordable. But what you are proposing is just not in the right direction for the current environment. |
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