IMPAACT or lack there of...

Apr 10, 2007 00:14

Okay, so I spent 5 days in D.C. a week after speaking at Gallaudet. It wasn't really for speaking but rather an IMPAACT conference. In this case IMPAACT stands for International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Group. I went along with another patient from our clinic, 3 doctors and a 'chaperone' because the other patient and I were under 25. That was my first bone of contention.

We went because we are members of the Youth Advisory Board at the clinic and the IMPAACT conference had for the first time, a portion for community advisory boards nationwide. However, the CAB part of it, at least for me was a little disappointing. Our days were poorly structured, there were too many meetings that were 'optional' and really I feel that everything could have been done for the CAB portion in 2 days, 3 days if you wanted a little elbow room.

The doctor's portion of it was amazingly well structured though with multiple options per block for workshops/presentations that if you wanted to, you could be busy pretty much the entire day. It actually made me contemplate being a doctor just so I could come back to a conference like this and not feel like my time was completely wasted. That always comes out slightly more negative than it sounds.

A lot of the CAB attendees really said they got a lot out of it and enjoyed it. Personally, I felt that we were not told in detail what was expected of us before we showed up just that it was 'important that we be there' and that once we were there it seemed to be a focus group on steroids. Most of our sessions were filled with power point presentations where the presenter didn't add anything to the slides. For the most part they read verbatum directly from the slide or paraphrased. We were expected to fill out an evaluation form after each presentation (which at a conference/seminar is not unusual) but really they would have gotten more out of me if they had emailed me the powerpoints and asked me to write a report on them.

It was a learning experience though. I got some sightseeing in around the conference and before I go anywhere or attend anything like this again I will need to know exactly what it entails and what is expected out of me. I know I'm considered a 'high functioning' patient and they think most of their patients don't have full time jobs, activities, etc but I just can't keep giving all this time to them and taking away from my 9-5 that pays my bills.

Unfortunately I didn't know AIDS Watch is in a couple of weeks and now I definitely can't go to that because of all the time I've already taken off. It's a shame too because I think that would have been infinitely more rewarding and educational.

You live and learn I suppose.

conference, impaact, travel

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