SHM Converge 2024: The hospitalist experience you need!
A welcome message from Conference Course Director Carrie Herzke, MD, FAAP, FACP, SFHM.
If you are like me, you need something to look forward to in the spring after the dark days of winter. Enter Converge 2024, in sunny San Diego next month!
On behalf of the Annual Conference Committee, comprised of academic and community physicians and APPs, and the SHM staff, we are excited to share highlights of the conference with you.
First, we are ON the San Diego Harbor with a view that is amazing. But, we think you will be so busy, you may not have much time to take in the view as we have three days of educational content for you, as well as research competitions, speed mentoring, Special Interest Forums, exhibitors to learn from, and, new for 2024, the MED-TED teaching competition! On top of that, you will have plenty of time to reconnect with old friends and make new ones with our dedicated networking time at various locations throughout the conference.
More clinical content than ever before
We’ve promised to continue adding clinical content, and this year you will see more clinical content than ever before, including the return of favorites like “Things We Do For No Reason™” and “Updates in Critical Care!” We encourage you to take in the scientific abstract competition and learn from our poster presenters, scan through the program and pick those “must-attend” sessions, and get engaged by attending a workshop. Also new are Late Breaking Sessions spread throughout the conference, which will cover some of the most vital topics making the news and impacting our day-to-day practice.
Announcing Parul Somani, this year’s Converge keynote speaker
We’re very excited to welcome mindset expert Parul Somani as our keynote speaker for her session, “The Kinetic Life: Your Power to M.O.V.E. Through Change With Intention.” During her keynote on Saturday, April 13, she will guide us through a practical, step-by-step guide to embracing change, making hard decisions, and thriving with intention — lessons we can all benefit from after the past few years.
Focused on research or academic hospital medicine? We’ve got you covered
For those interested in academics, we have our Academic and Research track planned by our Academic and Research Committees, which includes the popular Shark Tank session. We also have sessions on teamwork, workload, clinical reasoning, mentoring, and many more. For those of you in academic leadership, I hope you will join us at the Academic Leadership Summit. This year, the focus will be on factors challenging hospitalists to remain academic and strategies to overcome them. Guaranteed networking!
Come early for advanced learning courses
For those who want to focus on a particular topic, we offer three Advanced Learning Courses on April 12, the day before the main conference begins:
- Ultrasound (morning and afternoon sessions)
- Perioperative (back by popular demand!)
- Beyond the Bedside: Transforming Your Career
Tips for first-timers at SHM Converge
If you are a first-time attendee, we know the meeting can be a lot to take in! We encourage you to check out Updates in Hospital Medicine, which is an annual tradition, featuring two speakers who whiz through a year of literature with humor and grace. I dare you to not chuckle and walk away with several take-home points to impact your practice back home. We offer both a pediatric and an adult medicine version. We also invite you to attend the new member and first-time attendee breakfast on 7-8 a.m. on Saturday, April 13.
Are you excited yet?
Every year, we use your feedback as we plan the conference for the next year. For the past few years, your submissions — all 1,241! — have inspired most of the content at SHM Converge, like this year’s new MED-TED Teaching Competition. Visit the Special Events page of the SHM Converge website to find out more about the competition, the Chapter Corner, Converge Central, and more!
All told, I suspect the biggest problem will be picking what you won’t attend, as there is something for everyone — hospitalists, practice managers, and people who like hospitalists and/or want to be hospitalists!
If you haven’t registered, what are you waiting for? Visit shmconverge.org to secure your spot!
See you in San Diego!
Visit SHM Meeting News Central for more coverage.
