I had my quarterly endocrinologist appointment today. All things considering, I’m happy with where I am, diabetically speaking. There was an interesting part of my conversation with my endocrinologist that I’m posting here because I’m genuinely curious to hear what you all, my eager-readers think.
Most of you know that I work for the American Diabetes Association. This has been the case for over two years. I can’t lie, having a “diabetes.org” email address is pretty cool. Last year I attended our Scientific Sessions conference in San Diego to help out with the staff and helping keep things operating smoothly. I’ll be in Philadelphia this year for the latest conference – helping out and whatnot. It should be a lot of fun. After all, this is the largest diabetes conference in the world.
But, my endocrinologist will not be there. I’m not sure if that’s a bad thing, but I’m curious: for those of you that are pancreatically challenged, does it matter to you if your endocrinologist attends conferences like, or along the lines of Scientific Sessions? I know having our doctors active and accessible on social media is still a bit of a leap, but is it important that they attend these meetings? If they are doing their due diligence to stay up to date on the latest news and developments on their own time, is it essential that they go to #ada2012?
Let me know what you think.
A Consequence of Hypoglycemia. 
It’s tricky. I want my doctor to be up on all the latest development and know about the newest and most promising therapies, but I also want her to be available in the office to treat and counsel patients. Of course, part of what she might recommend would be things that doctors learn at professional conferences like Scientific Sessions.
So I think endos should go, although perhaps not every year. This stuff trickles down after all. I would rather have them read the journals that come across their desks than go to conferences. I figure, if we in the DOC know about it, there’s a good chance that our doctors also do and are waiting for the initial promising research to crystallize into proven therapies.
Then again, some wait way too long, and it would be a good idea to have them go to conferences and have their minds expanded. What we don’t want are situations like I had with my first endo. When I asked him what was new in diabetes, he said, “not much,” and then changed the subject to the Red Sox.
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My current endo wouldn’t know social media if the Zuck himself explained it. He’s a fracking luddite when it comes to staying informed. It’s not his age, it’s his attitude. He won’t download meter data. He won’t do email.
I doubt he even knows these conferences exist.
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