Neurosurgeons Go Paperless at Annual Meeting With iPod Touch in Their Pockets

From Medscape Medical News
Daniel M. Keller, PhD

May 3, 2010 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) — Using the iPod Touch isn't brain surgery, but when 1 neurosurgeon saw what his young daughter could do with it, he got a brainstorm. The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) was looking for something more to offer its members at its annual meeting than the same old shoulder bag filled with weighty program and abstract books.
Michael Oh, MD, associate professor of neurosurgery at Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia University, Morgantown, said his daughter "zooms around [the iPod Touch], and she has access to so much information that it would be a perfect thing to have at a medical meeting." He proposed the idea to AANS president Troy Tippett, MD, who wanted to find a way to make the association's annual meeting more creative in a way that would offer more benefits to members. Dr. Oh then became the chair of the AANS iPod Touch Taskforce Committee.
"The whole purpose of those meetings is to transmit and communicate new information," Dr. Oh said. The idea of adopting the iPod Touch was to make the 2010 scientific meeting "more in your pocket and always available and on demand."
So at this year's AANS annual meeting, held May 1-5 in Philadelphia, attendees are all given an iPod Touch loaded with an AANS application, abstracts, the meeting program, podcasts, videocasts, electronic versions of posters, and clinical guidelines.
They will also be able to instant message their colleagues via Wi-Fi, participate in interactive audience polling during courses and scientific sessions, schedule which sessions to attend, and see maps to find rooms in the convention center and vendor booths on the exhibit floor. If a room number or presentation time changes, their schedules will be automatically updated via dynamic links. They can see a city guide and even make restaurant reservations through the Open Table online service.
This year, the more than 400 posters appear only in electronic form as an abstract and slides, and there are no actual poster sessions. Attendees can search for posters by author name or keyword. If a viewer wants to talk with an author he or she can send an instant message with a question or arrange a time to meet. In the future, Dr. Oh said, viewers may be able to leave comments about each poster.
Getting Up to Speed
Communications director Betsy van Die said AANS has ordered 3500 iPod Touches to be given to all paying attendees. Because the use of this technology is new to them, the AANS has done a year-long program of education through biweekly newsletters and online tutorials. In addition, “marshals” wearing distinctive armbands will be available at the conference to help any attendees with their devices.
Dr. Oh said that once the AANS started planning uses for the iPod Touch devices, "We realized it wasn't just going to be for the meeting. It will probably transform how our membership really communicates with each other and with the organization.
"It offers...new ways to look at information, transmit information, communicate with our peers...[and] be that sort of common device that transforms our membership into a community. I think that's the long-term exciting part of this project." He expects people to bring their iPod Touches to next year's meeting to have them loaded with new content.

The AANS has budgeted for a 3-year program of using the iPod Touch devices. "Even in a down economic year, we were able to meet and exceed our budget for sponsors," Dr. Oh said, "so we're very pleased with that. I think that it helped that we had something new and novel to offer sponsors."
The cost of the devices is offset by an additional $100 being added to the registration fee. Gone are the old "door drops" of promotional materials from exhibitors. Instead, the AANS has offered exhibitors several forms of advertising on the iPod Touch, ranging in cost from $1000 to $10,000, plus the cost of product give-aways or services (eg, video production for videocasts).
Opportunities include blast emails, splash ads, banner ads, exhibitor Website listings, podcasts, videocasts, iPod Touch cases, AC chargers, iTunes cards, and individual custom applications. Ms van Die said 40 company-sponsored email blasts are scheduled for the meeting.
"Some of them have action items in them, like 'Come to our booth for a raffle drawing.' So there's been a huge amount of enthusiasm from the sponsors on this, and they're very excited that it's more interactive," Ms van Die explained. She said many other medical societies are interested in using the iPod Touch at their meetings, and they have contacted the AANS to see how it has implemented the technology and are waiting to see the outcome.
Dr. Oh and Ms van Die have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) 2010 Annual Meeting.