Heart Rhythm Society Meeting 2013 — Hyde Park Lecture

Hi Everyone, This may be the longest I have ever gone between posts. As all bloggers do, I will tell you the reason. I was preparing for my invited lecture at HRS 2013. It was a Hyde Park Talk. This means you stand in one of the busiest parts of the convention, and just start talking. You have a mic and the more you talk, the more people gather around. It’s different. My topic was ICDs, goals of care and end-of-life conversations. Here is the thing that put me under so much pressure: The names on that list are the biggest in the field. These talks are usually (and after mine will probably revert back to being) given by distinguished professors. So why would a non-academic like me get a spot on that podium? I’m not sure exactly, but here is what I surmise: Dr. Rich Fogel, the HRS program director, called me up months ago and said he read one of my posts on theHeart.org about ICD decision making. He wanted someone to speak about the state of the quality of the decision to implant an ICD. He knew the evidence base surrounding doctor-patient communication on sudden death prevention and ICD therapy was bleak. I can’t remember his words exactly, but it was something like, “this stuff needs to be said.” When I agreed, I had no idea how hard it was going to be to understand a topic so well that you can talk, off the cuff, without PowerPoint, and to your peers.. First, you had the mountains of clinical data in support of the ICD that needed to be critic...
Source: Dr John M - Category: Cardiology Authors: Source Type: blogs