The Tribune

MEDICAL professionals will commune over best practices and industry challenges like client management and nursing shortages at their 47th annual science conference this week.

Medical Association of Bahamas (MAB) president Dr Marcus Cooper told The Tribune he hoped the general public will take advantage of this year’s line-up, which showcases a concerted effort to keep the conference both relevant and accessible.

A conference highlight, he said, will be a closing debate on whether physicians or executives were better equipped to manage a health care facility.

“We have topics for physicians, nurses, allied healthcare professionals, and also the general public,” he said. “We have topics from sex and menopause for the layperson, to medical marijuana vs opioids or narcotics for chronic pain. There is also a session on improving the patient experience through communication.

“We are ending the conference with a debate on whether physicians vs executives should manage a healthcare facility. Who’s better suited to manage a health care facility, who’s better equipped, which is very important particularly in the public hospital system we have, which is being managed by the Public Hospitals Authority which is a business and administrator trying to manage physicians.

“Some may feel executives sometimes may not be sensitive to needs,” he said, “and then there are physicians who should be in management but don’t because they feel management is not sensitive to the needs of the patient. That is going to be a very important debate and a very timely topic.”

For the first time, there will also be a dental track among the scores of research presentations and panels by more than 30 local, regional and international speakers.

There will be more than 40 local and international vendors, Dr Cooper said.

Dr Cooper said: “Traditionally, lectures have been geared to healthcare professionals but as president I wanted to make sure we were relevant, but also inclusive so there can be something for everybody.

“Lots of topics for physicians, heart disease management of diabetes, and complications of kidney disease to breast cancer updates. We have Dr John Black who will be giving (a presentation) on the Aidan Roger Carron Foundation lectures about research in cardiac arrest, and how to improve survival. Dr Patrick Brown of Johns Hopkins will deliver another Foundation lecture on paediatric oncology.

“There will also be a world renowned speaker who is a nurse, talking about nurse retention. We are losing so many nurses, so it will be a great session focused on nurse satisfaction, upward mobility, retention.”

The three-day event begins on Wednesday evening at Baha Mar’s Convention Centre.