Open AccessHybrid conferences in the post-COVID-19 era: Time yet for a paradigm shift for medical associations
Author(s) -
Dinesh Devaraj,
Shyamanta Barua,
Neeta Karal Nair,
Raghunatha R Reddy,
Namitha Chathra,
Aruna Devi,
Dipak Kumar Agarwal,
Savitha Somaiah,
P Jagadish
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of cutaneous and aesthetic surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.44
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 0974-5157
pISSN - 0974-2077
DOI - 10.4103/jcas.jcas_207_21
Subject(s) - viewpoints , covid-19 , medicine , computer assisted web interviewing , medical education , pandemic , family medicine , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , virology , pathology , outbreak , art , marketing , business , visual arts
Since the first COVID-19 lockdown in India was declared, all scientific conferences and related activities have been conducted in online formats (1). The ACS(I) [Association of Cutaneous Surgeons (India)] conducted its Annual National Conference called ACSICON-2021 for over 1150 delegates in mid-2021 in a hybrid mode. ACS(I) was one of the first organizations to embrace the hybrid conferencing strategy in the post-COVID-19 era in India. However, while meeting feedback and testimonials are typically gathered, there is very little public data documenting conference attendees' viewpoints. The goal of this research study was to look at the viewpoints of medical conference attendees (such as physicians and medical professionals) on hybrid conferencing as a future trend, the danger of infectivity and transmissibility of COVID-19 during and after the event, the effectiveness of stringent safety protocols and vaccination in preventing the disease and thereby assess the feasibility of hybrid conference as the most convenient mode of learning interaction in the current COVID-19 era and also Post COVID-19 era.