The ASHP Midyear 2011 Conference basically concluded for me today. I’d like to evaluate the meeting, but honestly have very little to say. This was my first year working in the role of Product Manager for a vendor, and not acting as an “attendeeâ€, i.e I was here for work. The conference took on an entirely different feel this year as I wasn’t able to attend any of the sessions. For the most part I was stuck in the company booth playing the role of demo jockey. It was a strange feeling to say the least. I tried to follow the Twitter stream (#ashpmidyear) a bit, but finally relented and gave up.
I ran into a few old friends that came by the booth to mock me. It was good to talk pharmacy for a while here and there, but it was far and few between. I would have liked to seen and talked with more colleagues and friends, but it wasn’t meant to be. I wonder why I didn’t see more familiar faces in the exhibit area? Hmm.
Anyway, I found a few minutes here and there to wonder the exhibitor area and check things out, but nothing like previous years. The exhibitor area used to be one of my favorite places to be as it’s typically full of all kinds of cool automation, technology and new ideas.
Some vendors were worth visiting such as Omnicell, CareFusion, Baxa and Healthcare Logistics (HCL). Those were really the only booths I took time to peak at in any detail. Both Omnicell and Carefusion are doing some cool new stuff. Looks like both companies see a change in the future and are making moves to get ahead of the curve. Baxa had some great IV room stuff. Simply put, they’re kicking the crap out of everyone else. And HCL always has a great booth with a cool design. This year was no exception; Scottish theme complete with castle, kilts and Loch Ness Monster. Sorry, but I didn’t think to snap a picture.
I was thrown out of a vendor booth for the first time ever. That was pretty exciting. Apparently they didn’t think another vendor should be snooping around. The most interesting thing about the whole ordeal is that this particular vendor and my company aren’t doing any of the same things. Weird.
One of the most innovative things I’ve seen in a long time had to be IV Check by SEA Medical Systems. I’ll blog more about that later. Needless to say, I was impressed.
On the upside, New Orleans was an interesting place to visit. The city certainly has its share of night life activity and there’s no shortage of good food. The highlight of my entire visit, however, had to be my trip to the Superdome to watch the Saints take on the Lions on Sunday Night Football. What a great experience.
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