It was just last weekend that I refreshed my CPR and First Aid as part of my yearly work up to practise as an AEP. The new year is typically when I start considering what learning and education I might plan to participate in during the upcoming year. Not dissimilar to most of you, I also need to achieve a certain level of CPD points each year in order to remain accredited.
And although getting CPD points is one thing, it's definitely not the only thing I consider when weighing up what type of course to do.
Is it 🤔 the same for you?
If you're willing to indulge me, I wonder if I might be able to tell you a story 📕 about our annual educational conference, BJC JAM. All good stories start at the beginning, so let's head back to 2016.
Irwin wrote this piece in 2016 re-capping the first ever BJC JAM. From the very beginning, the aim 🎯 of BJC JAM was to connect with GPs and Allied Health Professionals, and learn together as a community in order to better serve our patients. The program was designed to provide some juicey 🧃 nuggets of information about a large range of common rheumatic and musculoskeletal issues.
This quote from Irwin also speaks to the motivation to run such a conference.
"Delayed diagnoses and missed opportunities lead to failure to achieve lasting remission or to prevent recurrent, unnecessary suffering. These are real goals for us to help address."
The first JAM saw over 100 GPs and Physiotherapists attend and learn from the 15 presentations and 4 workshops.
Pretty sweet 🍑 right?
The last few years in particular really saw BJC JAM transform. We hosted our first entirely virtual BJC JAM in 2020 (including a post conference exercise session for attendees!) The program and agenda started to broaden, with a range of different speakers from different backgrounds all presenting.
The format also started to sweeten. Instead of traditional lectures, we hosted case studies, panel discussions and even hosted a virtual dance session 🕺 one year!
In 2017 Irwin mentioned that Arthritis and Rheumatology tends to be viewed as a little unsexy. Things have changed when it comes to that don't cha think?
But BJC JAM has sure gone through some changes and I hope you'll agree that these changes have helped sweeten the deal! 🙂
The last few years we have hosted 2 conferences each year (live events and virtual ones) to help keep making great Rheumatology education accessible and available.
Our next JAM conference is going to be a completely live event in Sydney. You can check out all the details about our upcoming BJC JAM conference right here.
Anywho, thanks for indulging me with this post. Whether you are keen to JAM or not, all the best for a sweet year ahead!