Resumen

NAVARRO, P et al. ¿Cómo conseguir éxito en un simposio de medicina? experiencia con el simposio: "Resurgimiento de las enfermedades tropicales". RFM [online]. 2004, vol.27, n.2, pp.102-105. ISSN 0798-0469.

The Symposium on "Reappearance of Tropical Diseases in Venezuela" was planned and held during the celebration of the 76th anniversary´s creation of the Tropical Medicine Chair at the Universidad Central de Venezuela; according to the people who attended, both organizers and participants, the Symposium was a success. This led to prepare this article, aimed at describing and assessing the methodology that was adopted to organize the event. An Organizing Committee was appointed, followed by the preparation of a feasible program, sending out invitations to professionals specializing in the selected areas, offering the symposium to potential sponsors and hiring a firm with and expertise in organizing this kind of events seven months prior to the chosen date. Question addressed the manner in which people had heard about the Symposium and their preferred subjects for forthcoming meetings. Results: 301 people attended: 42% medical students, 22% physicians and 21% bioanalysts. Financial contributions were made by five pharmaceutical firms (75%), registration fees of participants, the School of Medicine of the Universidad Central as well as the Extension Department of the University. The 90% of responders reported that they obtained information on the Symposium through advertisement leaflets, and the fields of interest for future events mentioned were tuberculosis, dengue and toxoplasmosis. Conclusion: The participation of university students, physicians and bioanalysts suggest to whom advertising should be addressed for future events. The financial support of the pharmaceutical industry is essential for these activities, which would be much more difficult to organize, albeit not impossible, without a support.

Palabras clave : Symposium; Tropical Diseases in Venezuela.