YOUNG PHYSICIANS SECTION
Advocacy: What Can You Do? Joshua Bucher, MD FAAEM
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he Young Physicians Section hosted a webinar on March 15 regarding advocacy and what we can do as physicians in our local communities. This was a great opportunity to hear from several AAEM members, including Julie Vieth, MD FAAEM, the current chair of the Workforce Committee as well as Debbie Fletcher, MD FAAEM, a member of the Workforce Committee. As physicians, we are the experts in evidence-based care and should be advocates for patient safety. Politicians do want to hear what we have to say. Few politicians are in health care and even fewer are physicians. Therefore, we can use our expertise to make connections, offer advice, and give input when the opportunity arises. You can make connections with your politicians as easy as reaching out through social media, sending an email, calling their office, or any other way of making contact. Politicians want to hear from us, their constituents, and the best way to start that is by telling a story. Stories can be very moving to politicians and draw their attention to an issue they may not have considered. Personal stories can lead to further conversations involving important issues and the research and numbers to support it. We often do not get involved in politics since we are balancing many different items on our plate; whether it be family, personal or professional, our truly “free time” is limited. There are also not many organizations we can join that can fully represent our views. Dr. Fletcher spoke about her experiences in Louisiana where they organized a group of physicians to advocate for patient safety issues regarding scope of practice. While the
“Stories can be very moving to politicians and draw their attention to an issue they may not have considered.” nurse practitioner lobbies spoke about improving access, the physicians demonstrated increased scope of practice did not lead to increased access to care, one of the most important aspects for politicians who are debating these issues. They were able to prevent the passage of a bill allowing increased scope by demonstrating these facts. Some of you may ask, why should I care? Scope of practice and other patient safety issues will affect all of us, and it is important to be educated and aware of these bills when they arise. This is yet another reason we should be reaching out to our local politicians in state houses and assemblies; we can ally with them, and they or their staff can contact us when certain bills arise. Advocacy is an important yet underutilized tool in our toolbox. Forming relationships with our local politicians can be invaluable for the future of medicine, and we should all be involved.
Announcing New AAEM Interest Groups! Interest Groups are established by the president and/or Executive Committee as a group of AAEM members who have a common interest that impacts both the Academy and emergency medicine as a specialty not covered by either a committee or task force. We are pleased to announce the launch of three new AAEM Interest Groups:
Aging Well in Emergency Medicine Interest Group Rural Medicine Interest Group Simulation Interest Group All AAEM Members can sign up to participate!
aaem.org/get-involved/interest-groups COMMON SENSE MAY/JUNE 2022
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