September/October 2022

Purpose

Author: Jonathan S. Jones, MD FAAEM

What is the purpose of a specialty society or association? Or, perhaps, more specifically for us, what is the purpose of an academy? I think we all know what our mission statement is, maybe not verbatim, but we know the gist. As should be the case, some of us identify with or hold in high esteem one part of our mission more than another. However, what I believe is that all of us agree with the mission in general, otherwise, we would not be members. While I think about our mission statement every day and I read it prior to every AAEM meeting, recently, I’ve been thinking more broadly about societies, associations, and academies.

  July/August 2022

Events

Author: Jonathan S. Jones, MD FAAEM

In my last article in Common Sense, I explained my goals for the Academy and my plans to accomplish them. And while I explained some of the things which I love about emergency medicine and some that I don’t, I didn’t really explain why I joined the Academy in the first place. Two recent, yet completely unrelated events reminded me why I joined and have motivated me to work even harder for the Academy.

  September/October 2022

Thanks for Saving My Life. Sorry I was an A--hole

Author: Andrew Mayer, MD FAAEM

Remember that as an emergency physician you get to do cool stuff. No matter where you work or what the administrative, pay, or nursing situation is right now you still get to do really wonderful things. Many cases which are run of the mill for us would quickly overwhelm many other physicians. Our skill set is impressive and was not gained easily.

  July/August 2022

Politics Makes for Strange Bedfellows

Author: Andrew Mayer, MD FAAEM

In the past year, Common Sense has started a series of articles focusing on advocacy and politics. These have been a series of interviews of various political figures. These politicians have ranged from members of the U.S. Congress, state elected officials, to even an AAEM member who is running for the U.S. House of Representatives. The topics covered during these interviews try to emphasize health care related matters especially those which would be of interest to the membership of AAEM.

These articles have generated some concerns by some of our members and I wanted as the editor to address these concerns with my opinion concerning this issue.

  September/October 2022

Rural Medicine Interest Group: Critical Access

Author: Robyn Hitchcock MD FAAEM, Rural Medicine Interest Group Chair

AAEM recently started the "Rural Medicine Interest Group." A case I had recently reminds me why this is an important forum.

I am working at a new Locums job on the Oregon coast. When people that live in the northwest have a hankering to see the ocean, this is typically where they go. The Washington coast for the most part is unapproachable and rocky, but the Oregon coast has many areas of approach and a plethora of sandy beaches and little seaside towns. Somehow, despite the fact that I've lived in the "Upper Left" for nearly 20 years, I have never made it to the Oregon coast. So this is a great opportunity for me to finally go, explore a little, and get paid to be here. I think it's a win-win.

  July/August 2022

This Meeting Could Have Been an E-mail: How to Succeed in Managing Your Project

Author: Erin Muckey, MD MBA, Akiva Dym, MD, and Anthony Rosania, MD MHA

We’ve all been there. We’ve all had one of “those” meetings. They come in several flavors: The ‘this meeting could have been an email’ meeting. The ‘Groundhog Day’ meeting. The ‘flight of ideas,’ but in reality, a ‘no next steps’ meeting…

On the other hand, we have all experienced a project that never fully launches because organizing over email is also full of roadblocks. Most of us would agree that there is a value in the collaboration, idea generation, and organizational management that comes from gathering stakeholders together in real time. But how do we capitalize on that benefit while effectively managing a project with a diverse group of very busy stakeholders who all have other competing interests for their time? To put it in other words, how do we consistently achieve this ambitious goal and ultimately develop a “unicorn” of meetings?

  AAEM/RSA

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