Taking care of business...

While the National Conference for Family Medicine Residents and Students features a multitude of workshops and lectures, there are important "business" meetings that occur in the background. These meetings of the Resident and Student Congresses produce recommendations and actions that range from...

"Recommending that the AAFP express condolences to the families and communities of physicians and their advocates murdered while providing patient care."

to

"Recommending the AAFP strongly promote bicycle helmet usage..."

to

"Recommending that the AAFP strongly encourage the individual constituent chapters to develop preceptorships in underserved areas for all medical students."

This afternoon, I sat in on a 2-hour orientation session where members were nominated for different representative positions, current officers gave updates from the many different boards and committees, and AAFP reps gave an overview of the resolution development process. In all it was remarkable to see the underpinnings of the operation of a large professional organization. How does one reach consensus statements? Where do new ideas come from? This session laid the groundwork for these procedures and I hope to see how they play out tomorrow and Saturday.

After the orientation, student and resident members broke out into smaller topic-based discussion groups on issues surrounding Minority Health, Underserved Populations, Rural Health, Medical Education/Curriculum, Legislature/Public Policy, and more. I sat in on the Legislature/Public Policy discussion - understandably one of the more popular groups this year - and heard about current health reform efforts from those who are intimately involved in the process. It was fascinating to hear the mechanisms and politics involved in the process of shaping different health care bills. At the same time, it was incredibly empowering to know that senior-level officers from the AAFP (present at the discussion) were very interested in us producing resolutions that expressed our opinion on things like the current ideas of a public insurance option.

That's all for now! More from the halls of the Kansas City Convention Center later!