|
|
|
|
Emergency Medicine organizations agree to a sustained presence at the Student National Medical Association Meeting
Three years ago the Under-Represented Minority Task Force completed a series of Focus Groups exploring the views of under-represented minority medical students, predominately African American, regarding Emergency Medicine as a potential career choice. One prominent finding was the student's had little exposure to our specialty early in their careers, and therefore simply didn't consider it as a viable option. In response to this finding, the SAEM Board agreed to sponsor a booth at the 40th Annual Student National Medical Association Meeting in St. Louis, March, 2005. This organization's focus is the support of current and future under-represented minority medical students and it is linked to the National Medical Association. Leon Haley and I were the representatives for SAEM at this meeting. We found an interested group of students, several of whom were rather surprised to see us in attendance. They noted that although specific programs had participated previously, Emergency Medicine was not formally represented in the past. It was notable that other specialties such as Psychiatry and Orthopedics were making a concerted effort to increase their exposure to this group of students and actively recruit them into their specialties.
In subsequent discussions, it was agreed that Emergency Medicine needed to establish a presence in this environment and that presence could be shared amongst many of the organizations representing the specialty. Therefore, earlier this year, a request went out to several organizations to determine if they would be willing to serve as representatives to the SNMA Meeting on a rotational basis over the next several years. The response was uniformly positive, and the AACEM, AAEM, AAEM/RSA, ACEP, CORD and EMRA organizations have all agreed to sponsor a booth and send representatives during their assigned rotational year. The potential involvement of other groups is currently being explored, but the current commitment allows for, at a minimum, an additional six-year presence of Emergency Medicine at the SNMA Meeting beyond our initial foray in 2005. The next organization to participate is EMRA. They will be the sponsors of Emergency Medicine at the 41st SNMA Meeting in Atlanta in April, 2006. One agreement is all of the other organizations may supply promotional materials to be distributed at the booth sponsored by the specific group.
At the closure of this rotational presence, the participating groups will assess the potential impact of our involvement, and determine whether the rotation will continue in the future. This is a very effective means of distributing resources to allow Emergency Medicine's effective presence at an important meeting. As a Society, we continue to look toward ways to improve our recruitment of under-represented minority medical students as we believe they can have an important impact and influence in the communities we serve. This organizational effort is just one more collaborative means by which SAEM is serving its membership and the community of Emergency Medicine at large.
Glenn C. Hamilton, MD
Wright State University
SAEM President
MetroHealth Medical Center
Return to CORD Home Page
|