Message from the President

Brian Potts, MD MBA FAAEM
President, AAEM Young Physicians Section

What can YPS do for you? Musings from Vegas

I just returned from the AAEM Scientific Assembly in Las Vegas and wanted to express how excited I was to meet so many enthusiastic AAEM members at this latest meeting. The general mood around Caesars Palace for the three day conference was full of energy and ideas. The educational lecture offerings were top-notch. The section and committee meetings were productive. One can't forget that Las Vegas also offered up tremendous opportunity for nightlife and play at the end of the day.

The Young Physicians Section (YPS) has made tremendous strides over the last four years since becoming a new section of AAEM. I want to take this time to thank Dr. Michael Epter who did a fantastic job in his year as YPS president and also thank each member of last year's YPS board of directors for their service. They have laid an excellent foundation that we can work and build upon for the coming year.

Our new 2010 - 2011YPS board of directors had their first meeting in Las Vegas. We discussed different strategies and plans to create more member benefits. I feel that our incoming board has tremendous experience and good insights as to how we can best serve the young physician members of AAEM to the fullest. The board comes from a variety of backgrounds, a balance of regions around the country, and represents both community and academic practice. This diversity will be one of our strengths. I look forward to working with the board throughout the year.

In addition to our board meeting, YPS also hosted our 2nd annual YPS lecture entitled "Career Building – Where Do I Go from Here?" featuring Barbara Katz. It was a well-attended and well-received lecture and discussion. Later that night, the AAEM Resident & Student Association (AAEM/RSA) and YPS hosted their annual joint social gathering at the Shadow Bar in Caesars Palace. This event was a perfect opportunity for networking and socializing with young emergency physicians from around the country. This continues to be one of my favorite events at each Scientific Assembly.

As a review, YPS serves as a linkage between the young physician members and the greater Academy. We want to foster this connection of members as they transition from resident members of AAEM/RSA and into their first 4-5 years of post-graduate clinical practice. We have developed a number of benefits that can assist our members including CV and cover letter review services, a mentoring service, as well as the YPS edition of the Rules of the Road for Young Emergency Physicians publication. We have also done a great deal to update our website www.ypsaaem.org during the last year. We also have a Facebook fan page that was created within the last few months, and we encourage all YPS members to join this fan page (see the Facebook link on our home page) and receive timely updates and news from YPS through this online platform.

If you are a YPS member who would like your CV and cover letter reviewed, you can go to the link on our website to submit your files. We provide a review service for free to YPS members. If you are a resident (AAEM/RSA) member of AAEM, you can receive the same review services at the cost of $25. This will be considered a deposit to fulfill your first year YPS dues upon graduation. This makes the service essentially free to residents in their last year of training.

A few months ago, we conducted a survey of YPS members to get feedback and determine how we may serve you best. We appreciate all members who provided responses to the survey. The feedback and information provided through this survey will help guide the YPS board to provide desired benefits and encourage growth of our membership.

My goal as YPS president during this coming year is to have more frequent communication with our members to let you know what YPS is doing, as well as to encourage more feedback from our members. This will make us a more interactive and responsive section of AAEM. Stay tuned for future YPS articles in Common Sense from our YPS board. I also encourage any YPS member who would like to write an article for Common Sense to submit one to info@ypsaaem.org.

Finally, YPS plans to create a number of YPS committees this year including 1) membership, 2) governmental affairs/advocacy, 3) editorial/communications, and 4) education. I would encourage you to contact us at info@ypsaaem.org if you are interested in becoming actively involved on a committee.

If you have any suggestions as to how YPS can better serve you, please let us know.