Newsletters

POSTED: June 16th, 2023
POSTED IN: 2023 Quarter 2, EM Pulse - The Official Newsletter of MOCEP,

Written by Lydia Bennett, Resident, University of Missouri – Columbia

Have you ever wondered, “What’s the point of paying my dues to organizations such as MOCEP or ACEP?” I’ll admit that I have. After attending ACEP’s Leadership and Advocacy Conference (LAC), I can now say that I have a more than satisfactory answer to that question.

As emergency medicine physicians, we work in the safety net of our healthcare system. From that vantage point, we have the benefit and misfortune of facing innumerable problems that have been built into or developed within said system. This is truly one of the things that drew me to the ED. I have a passion for helping every patient without any limitations and to that end, I have developed a passion for advocacy with the hope of removing the limitations we still face.

Most of these problems in our system feel too big to manage, though. How do I, as a singular new physician, help address them? That is another question that has occurred to me on occasion. At LAC, I witnessed firsthand how participating in those physician organizations, and paying their dues, is key to tackling these systemic issues. 

I learned about LAC earlier this year at another conference while talking about my interest in health policy and advocacy. With assistance from my own program and from MOCEP, I was able to attend the event, which occurs in Washington, DC, every year. The experience was like no other conference. The first afternoon, I attended the Health Policy Primer which assuaged all my anxiety about having no clue what I was doing. This was a series of lectures, panels, and interactive discussions which laid the foundation for understanding our health policy system and its current issues and got everyone discussing issues and solutions in an approachable way.

The second day was dedicated to education on key health system and health policy topics that we all face such as ED Boarding, care of pregnant patients after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, and the Mental Health crisis. The second day also included sessions on who actually makes the policies that govern us in the ED and how we can go about influencing them. 

The final day was the most unique part of the conference, and why it is always located in DC. This was Advocacy Day. The morning was spent specifically covering the health legislation proposals ACEP has helped bring about to address current problems and training us specifically on how congressional visits work. The afternoon was then spent on Capitol Hill itself, in meetings with congressional staff, advocating personally for these issues plaguing our patients and ourselves. Even as a second-year resident, I was able to advocate to congressional staff of our elected officials and share my story. 

This experience was incredibly empowering, and it displayed to me how one physician can go out, advocate, and make a difference. But, more importantly, I was able to network with like-minded physicians around the nation and learn about all the work that goes on behind the scenes. I made connections and learned skills that will allow me to continue the work of advocacy on the local, state, and national level. Finally, I learned how necessary it is to have organizations like ACEP working on these issues year-round and coordinating physicians from all over to be a stronger force together.