October 2000 • Post-Assembly Edition • Dallas
Phoenix rising: fashioning a new student interest initiative
BY CINDY McCANSE
The question of how best to continue courting student interest in family practice got big play Sept. 18-20 in the Congress of Delegates.
After the dust settled, one resolution addressing this issue received delegates' thumbs-up; a second goes to the Board of Directors for further study.
Resolution 603, submitted by residents and students in response to the sunsetting of the Task Force on Student Interest, calls for the AAFP to take a leadership role in developing a coalition of students, Academy members and representatives from other family medicine groups to continue addressing this critical issue. The resolution received overwhelming approval.
Resolution 608, calling for a standing committee on the future of family practice, garnered only limited support, and an amended version was referred to the Board.
Student delegate and incoming student Board member Andrew Mills of Tulsa, Okla., said that a consensus-building group such as that provided for in Resolution 603 is essential to preserving the mission of the task force.
"All the members of the family medicine family should address student interest," said Mills.
Delegate Thomas Norris, M.D., of Seattle led the testimony in favor of Resolution 608. The resolution, he said, fills the gap left by the dissolution of the task force and calls for the AAFP to sponsor a forum on the future of the specialty by 2002.
Resolution 603 is on target, he added, but fails to address the full scope of the problem.
"We need two resolves: We need to define our future, and we need to create a clear pathway for students to enter the specialty," Norris said. "Resolution 608 does both of these things."
Testimony against Resolution 608 focused on the fiscal demands of developing an additional meeting. Also, noted incoming resident Board member Jennifer Aloff, M.D., of Midland, Mich., the addition of another meeting stands to siphon attendance away from the National Conference of Family Practice Residents and Student Members.
"We'd hate to see something else pulling away from or competing with that conference that we love dearly and that we're continually working to improve," Aloff said.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2000 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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