Have you ever read a story in your local paper that singles out obstetricians or pediatricians as physicians who provide maternity or pediatric care? Have you ever wanted to shout, “Hey, how about me? How about FPs?”
The AAFP Web site has response letters you can use to help educate your local media about family physicians’ scope of practice.
Take Action: Educate Your Local Media
By News Staff
3/18/2005
This story first appeared in the March 18, 2005, AAFP Direct.
The letters were developed in response to a substitute resolution from the New Physician Constituency adopted at the 2004 National Conference of Special Constituencies. The substitute resolution asked the Academy to make available on its Web site letters that members could send to their local news outlets “when the media directs patients to particular specialties (i.e., obstetrics, pediatrics), excluding family physicians.”
The two letters, one directed toward maternity care and the other toward pediatric care, are available. Click on “Media Response Letters,” log in with your member ID and name, and select the sample media letter you want.
“Maternity care is integral to the discipline of family medicine,” says one letter. “More than 360,000 babies are delivered by family physicians each year, and these physicians provide comprehensive care to mothers and their infants.”
The second letter points out that 86.6 percent of family physicians treat pediatric patients in their offices. “In 2002, 16.6 percent of all office visits to physicians by patients under 18 years of age were to family physicians. This represents over 30 million office visits in 2002,” the letter says.
Both letters ask editors to keep family medicine in mind when producing future health care stories.
While the Academy will continue to respond to national news stories that overlook family physicians, AAFP leaders say they look forward to the impact members can make at the local level.
The two letters, one directed toward maternity care and the other toward pediatric care, are available. Click on “Media Response Letters,” log in with your member ID and name, and select the sample media letter you want.
“Maternity care is integral to the discipline of family medicine,” says one letter. “More than 360,000 babies are delivered by family physicians each year, and these physicians provide comprehensive care to mothers and their infants.”
The second letter points out that 86.6 percent of family physicians treat pediatric patients in their offices. “In 2002, 16.6 percent of all office visits to physicians by patients under 18 years of age were to family physicians. This represents over 30 million office visits in 2002,” the letter says.
Both letters ask editors to keep family medicine in mind when producing future health care stories.
While the Academy will continue to respond to national news stories that overlook family physicians, AAFP leaders say they look forward to the impact members can make at the local level.
