Get the Troops Going!

Jennifer Kanapicki, MD

So, as we all know residency can be tough. Long nights, constantly changing schedules, always some lecture to give or requirement to fulfill. So you're asking, how do we break the monotony for our residents? And my answer lies in AAEM's Scientific Assembly. As a chief resident last year, one of the best things I think I did for the residency was to get all twelve of my second year residents to Scientific Assembly. The residents got out of the daily grind of residency and on a plane to Vegas. Here are the four reasons I think it was such a great idea.

1. Resident Morale
Through the trials and tribulations of residency, sometimes morale can be a roller coaster. What better way to climb to the top than with a trip where all your residents can get on a plane, travel to an exciting new city and spend time with each other for three days. Forget everyone being at different hospitals or on different shifts, forget the rectals, forget the intoxicated combative patients. To just be with each other with the common goal of learning, gave my busy second years a much needed breather in the hectic world of residency.

2. Education
Scientific Assembly puts together an amazing array of lectures. Whether it's the guru of cardiology, Dr. Mattu, giving an ACS lecture or Dr. Maha's latest trauma updates, your residents are learning, and they are discovering the latest innovations of medicine from the leaders of the field. They bring back to your program new ways of thinking and possibly improvements in the way they practice. They might get ideas to submit a poster at next year's conference. They might decide to run for a board position on AAEM/RSA. The possibilities are endless, but your residents will never know about them unless they get the chance to experience them.

3. Networking.
One of my favorite things about going to a conference is the people I meet. You are exposing yourself to leaders in our field from all over the nation. I remember having cocktails at the Scientific Assembly reception with Dr. Swadron and sitting next to Dr. Weiss at a lecture. I also can remember meeting a resident from George Washington and sharing ideas of how to make our residencies even better, or the resident from Orlando about their protocols for STEMIs. This exposure to the people and workings of EDs all over the nation is priceless. After a three day conference, you have connections in EM all over the nation.

4. Future
Our residents are the future of EM. By getting involved early in a national organization, like AAEM, we are planting the seeds to allow our residents to be more active and vocal early on in their careers. We are giving them the opportunity to discover what's out there and the foundation to create new pathways to get there. We are making future leaders.

So start a tradition. Get your residents to the AAEM Scientific Assembly. Give them the chance to experience the camaraderie of being together as a class, the knowledge to modify their practice, the benefit of sharing experiences with others and let them be our future.