by Dacia Russell Goman, MD, JD

Changing minds is tough work. As emergency physicians, we sign up for this task on every shift and with every patient. We train for this. We excel at this.

But how do we tackle change agency when our own specialty is the patient? How do we suture the wounds left by reimbursement cuts? How do we resuscitate our institutions struggling under the unyielding fight for more resources at the bedside? How do we protect our own from physical threats that breach our ambulance bays?

I believe many of the solutions are rooted in advocacy.

I was a first-time attendee for ACEP’s Leadership and Advocacy Conference (LAC) in Washington, D.C., this April. I joined ACEP to advance the fight to protect our practice and our physicians, who undergird the health care safety net. LAC gifted me, and the ranks of our colleagues, a platform for defining our own journeys as health care advocates.

In Washington, D.C., we unpacked issues of workplace violence, emergency department boarding, due process for employment arrangements, and the inflationary pressures on Medicare reimbursement. We repackaged these concerns into action items for our lawmakers. We met with elected officials and their staffers. We told our stories. And we told them again.

As we shift back to our home bases, I am inspired to refine the dialogue that we started. The conversations cannot end. Our aspirations for a specialty that serves the highest aims of evidence-based practice, patient care, and physician fulfillment are within reach. But we must work for them. We must advocate.

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Dr. Goman is a board-certified emergency physician currently practicing in Ohio with US Acute Care Solutions.