2 Responses to “Opinion: Open ACEP Membership to Non-ABEM Trained Colleagues”

1. 

   April 25, 2015

   Tony Gerard Reply

   Thank you, Dr. Leveaux, for your passionate comments. Are you aware of the long ( and often controversial) history of ACEP’s support for non-ABEM board EP’s?

   Many of us who are non-ABEM boarded share your passionate feelings about ACEP membership. But this is a difficult issue, since residency trained EM physicians have equally strong feelings, but an opposite viewpoint. Both sides agree that ACEP membership has merit.

   Associate membership is important because ACEP should represent all EP’s ( strategically, its a huge mistake for the college to limit it’s membership to residency trained EP’s) But even if this happens, it won’t necessarily fix the issue you describe. Many non-ABEM boarded EP’s will still misunderstand what the college has done on this issue. But re-opening college membership will be symbolic, even tho’ associate membership will not have the same perceived merit as full membership.

   Some of us have written extensively about the issues facing non-ABEM boarded EP’s over the last decade, and it’s laudable that these issues are still being discussed/ debated. ( some specialty societies in EM prefer the “Ostrich” solution*).

   I’m proud of what ACEP has done for non-ABEM boarded physicians over the last two decades. Specialty societies that have adopted the “Ostrich” solution* put member’s interests ahead of patients, and ACEP has refused this narrow solution.

   Let’s hope the Report on opening membership is evidence based and not emotion based. The college needs to open membership for alot of pragmatic reasons. If this happens, we will have one more thing to be proud of on a difficult issue.

   ( * Ostrich approach: “bury your head in the sand” = ignore the problem. This idiom originates from the habit of ostriches to lower their heads when feeding or turning eggs; they do not actually bury their heads)

2. 

   June 9, 2015

   Terry Mitchell, MD, FAAFP, FACEP Reply

   I agree with the articles and letters that call for opening ACEP in some way to non emergency medicine residency trained physicians. I also believe they should be given an award to shoot for. I had planned to drop my ACEP membership of many years, when ACEP offered me a brief chance to become a “Legacy” physician. I am now a Fellow of ACEP and have remained a member. Membership dues and political action donations would both increase with opening up the membership, and giving the non-RTEP a title that can be earned. More physicians would be aware of the CME opportunities with receiving ACEP e-mails and lierature, and attendance at events would increase. The ACEP book store would sale more. How does anyone lose by including all the physicians who currently work in emergency departments? I can see the argument about not allowing non-RTEP’s to become eligible for board certification, but I cannot see anyone of reasonable judgement to support denying them membership and some type of merit badge that can be earned. ACEP truely has the ability to substancially raise the quality of emergency medicine in the United States in a very short time by opening the membership once again to non-RTEM physicians. Even if I were BCEM, I would still want membership opened up for both raising the quality of patient care in our nation, and for the substancial money inflow ACEP would experience.
   Terry Mitchell, MD, FAAFP, FACEP