Yesterday was a very busy day at the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians meeting. The morning sessions had to do with discusions about team care, the patient centered medical home, and practice transformation. Dr. Peter Anderson from Family Team Care in Virginia talked about how he transformed his practice to more of a team based approach. There was also a fascinating panel involving representatives of the State Medical Board, state nursing board, and state pharmacy board.
The lunchtime session was about the current legislative status of bills in the state house and senate. I really get frustrated with the political process at times. The change of one word, or the absence of one word - this can change a bill entirely. And, the politics of how a bill gets done and/or negotiated - this is frustrating as well.
The annual dinner, awards ceremony, and instillation of officers is always a nice affair. I was elected back on the board of directors for the organization - so that was fun. In addition to the speeches that were given, the awards for the educator of the year and the Family Physician of the year were given. These stories are always inspirational. Recognition of great work is something that can always be done more. Too often when I come to these meetings, I hear the frustrations about how patient care can be done better and the hurdles that need to be cleared to make that happen.
My first board meeting will be this morning. It will be nice to see long time friends and to see how I can help the organization be an advocate for Family Medicine. Better communication with members, with legislators, and with the public - I always think that we can do this better. Telling the story of Family Medicine and getting people to better understand this - this will be the key to reaching our organizational goals. I believe social media is a great supplement to the current communication tools that are being used. My challenge will be to communicate this message to the organization and to its members.