Sometimes you just have to get out of town and get recharged. This is one of those occasions. I'm on my way to Kansas City (where it currently feels like -9F wind chill) to hang out with other Family Medicine Physicians and to be advocates for our patients.
Committee meetings for the American Academy of Family Physicians will take place over the next few days. They affectionately call this the "Winter Cluster" meetings designated on twitter by the hashtag #AAFPWC. For some reason, I've never liked using the term "cluster" but that's just me.
There are currently seven AAFP Committees (actually called Commissions) and they cover areas like Medical Education, Governmental Advocacy, Quality and Practice, Health of the Pubic and Science. The Commission I was appointed to is called Membership and Member Services.
Why would very busy Family Physicians take time away from their families and away from their practices to take part in these discussions? For me, it gets back to trying to make a difference for my patients and for my community. There is nothing like getting together with your friends and colleagues to brainstorm and to put into action - those ideas that will make a big impact for our patients. Being with this group of people and talking about these ideas really recharge me.
I had big plans to social media promote this weekend, but, as always happens, life got in the way, and I just ran out of time. I hope to possibly record some interviews for the podcast and to take lots of pics to try to generate some buzz and to recharge our Family Medicine friends at home and let them know our organization of Family Medicine docs are working for them. Stay tuned, especially on twitter with #aafpwc and #FMRevolution