Students, Residents Build Connections at National Conference
Aug. 2, 2023, David Mitchell (Kansas City, Mo.) — Medical students and residents from around the country gathered here for the 2023 National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students July 27-29 to make connections, learn new skills and get information they’ll need to thrive in family medicine.
High on the list of topics that many of them came seeking guidance about this year was the slate of new residency program requirements for family medicine that took effect July 1, as well as the numerous updates to the application and interview process are in store when the Electronic Residency Application Service opens Sept. 6.
“There are a lot of questions this application season, and there are a lot of changes for our class specifically,” said Kirsi Anselmi-Stith, a fourth-year student at the University of Utah School of Medicine, who attended one of two sessions about ERAS changes presented by Steven Brown, M.D., director of the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix Family Medicine Residency. “It’s nice to hear how we can use them to our advantage, as well as what pitfalls to avoid. This gives us some clarity.”
Anselmi-Stith, a first-time attendee, said she also planned to spend time in the Expo Hall, where hundreds of residency programs were eager to meet with students, attend skills workshops and connect with fellow family medicine interest group leaders.
“I’ll definitely be recommending to my peers back home to come sooner than I did,” she said.
Ventura County Medical Center Family Medicine resident Kristina Lim, M.D., (left) and University of Washington School of Medicine student Brianna Cowin simulate repairing a second-degree perineal laceration with a sponge during a clinical skills workshop at the National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students.
Story Highlights
Hands-on Learning
Second-year resident Kristina Lim, M.D., was back for her fourth National Conference and participated in skills workshops.
“We do this on a daily basis on the labor-and-delivery floor,” she said after simulating repair of a second-degree perineal laceration on a sponge. “But it’s helpful to review skills in a safe and supportive environment.”
Students also participated in the clinical procedures workshops, giving them experiences they don’t get on a daily basis.
“It’s different to put your hands on something and see how it works rather than watching others or reading about it in a textbook,” said Aliah Moore, a third-year student at St. George’s University School of Medicine, Grenada, who attended a workshop that used models to simulate vasectomies.
Brendan Whelan, another third-year St. George’s student, attended joint injection and suturing workshops, and agreed that the clinical procedures workshops offer students rare opportunities.
“It’s cool to see how it’s done in real life,” Whelan said during a break from a game of Giant Jenga with his St. George’s classmates. “And it’s good to hear from family physicians with experience in these procedures.”
Lim, who attended college and medical school in Tennessee, found her California residency program as a student in the National Conference Expo Hall a few years ago. This time around, she was a resident meeting students in the Ventura County Medical Center Family Medicine program’s booth.
“It’s surreal and bittersweet,” she said. “You feel far away from that experience, but you remember it like it was yesterday. The Expo Hall is really useful because everyone can find their perfect fit.”
St. George’s University School of Medicine students (from left) Amanda Kwong, Aliah Moore and Brendan Whelan take a break from workshops at National Conference to play a game of Giant Jenga.
Packed Expo Hall
Finding that perfect fit was the goal of Gabriela Elias, a fourth-year medical student from St. George’s. Elias, a Florida native, said she visited with programs from her home state and others in the Southeast region on July 27 before branching out to visit programs in other regions on July 28, filling two bags of conference swag in the process.
Elias found the Expo Hall’s more than 600 booths overwhelming at first, but the AAFP events app helped her locate programs and connect with their websites, and a new system of grouping programs by region also simplified the experience.
“Everything has been amazing,” said Elias, whose highlights included the July 27 mainstage event with Jen Caudle, D.O., a session for international medical graduates and a presentation about residency interviews. “I attended online two years ago, but nothing compares to being here in person.”
Morgan McManus, a second-year student at New York University School of Medicine, poses for a headshot at National Conference.
Picture Perfect
Students will need to provide a recent professional headshot when they begin submitting applications in ERAS. The AAFP Foundation took the cost of photos and questions about ERAS specifications out of the equation by providing new headshots for more than 500 attendees, who received their files electronically immediately after their photos were taken.
“I’m applying this year, so I’ll probably use this for my ERAS photo,” said Jenna Kanner, a fourth-year student at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “We also had headshots at my school, but they don’t give you a ton of time or choices, so it’s nice to have a second option.”
Mission Accomplished
The conference drew 4,815 registrants, including 1,453 students. That’s an increase of nearly 400 people compared to 2022, which was the first in-person version of the event after two years of virtual meetings during the pandemic.
Derek Southwick, a fourth-year student at the University of Washington School of Medicine - Moscow, Idaho, did his part to boost attendance. Southwick noticed that several states had not sent student delegates to the National Congress of Student Members in recent years. As the Family Medicine Interest Group regional coordinator for the Western United States during the 2022-23 school year, Southwick reached out to state chapter executives in his region multiple times throughout the academic year and urged them to send delegates. Seventeen of the 18 chapters did.
Southwick, not to be denied, found students from the one remaining state on site and convinced them to participate in the congress. Thus, the 18 states in his region (including Alaska and Hawaii) provided 30 student delegates.
“I love how educational and motivating it is to get involved in advocacy,” he said. “I didn’t know much about parliamentary procedure when I first got involved, but when I did experience it I thought it was amazing.”
Southwick will get to experience AAFP policymaking on a bigger stage this fall. The National Congress of Student Members elected him July 29 to serve as a student alternate delegates to the AAFP Congress of Delegates, which will be held in October in Chicago.
“It’s super exciting and humbling,” Southwick said. “I saw my role as bringing the Idaho view to the Student Congress. Now I’ll be bringing the student viewpoint to the Congress of Delegates.”
Mentorship Matters
Aerial Petty, D.O., managed two big accomplishments during the three-day conference. Petty, a third-year resident at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, was a winner in the AAFP Foundation’s Emerging Leader Institute program, and she also was elected as a resident alternate delegate to the Congress of Delegates during the National Congress of Family Medicine Residents.
Petty’s one-year ELI project focused on integrating training related to health policy in residency curriculums. She credited her ELI mentor, former AAFP President Reid Blackwelder, M.D., associate dean for graduate medical and continuing education at East Tennessee State University’s Quillen College of Medicine, with her successful week.
“He gave me specific, actionable and thoughtful feedback that required me to be reflective, think outside the box and not limit myself,” Petty said of Blackwelder, who also helped her make connections with others who could contribute to her project. “I got really lucky. He was so engaged and supportive throughout. He believed not only in my project, but in me. He encouraged me to run for a leadership position here.”
That’s a First
More than 80 students stuck around after the conference for the first Family Medicine Interest Group Leadership Summit on July 29.
Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara School of Medicine student Ernie Rodriguez, M.B.A., who was elected National FMIG Coordinator during voting earlier in the day, said he hoped the new post-conference event would “inspire the next generation of family physician leaders” to establish an FMIG on their own campus or to improve the workshops and programming in an existing FMIG.
“Workshops are important,” he said, “but it goes beyond didactics and clinical workshops. Innovation is needed to grow student interest in family medicine.”