Student Congress Speaks Up for Education, Patient Care

The student congress, along with the National Congress of Family Medicine Residents, meets during the National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students for discussions and votes that ask the AAFP to take action on issues of concern.

Learn how the congresses fit into the Academy’s governance in the AAFP News story about the 2023 resident congress, or read on for details about this year’s student congress.

Patient Care

Many of the resolutions students took up pertained to women’s health, and the care of infants and children. The authors of one resolution cited evidence that many low-income families lack adequate access to diapers. In response, delegates adopted a substitute resolution in support of efforts to close the “diaper gap” through legislation and regulation, direct subsidies, support for community resources and other interventions.

Another resolution, which was amended and adopted on the floor, asked the AAFP to expand access to preventive cancer screening, by developing resources and guidelines to educate and encourage members to provide shared decision making on heritable cancer gene screening. The resolution also asked the Academy to work with other stakeholders to provide chapters with resources to help them advocate for policies on genetic cancer screening and associated care.

Delegates also adopted resolutions asking the Academy to work with stakeholders such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to investigate, clarify and prevent long-term health risks to manual labor workers. 

Medical Education

A resolution on rural medicine asked the AAFP to advocate for the expansion of existing rural family medicine residencies and the creation of new residencies.

Delegates also adopted other measures requesting that the Academy

• advocate for the use of International Confederation of Midwives educational standards as the baseline for midwifery education, training and licensure;
• provide education about fertility awareness-based methods through women’s health CME programs and the Academy’s patient-centered companion website, familydoctor.org; and
• develop new policy that defines pregnancy crisis centers and ensures that information about these facilities is readily accessible to members and patients.

Final reports from the student congress detail discussions and votes about measures addressing other topics, including responsibilities of student members appointed to the Commission on Federal and State Policy; expanded education activities on integrative medicine; and support for chapters advocating for preventive service coverage.