AMA members will debate some of the most talked about issues in medicine at the AMA Medical Student Section (MSS) Interim Meeting, Nov. 6 to 8 in Dallas. Make sure your voice is heard: Even if you can’t attend the meeting, you can contribute your opinions on these key topics in the AMA-MSS Virtual Reference Committee (log in), which is open through Oct. 17.
Students who participate in the meeting will discuss 40 different policy resolutions. Here are a few key issues up for debate:
- Medical student involvement in handoffs. One resolution seeks to elevate the importance of medical student involvement in patient handoffs, asking the AMA to support and advocate for student training in using electronic health record (EHR) systems to improve involvement in handoffs.
- Mobile medical apps. An estimated 97,000 mobile health apps are available for download across major app stores, but only a small portion have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or otherwise proven through scientific studies, according to a new report (log in) by the AMA Council on Science and Public Health. This resolution asks the AMA to support establishing proper protocols of such apps, including disclosure of conflicts of interests and patient privacy protections.
- Factors that contribute to medical students not matching into residency programs. With graduate medical education (GME) reform on the horizon and an impending physician shortage, the number of medical students to residency positions is a hot topic. This resolution asks the AMA to collaborate with the Association of American Medical Colleges on a study to investigate common reasons for failures to match to residency slots, and suggests studying potential pathways for those who fail to match to reengage in the medical field.
- Removing barriers to cross-state telemedicine. This resolution asks to support the development and enactment of an interstate licensure compact or uniform act that will give physicians who wish to practice in multiple states a speedier licensure process with fewer administrative and financial burdens. Such a compact would make it easier to practice telemedicine.
- Special category in Federal Direct Student Loan Program. Another resolution discusses the possibility of creating a “medical student” category in federal loans to ease medical student debt. This proposed category would include interest rates that are properly risk-adjusted and reduced, which would account for medical students’ earning potential and, in turn, the lowered risk of lending to medical students.
- Encouraging diversity in medical school. This resolution is intended to help refine efforts to recruit medical students from underrepresented backgrounds. It asks the AMA to study the economic and non-economic factors that discourage the entry of graduates from underrepresented groups into medicine.
AMA-MSS members can comment on resolutions through Oct. 17. Learn more about resolutions on the AMA-MSS Web page.
