Letter from the Chair

All:

It is my pleasure and honor to serve as the chair of ACEP Careers Section this year.

This section has a special place in my heart. It speaks to the calling and the “lifestyle” that is Emergency Medicine. We each enjoy being the steady, beating heart of the community and the even keeled person they turn to in times of crisis.

But how do we take such an exhilarating job, an adrenaline spike-and-crash shift, a tiring schedule flipping from nights to days, and turn THAT into a decades-long career? How do we keep efficiency and metrics from stealing the joy of human connection and patient encounters?

Those questions are what we intend to use 2025 to answer.

We are at a transformative time in Emergency Medicine where our college includes both the earliest, newest graduates as well as the seasoned pioneers and founders of our great specialty. Surely, with a group so great, with so many diverse perspectives, with so much history covered, we can talk and exchange and share the best way forward. We can find how to create a lifelong career, with enough money to retire, with enough time for family and friends, with enough job satisfaction for decades of work.

Each month, we will address a specific problem in the day-to-day life of an emergency physician. We will release a schedule (with monthly topics and experienced panels) in the coming weeks, but first, we need to hear from YOU. What career challenges do you face? What areas do you see others struggle that you have overcome?

With Warmest Regards,

Skyler Smith, DO, MBA
Chattanooga, TN