American College of Emergency Physicians
ACEP20 Meeting Minutes
American College of Emergency Physicians
Section of Medical Humanities
October 27, 2020
Via Zoom
MINUTES
Participating in all or part of the meeting were: Bassem Alhadi, MD; Stephen Anderson, MD, FACEP; Jay Baruch, MD, FACEP; William Ernoehazy, MD, FACEP; Seth C. Hawkins, MD, FACEP; Jay Kaplan, MD, FACEP; Gabor Kelen, MD, FACEP; Edward Lew, MD, FACEP; Zayir Malik, MD; Elizabeth Mitchell, MD; Michael Schmitz, DO, FACEP.
Others participating: Tracy Napper, ACEP staff liaison.
Agenda
1. Call to Order
2. Current Activities
A. Newsletter update
B. Writing Awards for 2020
C. Medical Humanities Book
D. Visual Arts Award for 2020
E. Council Update
F. Clinical Interfaces
- Adjourn
Major Points Discussed
1. The meeting was called to order by section chair Seth C. Hawkins, MD, FACEP. He welcomed everyone and asked everyone present to introduce themselves. Dr. Baruch mentioned the Triage Health Humanities blog (https://www.triagehealthhumanities.com/) and encouraged submissions.
New Business
- Ms. Napper gave an update on the newsletter. Dr. Paganussi has not received any submissions although he will now be able to publish the writing and visual art award submissions in the next issue. Section members discussed whether the newsletter is available to all ACEP members. Currently, it is available to all ACEP members. Members also discussed doing the newsletter in a different format, perhaps more like a blog, to give more visibility to the section and encourage submissions from more members. Dr. Hawkins suggested adding a “member profile” section to the newsletter. We could also add a section solely for announcing member news such as books and other writings published, videos and songs produced, artwork, etc.
- Ms. Napper announced that the 2020 Writing Award, prose division, went to Edward Lew, MD, for “Transference, countertransference.” The 2020 Writing Award, poetry division, was awarded to Jay Kaplan, MD, for “Pothole or Portal.” Maria Escarcia, DO, received the 2020 Visual Arts Award for her artwork, “Self Portrait of a Physician in PPE.” All 3 winning pieces will be published in the next newsletter.
- Dr. Hawkins noted that the section grant project, the book, “Emergency Medicine Narratives,” that collects all of the previous Writing Award and Visual Arts awards up to 2018, is now published and available at the ACEP bookstore.
- Dr. Malik and Dr. Kaplan reported on the proceedings of the ACEP Council meeting. They provided the ACEP election results and discussed other section-related news. Dr. Malik noted that most resolutions were related to billing; only one was related to language, ie, EMRA’s resolution on the formal definition of “resident” or “fellow”; this was not fully passed.
- One of Dr. Hawkins’ goals for 2020 was to encourage the relevance of medical humanities to clinical practice. He pointed out that we have established ourselves well as the leaders in artistic expression but have not yet asserted our important role as specialists in language and visual expression insofar as it impacts clinical care. Due to COVID19, this fell by the wayside, but last year’s project topics included setting up a copyediting service for ACEP members or leaders; writing white papers on topics about communication such as language use and EMRs; serving as a resource to ACEP leaders for communications and videos; and further promoting the Humanities at the Bedside program. This year’s topics included hospital design, and how wall art and design can affect therapeutic care. Dr. Malik is currently doing a fellowship in narrative medicine and may possibly have a research project in the works.
- Ms. Napper noted that the section is not restricted to only meeting at Scientific Assembly. We could have quarterly zoom calls that are less formal, but would allow section members to interact, discuss projects, and share fellowship. Ms. Napper will set up a call for early 2021.
The meeting was adjourned.
