Observation Medicine Section Chair Margarita Pena-Morris, MD, FACEP, is passionate about volunteering.
“Whichever point in your career that you’re at, volunteering will enrich your life, both professionally and personally, and will expand your knowledge. It will kind of revive you professionally,” she said.
Her hospital had a need for someone to run an observation unit. And when Dr. Pena-Morris stepped up, there were no protocols in place.
“I was looking for guidance and mentorship as to how to run an efficient type one or closed unit,” she recalled. “I turned to ACEP and the Observation Section.”
“It’s 100% the Observation Section that has professionally helped me to grow, even within my own observation unit,” Dr. Pena-Morris said.
Because her practice area and volunteer interests are in the same area, Dr. Pena-Morris said this gives her a unique insight.
“It has really contributed to making sure that all the processes that we put in place (at her hospital) are evidence-based, they are really up to date,” she said. “I’ve been able to start a lot of different processes and implement different things that other people are doing from around the country that I would have never had the opportunity to hear or bounce ideas off of.”
The Section’s shared knowledge is useful on many levels, she added.
“I’m involved in the Michigan chapter. Bringing those ideas from the national level to the more local level or the state level has also really benefited other people and other observation units, “ she said. “That’s the other thing in terms of grander scale. It’s not just national, but statewide and local.”
Work in the Section has also allowed her to form many meaningful relationships.
“I met this wonderful community. These are colleagues I would not have otherwise got to meet from around the country that are truly experts in this field that have become my friends, my mentors, and just really have expanded my professional scope,” she said. “I think it just gave a kind of background and a place to really put and develop your passion and find a way to really enact some change on a greater scale.”
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Interested in volunteering for a national committee? Applications are due May 15.
