Your Growth, Our Evolution
In my seven years as an EMRA member, I have seen our association grow in size, strength, and influence. We've added not just members, but also accomplishments such as the documentary 24/7/365: The Evolution of Emergency Medicine and blockbuster publications like our Antibiotic Guide and PressorDex (stay tuned for even more exciting publications soon to be announced!). We have been fortunate as an organization to enjoy a healthy relationship within our specialty, and within the house of medicine. We have collaborated closely with ACEP, CORD, SAEM, AMA, AAMC, and others. Investing in medical students has become a central focus for EMRA, and we actively exhibit at AMSA and SNMA conferences, as well as offer medical student symposia to help medical students interested in EM gain the knowledge they need to excel in their EM rotations and land in their dream residency programs.
Serving on the EMRA Board of Directors for the past four years, my experience has been that EMRA has continually added to our robust offerings, with perhaps our greatest challenge being the critical reevaluation of our older processes and offerings to reflect the needs of our members today (and tomorrow). We have seen tremendous organizational growth, and we now represent 13,000+ members. So, how do we stay relevant, forward-thinking, and up-to-date? Our policy compendium (the policies of our organization as adopted by the Board
and Representative Council) is on an automatic five-year review cycle, is actively reviewed by the Board, and is shared at our council meetings.
In addition to reviewing our policies, the EMRA Board of Directors also critically looks at our publications, products, and meetings. The Board has worked diligently to increase our transparency and efficiency as an organization — we want to maximize the value of your EMRA membership. In particular, the development of the EMRA Awards Committee has given us the capacity to handle an expanded array of fall and spring awards, while giving the applicants the thorough review and consideration they deserve. The quality and number of applicants has risen substantially over the past few years, and it is a true challenge to select the final recipients. Beyond awards, EMRA has also created a finance committee, tasked with actively reviewing the entire EMRA budget to ensure we remain responsible stewards of our organization's resources, investing in the future of EMRA and its members.
So how are we doing? Are your needs as an EMRA member being met? Are we living up to our mission as the voice of emergency medicine physicians in training and the future of our specialty? Your Board needs your input and feedback to ensure we are attuned to your needs. If you have ideas on how EMRA can improve as we (and the specialty of emergency medicine) evolve, please let us know. Write a resolution, run for the Board, or just email your Board members. We need your ideas on what is working and where we can improve. Thank you for challenging EMRA to continue to serve its members better.