THE QUARTERLY PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC PEDIATRICIANS
Spring 2016 Issue
to Home Page
President's Message
Welcome to 2016!
By Carl Backes, DO, FACOP, FAAP
ACOP President
 |
Carl Backes, DO, FACOP, FAAP |
It will be a busy but hopefully successful year for all DO pediatricians due to the outstanding growth of our profession. According to the 2015 Osteopathic Medical Profession Report, the number of DOs in the United States stands at nearly 97,000, which is a 25% growth every five years since 1985. I outlined in the spring PULSE what needs to be done; in this issue, I will address our progress.
- Our Spring Conference in Phoenix, Arizona will be held April 14-17, 2016 at the Sheraton in Downtown Phoenix. Thanks to the members of our CME committee for its pertinent pediatric topics that include a special allergy/immunology session during the afternoon of April 14 before the full conference begins on April 15.
- The James M. Watson lecture is to be given by John Milionis, DO author of Happiness, the Joy from Living. We are looking forward to a superb conference with more than 20 AOA Category 1A credits in one long weekend.
- We continue efforts to increase membership and encourage our residents, as well as fellows, to be members of the ACOP.
- We are moving forward with the single accreditation system (SAS). I am the AOA appointed osteopathic pediatric representative on the ACGME- RRC pediatric committee. We are now reviewing ACGME osteopathic focused pediatric residency applications. Please extend a special thank you to Robert Hostoffer, Jr., DO, FACOP, the Chairman of the ACOP GME committee, for his guidance and efforts to make this a smooth transition. The application can be found at www.acopeds.org/osteo-apps or at www.acopeds.org; click on program director reports.
- The ACOP is here to help you with your Osteopathic Focused Pediatric Residency Transitions such as osteopathically focused articles in the ACOP eJournal for your journal club, ACOP POMT for your osteopathically focused didactics, which can be found at www.acopeds.org/pomt-for-residents-directors/ and for CME and OOC credit for physicians at www.aobp.org/OCC_POMTmodules.shtml, ACOP OMT workshops at our meetings for your faculty and resident development, a friendly venue for your osteopathically focused research at our ACOP meetings and eJournal, Osteopathic focused pediatric in-service previously offered by AOBP will now be offered by the ACOP, Osteopathic Focused Pediatric boards offered by the AOBP.
- An osteopathic program in Florida has already been approved by our RRC committee.
- We have continued growth of our Pediatric Research and Education for Students (PRES) Fund to support student members: http://www.acopeds.org/pres-fund/.
- The ACOP joint sponsorship of the AOF/ACOP Outstanding Resident of the Year was a great success and we are pleased to be a part of the program.
- The first pediatric recipient of the award was Johanna Kramer, DO, from Nationwide Children’s Hospital dual program. Johanna’s mother is an osteopathic internist in Chicago. The celebration event was fantastic with financial awards for many students and residents.
- We are continuing our efforts to develop more osteopathic training sites.
- Continued efforts to develop rural track training programs. We already have an AOA approved programand we are working to secure additional funding sources.
- The new website is done and it is beautiful. Thank you to all involved!
- Goal of ALL pediatric training programs is to have an “Osteopathic Track” program.
Future Plans
- Read ‘Doc Talk’! What do you see as the future of primary care? It is a disheartening read for some of us older DO pediatricians. Per the post that was written 10/1/15: “I am a pediatrician in a solo practice. I enjoy practicing so far, but I don’t see any younger physicians in private practices. Everybody wants to be employed by joining a group/hospital. They and their practices are managed by an MBA hospital administrator.” I certainly hope we can still train DO pediatricians who are ready and willing to be private pediatricians in many, many small towns throughout America.
- HCPro.com - January 2016 “What’s In Your White Coat?” Sandy Fogel, MD, FACS. Acknowledgement title from Cynda Johnson, MD, founding dean of Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, for summarizing the expectations of being in a professional setting and getting the outcomes we wish as long as we follow the four constants listed below:
- Trust in us as the patients' physician
- Authority - We need to use it well and use it carefully
- Responsibility - We have a legal and ethical contract with a patient
- Power - we need to use it with care and humility
Truthfully, these constants may seem overwhelming to a young physician, but the essence of being a physician is no different now than it was for me 40 years ago.
- Presently there are only 19 AOA accredited residency programs. The majority of graduates from colleges of osteopathic medicine who pursue pediatrics enroll in ACGME training programs. The ACGME single GME accreditation hopefully will allow ALL DO pediatric trainees to have an “Osteopathic Track” in their program, allowing for our distinctiveness as osteopathic pediatricians.
PULSE IS NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUR SMARTPHONE AND TABLET!
JOIN ACOP TODAY!
ACOP 2016
Spring Conference
April 14-17, 2016
Sheraton Phoenix Downtown
Phoenix, Arizona
TO REGISTER