Last week's Resident Forum presented the resolutions and reports pertaining to graduate medical education adopted by the American Medical Association-Resident Physicians Section (AMA-RPS) at its Interim Meeting in December. This week we present the adopted resolutions and reports pertaining to public health, RPS procedures, and other issues.
Public Health Care Benefits called on the AMA to actively lobby federal and state governments to restore and maintain funding for public health care benefits for all legal immigrants.
Code Status Requirements for Nursing Home Residents stated that the AMA-RPS opposes any requirement that makes a patient consent to a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order as a condition of admission to a nursing home facility unless that facility is limited to palliative care. The resolution also asked that the AMA urge other medical agencies and associations to oppose any legislative or regulatory attempts that would allow a nursing home facility to require that a patient consent to a DNR order as a condition of admission unless that facility is limited to palliative care.
Sex Education and Distribution of Condoms in Schools called on the AMA to review the recent medical literature regarding the promotion of sex education to include abstinence and the free distribution of condoms in schools, and to make recommendations regarding appropriate AMA action relative to the promotion of sex education to include abstinence and the free distribution of condoms in schools.
Medical Student Training in Airway Management called for the AMA to recommend that all medical students be trained in techniques and decision making in airway management of the unconscious patient and to seek inclusion of training in airway management of the unconscious patient as a requirement in the Liaison Committee on Medical Education's "Functions and Structure of a Medical School."
Change in the Name of the Resident Physicians Section asked the RPS to pursue a name change in AMA bylaws from Resident Physicians Section to Residents and Fellows Section and to encourage state and county medical associations and national medical specialty societies to adopt a definition of resident and a name of their resident physician membership component to be consistent with the AMA's.
Creation of an AMA-RPS Leadership Handbook asked the AMA-RPS staff and Governing Council to design a Leadership Handbook in which RPS structure and function leadership positions, their descriptions and contacts, and a list of state society contacts are readily accessible to interested residents. It also asked the AMA-RPS to encourage state, county, and specialty societies to develop similar materials and to make the Leadership Handbook available at the Annual and Interim Meetings and upon request.
One resolution, AMA-RPS Legislative Awareness Experience, was referred to the AMA-RPS Governing Council for a decision. The resolution asked the AMA-RPS to work to create an internship program for AMA-RPS members in the AMA's Washington office that would allow the participating resident physicians to become involved in the political process at the national level.
