Internal Medicine Interest Group Resource Guide
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Making the Most of Your Internal Medicine Interest Group: A Practical Resource Guide Developed by the Council of Student Members June 2015 EX4038 Table of Contents Introduction to Internal Medicine Interest Groups................................................................................1 Establishing an IMIG at your School........................................................................................................1 Best Practices for IMIGs ............................................................................................................................3 Holding an Internal Medicine Residency Fair ........................................................................................8 Appendix....................................................................................................................................................9 Introduction to Internal Establishing an IMIG at Your School Medicine Interest Groups You should seek advice from as many resources as possible during the planning An internal medicine interest group (IMIG) is stages. Be sure to consult with your school’s an organized group of medical students who administration about how to establish an meet regularly to learn about internal medi- official club at your school. Once the group’s cine and to establish communication with leadership is established, an e-mail should be faculty and other students who share similar sent out to all group members to poll them interests. IMIGs have a faculty advisor who about activities in which they are interested provides guidance, assists with the program, and enlist their help with the many details of and lends continuity to the group. running the group. In addition to the faculty advisor, IMIGs often Following is a list of key people, departments, have multiple student leaders. A typical IMIG and groups you should contact to help you will have a President, Vice President, get started. Depending on the organization Treasurer, Secretary, and representatives from at your school, some of these suggested each medical school class to help plan and contacts may be redundant and others may execute activities. The leadership of your have been left out. The key is to get as much IMIG can be set up to fit your needs, keeping advice and support as you can. in mind any requirements set forth by your school’s administration for student groups. Associate Dean or Dean of Academic Affairs: Set up a meeting to discuss the following The group can serve as a mechanism to points: How does one go about starting a accomplish the following goals: new organization at the medical school? 1. Provide students with information Does he or she have suggestions as to who about internal medicine as a medical might be an enthusiastic and supportive specialty and as a possible career; faculty advisor for the club? The advisor 2. Expose students to people in the field should be an internist who has the time, of internal medicine with interesting energy, and interest in helping with the and successful careers who can group, or a faculty member in the provide students with a sense of what Department of Medicine with those same it is like to be an internal medicine qualities. specialist or subspecialist; and Student Affairs Office: Ask how to most 3. Provide an opportunity for students to effectively schedule meetings, reserve space, learn, network, and relax together. and distribute announcements at your school. Inquire about the process for sending mass e-mails or placing flyers in students’ mailboxes. Other suggestions for publicizing upcoming meetings include posting announcements throughout the school or obtaining a dedicated club bulletin board in the hallway of the medical school. 1 You should ask the Student Affairs Office staff Internal Medicine Clerkship Director: The how other student groups go about obtain- internal medicine clerkship director is an ing funding for group activities and how to essential contact in your efforts to establish set up a bank account for the group. Possible an IMIG. He or she can provide suggestions sources for funding include your school for speakers, ideas for activities, and help you (through the Dean’s office, Student plan any hospital-based activities you may Government, Student Affairs, Student want to organize. Activities, and/or the School Alumni fund), ACP Council of Student Members (CSM): The student membership dues, the Department CSM consists of medical students like you of Medicine, your local chapter of the who are committed to supporting IMIGs and American College of Physicians (ACP), and expanding internal medicine’s visibility. A list the ACP national office. of the CSM representatives can be found at Class Presidents and Other Student Leaders: www.acponline.org/about_acp/committees/ Write an e-mail to the class presidents or students. You may contact the CSM by e-mail- other student leaders and ask them to men- ing the group at [email protected]. tion upcoming interest group meeting topics, Your Local ACP Chapter: To find contact dates, and times at class meetings. Talk to the information for your local ACP chapter, go to student government body to determine www.acponline.org/chapters. Your local ACP meeting times that would be most conven- chapter is a vital link to the success of your ient. Keep in mind exams and other impor- IMIG. Your ACP chapter can provide ideas, tant student events when scheduling. Also resources, and speakers for your group’s make sure that the meeting location is con- activities. You can also find out if your local venient for students (i.e., a student lounge or ACP chapter has medical student activities activity center, a local restaurant, a classroom planned in your area in which your group can or lecture hall, or a department or hospital participate. Additionally, your ACP chapter meeting room). may be able to help you create programs that Faculty: Find a supportive faculty member can be submitted for ACP’s John Tooker who is willing to advise the group. Schedule a Evergreen Award Program. meeting with that individual to seek advice and discuss possible meeting ideas and events for the upcoming year. Chair of Medicine: Contact the Chair of Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine to inform him or her about the new student organization and offer the Chair an invitation to speak to the group. 2 Best Practices for IMIGs • Clearly outline the IMIG’s goals for the year. Decide among yourselves how many Club Leadership and Logistics meetings your group wants to hold in • Develop a constitution or set of bylaws order to successfully meet its goals. It is (governing rules) for your IMIG. suggested to hold monthly or bimonthly The constitution or bylaws will benefit meetings. the group by promoting fair group proceedings, ensuring that all essential • Develop a binder for the interest group. functions are assigned to group mem- The binder should include such informa- bers and that no one individual has too tion as organizational meeting minutes, much responsibility, and providing a records of events (i.e., costs, sources of framework for the group to follow in funding, number of people who attended subsequent years. An established meetings, helpful hints), governing docu- constitution or set of bylaws is fre- ments, and key contact information. The quently necessary for a club to obtain binder will be helpful in providing continu- funding from the university or medical ity for next year’s officers because they school. An example set of bylaws and a won’t have to start from scratch again the sample constitution are included in this next school year. resource guide that you may wish to • Network with your local ACP chapter. use as a starting point for developing Get and stay in touch with your local ACP your own. chapter. Reach out to your local ACP • Designate a few students from each class chapter leadership (see page 2 for more information) for help organizing speakers who will serve as representatives for their and events for your IMIG. Offer to send an classes. These students can act as liaisons IMIG representative to your local ACP between classes, announce meetings, and chapter’s executive council meetings, or carry suggestions for meeting topics back alternatively offer to help create or main- to the IMIG. tain your local ACP chapter’s Facebook or • Consider adding a Student Advocacy Twitter page. Leader position to your IMIG. • Develop a Web page for your IMIG or The Student Advocacy Leader can help local ACP chapter. Having a website (or a the group understand political issues Facebook or Twitter page) is a great idea affecting medical students and physicians to increase student awareness of your and help students register for ACP’s IMIG. You may want to ask your local ACP Advocates for Internal Medicine Network chapter to create and maintain a website Program so they can advocate for positive on which you can post information about changes in medicine. For more informa- events. You could also consider asking tion, visit www.acponline.org/advocacy/ your hospital’s Department of Medicine if aimn. your IMIG can have space on their server. Be sure to follow the policies of your hosting organization regarding logo usage and privacy considerations. 3 Planning and Running Successful IMIGs assign a different group member, Meetings usually an officer, to plan each meeting to • Limit meetings to 90 minutes or less when- add variety and spread out the work more ever possible. Medical students, concerned evenly. about time away from their study schedules, • Follow up each meeting with thank you will respond best to short and directed notes to speakers and discussion panel meetings. participants. This is a good practice in • Serve refreshments as an incentive to general, and they may be willing to partici- attend. If the meeting is held in the early pate again or help the group in some other evening, the refreshments should be sub- way. stantial enough to be considered dinner. General Advice When selecting food and beverages, you should consider the dietary restrictions of • Lunch and dinner lectures are easy to plan the attendees, the budget for the event, and and are always well-attended when there is your institution’s policies.