Internal medicine takes San Diego by storm

Internal Medicine Meeting 2023, held in San Diego in late April, had a little something for everyone. The over 9,000 attendees took advantage of hundreds of scientific sessions, hands-on learning in the Clinical Skills Center, and countless opportunities for fun and fellowship.

Our story from the meeting features a talk on managing menopause symptoms. Melissa A. McNeil, MD, MPH, MACP, explained that genitourinary syndrome of menopause, while common, is often undertreated. She encouraged attendees to ask their older patients about vaginal symptoms to improve diagnosis and offered a rundown of the pros and cons of available treatments.

In another story, Robert O. Roswell, MD, FACP, dissects the health disparities experienced by Black men, detailing their roots in discriminatory policies and their long-term effects over decades. In his talk at the meeting, Dr. Roswell challenged the members of his audience to consider what they can do to help promote health equity.

Additional meeting coverage includes a talk by Erin E. Krebs, MD, MPH, FACP, on the delicate balance of benefits and harms that physicians must consider when treating pain in older patients. In addition, hear from the chief medical officer of the International Myeloma Foundation about the critical role of internal medicine physicians in accurate, timely diagnosis of blood cancer.

Our Pearls from I.M. Peers column and our I.M. Ready feature are also meeting-themed. In the former, Daniel D. Dressler, MD, MSc, FACP, discusses physical exam skills for inpatients, based on a talk he gave in San Diego, while the latter covers a session for early career physicians by Lisa Ellis, MD, MS, MACP, and Ankita Sagar, MD, MPH, FACP, Chair-elect of ACP's Council of Early Career Physicians, that used four cases of "wellness gone bad" to illustrate the importance of considering workplace culture as a whole.

In other news, ACP's annual Leadership Day took place in May, allowing internal medicine physicians, residents, and students to present members of Congress with primary care's top priorities. The key issues for ACP this year were administrative burden, physician workforce, and physician payment, as Shari M. Erickson, MPH, ACP's Chief Advocacy Officer, details in her Washington Perspective. Another story, meanwhile, offers more information on the Capitol Hill visits, including some advice on effective advocacy.

This issue also includes an update on federal information blocking rules and a call to action from ACP President Omar T. Atiq, MD, FACP, on tackling alcohol misuse.

Did you attend this year's Internal Medicine Meeting? Let us know what you thought at immatters@acponline.org.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Kearney-Strouse
Executive Editor