Latest updates on ACP's priorities, initiatives
ACP Spotlight offers readers a look at ACP's current top priorities and initiatives, as well as highlights from our e-newsletter, I.M. Matters Weekly from ACP.
ACP's 2023 graphic shows advocacy in action
ACP's 2023 Advocacy Highlights graphic shows how the College addressed critical issues impacting internal medicine physicians and patients last year. ACP actively worked to reduce administrative burdens, improved day-to-day practice for internal medicine physicians, issued new policies and recommendations, shaped discussion of key public health issues, championed the value of internal medicine physicians, and advocated to improve board certification policies and processes. .
ACP, Public Good Projects unite to combat medical mis- and disinformation
ACP is partnering with the Public Good Projects to provide access to curated tools and resources, specifically developed for physicians and health care professionals, to help mitigate health care mis- and disinformation. The resources, developed by the Public Good Projects, include weekly updates on health care misinformation trends across the country and state dashboards with real-time media data; reports providing trending health narratives, recommendations, and helpful resources; and three training modules covering how to identify and respond to trending health narratives. Training is available in English with Spanish subtitles.
‘Annals: Spotlight on 2023’ collection and video now available
The editors of Annals of Internal Medicine have curated a list of some of the most influential articles published by the journal over the past year. The “Annals: Spotlight on 2023” collection includes must-read articles on firearms, obesity, COVID-19, and more.
ACP's identity campaign features internal medicine physicians impacting medical education
Last year, the College launched a multiyear identity brand campaign designed to educate about the breadth, depth, and diversity of our profession. The campaign's goals are to underscore the vital role of internal medicine physicians and the value internal medicine physicians bring to health care.
Our comprehensive webpage offers content to support the campaign and includes stories about how ACP's members impact medical education. Follow ACP on social media and use #InternalMedicinePhysician to engage in the conversation.
ACP policies emphasize physician-led team care, election access
Two new papers from ACP address the importance of physician-led team care and equitable access to elections.
“Principles for the Physician-Led Patient-Centered Medical Home and Other Approaches to Team-Based Care: A Position Paper From the American College of Physicians” notes that physicians' training makes them most qualified to make advanced clinical decisions. State licensing bodies need to recognize the different skills, training, clinical experience, and demonstrated competencies of health care professionals, and only physicians should perform medicine independently, the paper said, among other recommendations.
In “Ensuring Equitable Access to Participation in the Electoral Process: A Policy Brief From the American College of Physicians,” ACP called for removal of barriers to participating in elections and made recommendations on informing health care professionals about the links between electoral processes and health, encouraging civic participation, and supporting safe and equitable access to electoral participation to advance health equity for both patients and health care professionals, among other topics.
Both papers were published Dec. 26, 2023, by Annals of Internal Medicine.
ICYMI: Highlights from I.M. Matters Weekly
- Lung cancer screening led to more downstream procedures, complications in practice than in research. In clinical practice at five U.S. health care systems, 31.9% of patients screened for lung cancer underwent downstream imaging and 2.8% had downstream procedures. Those undergoing invasive procedures after abnormal findings had a 30.6% complication rate, compared to 17.7% in the National Lung Screening Trial. The study was published Jan. 2 by Annals of Internal Medicine.
- No link seen between elective surgery and dementia risk in seniors. A population-based retrospective cohort study in Canada found that patients older than age 65 years who underwent elective surgeries had a 4.6% rate of incident dementia within five years, compared to 6.9% in matched controls who consulted with a surgeon but did not undergo surgery. The results were published Jan. 2 by the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. https://agsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1010. .11111111. /jgs.1873618736.
