April showers bring May Flowers: Announcing Physiatry in Motion!
The spring season is one of my favorite seasons of the year; it signals a long-awaited end to the chills of winter and heralds a new beginning. Buds reappear on trees, flowers get ready to bloom, the birds start to chirp again and life springs back into action.
As new chair of the 2016–2017 Resident’s and Fellows Council (RFC), I am filled with a sense of gratitude for the privilege to continue the rich legacy established by prior generations of council members. Together with colleagues on the new council, I extend an enormous thank you to all past and present RFC members for their service and leadership.
The new council is full of verve and brimming with exciting ideas. We are kicking off the spring season with a new name for the RFC newsletter, which henceforth would be known as Physiatry in Motion. We have a new logo, designed by council member Tracy Beth Høeg, and her sister, Emily Allen with input from all RFC members.
The logo embodies the spirit of our specialty, setting things in motion to help our patients regain functional independence. We triumph with our patients helping them to embrace a new normal. When our patients win, we win and are with them at the finish line. The figure in a running pose emphasizes the centrality of exercise as an important therapeutic modality for our patients. The carbon fiber running blade prosthesis highlights the innovative aspects of our field — pushing forward to make new discoveries that enhance physiatry and improve patients’ lives.
Our colors are the same as AAP’s Logo: gold for the pursuit of excellence and deep blue for our research focus. Motion implies versatility and as healthcare continues to undergo tectonic changes, our field is poised to be in the front leading the way in patient-centered and high value-based care. Physiatry in Motion will be featured on a quarterly basis on the revamped RFC section of the AAP website. We would love to have AAP residents and fellows, as well as medical students from across the country submit articles (approximately 500 words) on the following topics:
• Innovative uses of technology in Physiatry
• Emerging Technologies
• Resident and Fellow-led program initiatives during Residency (Volunteering, Community Involvement)
• Trainee Research highlights
• Global Rehabilitation Experiences
• Lessons from the Rehab Ward
• Political Advocacy Pieces
• Updates on Current Practice and Policy Guidelines
• RFC Alumni Interviews: Transitioning from residency — What I wish I had known
• Trans-disciplinary Collaborations
• Medical Student Interest Group Highlights
• Medical Student Research Opportunities
• Other topics deemed to be of interest to readership
Submission deadline for the 2nd Issue Physiatry in Motion is June 25th, 2016.
Please send all submissions to residentfellowcouncil@gmail.com
In addition to Physiatry in Motion, I am very excited about several other initiatives that the RFC has under its sleeves for the coming year. One of our projects this new is to enhance engagement with trainees online and to increase our social media presence. We will be sending out a call for RFC Social Media Ambassadors in the first issue of Physiatry in Motion. Along those lines, the RFC has a new Facebook page for past and present members: the Residents and Fellows Council Alumni — Association of Academic Physiatrist. Go like our Facebook page! We have several illuminating articles posted on the page.
https://www.facebook.com/AAPRFC/
For all in-training colleagues, we have a closed Facebook group and our numbers are growing by the minute. Find and join the group on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/915258991929015/?fref=nf
Medical students are invited to join the group as well.
We will be featuring regulary Physiatry Question of the Day (#PhysiatryQODs) to engage all our members and readers. We will address issues pertinent to residency and fellowship training, share tit-bits on surviving and thriving as well as share exciting physiatry-related news and publications.
Please stay tuned for the first issue of Physiatry in Motion to be released at the end of the April, as we usher in May and its flowers!
This article originally appeared in the Physiatry Forward Spring 2016 newsletter.
