The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) first developed member interest groups (MIGs) in 2014, and these groups have shown a steady growth of interest since their inception.
MIGs have become an outstanding success: in 2014, there were just five MIGs; today, there are 15. These groups include a diverse membership that has the ability to voice individual thoughts at forums. Furthermore, they can discuss professional passions that connect physicians to one another.
The MIGs focus on specific health issues, such as direct primary care, adolescent health, emergency medicine/urgent care, hospital medicine, global health, oral health, independent solo/small group practice, rural health, reproductive health care, telehealth and single-payer health care.
One such issue is point-of-care ultrasounds.
"As ultrasound machines are rapidly becoming smaller and less expensive -- many now fit in the pocket of a white coat and can be obtained at a price affordable to most practices -- primary care physicians will have increasing access to this equipment," Paul Bornemann, chair of the MIG concerned with point-of-care ultrasounds, said. "Its use has been shown to decrease utilization of expensive diagnostic studies, improve quality outcome measures and decrease complications from procedures.”
Lifestyle medicine is also among the issues addressed by the groups.
"We want to focus on our lifestyles as family physicians," Robert Oh, chair of the lifestyle-focused MIG, said. "My guess is that if we improve the health of our workforce, it will naturally bleed over into the lives of our patients and our communities.”
Participating family physicians seek to help their communities and patients develop healthy lifestyles to improve their overall health.
