A Good Time to Be a Resident: ASARC Makes Progress in Legislative and Professional Realms

Thomas C. Sanneman, M.D.

he ASA Resident Component (ASARC) had its humble beginnings in 1988 when, at the urging of a small group of residents, ASA amended its bylaws and created “a special component of this Society consisting of resident members of ASA.” ASA’s central vision of this fledgling component was to “encourage resident participation, to develop young leaders with experience in organized medicine and to improve resident awareness of the role of ASA in the evolution of the specialty of anesthesiology.”¹

Since its inception, the Resident Component has grown in membership of residents as well as medical students. New opportunities have enabled residents to participate in many other aspects of ASA. Yet perhaps it is time that two small changes are made to remain true to the original vision of the component society: 1) promote the involvement of fellows within ASA, and 2) do so within the ASARC, necessitating a change to a more apt title such as “Young Physician Component” or “Junior Physician Component.”

The size of the ASA House of Delegates has grown dramatically since the first Resident Component House of Delegates meeting in 1990. Increasing numbers of anesthesiologists-in-training have been given ample opportunity to participate in the various component societies. In 2004, under the direction of Immediate Past President Roger W. Litwiller, M.D., the ASARC created a medical student delegation that will fully participate in ASARC activities and will be represented by a delegation of five medical students when our Society convenes at the upcoming Annual Meeting this October 22-26, in New Orleans, Louisiana. I am personally grateful to have the energy, interest and involvement of medical students who will, in a few years, become the next generation of participants in the ASARC.

At the same time, however, I feel ASA and ASARC are missing a prime opportunity to include another important group of physicians in the professional and legislative activities of the Society: fellows who are training in various subspecialties of anesthesiology. In as little as one to two years, these fellows will be junior faculty at academic and private practice institutions, basic science and clinical researchers who will advance our understanding of anesthesiology and improve patient safety, and future leaders of state component societies and ASA.

Therefore I propose that each ASA-recognized subspecialty society continue to foster the interest and participation of junior physicians in the legislative and professional endeavors of our Society. One key mechanism to nurture our fellows’ interpersonal and leadership skills is to create additional delegate and alternate delegate positions for subspecialty fellows within ASARC.

Subspecialty representation by fellows to ASARC is not a new concept. Since 2001 the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA) has had a delegate and alternate delegate to ASARC. These positions hold the same powers of participation in the ASARC as current resident members. Additional delegate and alternate delegate positions would coincide with other subspecialty societies that have representation in the ASA House of Delegates: the American Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists (ASCCA), the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists (SCA), the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia (SPA), the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP), the Society of Neurosurgical Anesthesia and Critical Care (SNACC) and the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia (SAMBA).²

If implemented this change would add six new delegate and alternate delegate spots to ASARC, bringing the total number of delegates to approximately 140 (an estimated 128 residents, seven subspecialty fellows and five medical students). This change would be instrumental in encouraging participation, developing junior faculty with experience in organized medicine and evolving the specialty of anesthesiology as a whole. These additional opportunities would position fellows to easily step into more administrative and leadership roles within ASA and their respective subspecialty societies.

Finally, given the addition of a medical student delegation and potential expansion of subspecialty fellow delegate positions, ASARC should consider changing its name to reflect the breadth of young physicians who are actively involved in the component society. Once again, this is not a novel idea. At the ASARC House of Delegates in 2003, Bracken J. DeWitt, M.D., then Chair of the Governing Council, realized that the representative body of medical students, residents and fellows was growing. He submitted a resolution to change ASARC’s name to the “ASA In-Training Component.” The resolution failed to garner enough support. While many logical nomenclatures exist, I propose that the designations “Young Physician Component” or “Junior Physician Component” would reflect the body of physicians-in-training.

In summary it is time for ASA and ASARC to look toward the future and capitalize on the current momentum and interest in the legislative and professional activity of its medical students, resident and fellows.

References:

1. Bylaws of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Section 1.37: ASA Resident Component. October 2004.

2 Bylaws of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Section 1.79: Subspecialty Organization Designations. October 2004.

Thomas C. Sanneman, M.D., is a CA-2 resident at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota. He is a Resident Delegate from the Minnesota Society of Anesthesiologists.