Changing the World as “Just” a Medical Student
Changing the World as “Just” a Medical Student
Dani Sychowski, OMS-III,
Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine
EMRA MSC AMA-MSS Representative
Edited By:
Olivia Voltaggio, OMS-III,
RVUCOM-Southern UT
EMRA MSC Editor
At any stage of medical school, it is easy to feel like what you are doing doesn't really matter. Between slogging through Anki to study for exams, showing up early and staying late on rotations, and trying to maintain who you are outside of medicine, it feels like the real decisions - the ones affecting patients, emergency medicine, and healthcare as a whole - are happening a million miles away. Here’s a secret though: we as “just” medical students can make a difference through our voices, advocacy, and passions. One of the most powerful tools we have to do this is with writing resolutions, which EMRA and the Medical Student Council gives a platform for.
- What is a resolution?
A resolution is essentially how we can transform a topic we are passionate about into policy, action, and change. While there are many avenues to pursue writing resolutions as a medical student, if you are a member of EMRA it’s likely your resolutions will focus on the specialty of emergency medicine as a whole, or specific topics impacting medical students who are exploring emergency medicine. Resolutions consist of two main pieces - “Whereas” clauses and “Resolved” clauses. The Resolved clauses are the directives or specific actions you are asking to be taken, while the Whereas clauses contain evidence and supporting statements.
- Why do resolutions matter?
Since resolutions contain action items which then become policy if adopted, a resolution can have a direct impact on emergency medicine and effect things like access to healthcare, medical education, diversity and inclusion, and other proceedings of the specialty. An adopted resolution written by EMRA members has the ability to go beyond EMRA and make its way to ACEP, CORD, or the American Medical Association to influence national standards.
Recently, several resolutions authored by EMRA medical student members were adopted to become EMRA policy and included topics such as supporting EMTALA, integrating prehospital medicine exposure in medical education, advocating for equitable second-look days, and encouraging research into the applications of AI in emergency medicine.
- What does the resolution writing process look like and how can medical students get involved?
As a medical student member of EMRA, you are eligible to write and submit resolutions! A great start is to identify an advocacy area you are passionate about and research any existing policy EMRA may have. You can always reach out to the MSC for general guidance, or any of the EMRA Committees if your idea(s) fall under any of their areas of expertise. This is also a great way to seek co-authors! Once you have your idea, have done some research on existing policy, and have your authorship team, it’s probably easiest to draft out your Resolved statements and then build your Whereas clauses around them with evidence and support from your research. For more information, check out EMRA’s “Guidelines for Writing a Resolution”.
Once a resolution is submitted to EMRA, it gets brought for discussion by the EMRA Representative Council (RepCo). Prior to the final voting of RepCo, there are opportunities for resolution authors to provide testimony on behalf of their resolution. This is a great way to let EMRA members and those who vote on the resolutions know why your resolution is important and should be adopted as policy.
You don’t have to wait until you graduate and have the title of “doctor” to make an impact, guide policy, and help change the world of emergency medicine for the better, you can start now! EMRA has two resolution “cycles” each year, in the spring and in the fall. The 2025 Spring RepCo meeting has passed, but this year’s fall RepCo meeting will be in-person at ACEP25 in Salt Lake City, UT. You can start writing resolutions to be submitted for that meeting, and the Medical Student Council is here to help at any step in the process!
Join us on Saturday, May 17th at 11AM CT for a Resolution Writing Workshop for even more information and to brainstorm ideas for resolutions. Register here
