Sempa elections

[EHOLDENPA-C]

My name is Eric Holden and I am seeking to serve in the position of Director at Large for the two year term 2011-2012.

I have worked in emergency medicine in several capacities over the last 24 years with the last 15 years spent as an EMPA working across the full spectrum of emergency medicine. I have worked in various areas ranging from solo coverage of small departments to working in rural settings and at busy urban trauma centers. Prior to this I worked as both an ER technician and a paramedic in several busy metro areas. As my career has progressed I have become very interested in disaster and international medicine. I have become a member of state, federal, and international disaster medical teams and have deployed three times to Haiti over the last two years. I have written several articles on topics relevant to the practice of emergency medicine and disaster medicine in peer reviewed medical journals.

I joined SEMPA while in my PA program at Hahnemann University and have been a member for over 16 years. The resources available through SEMPA have helped me research many aspects of the career field and become aware of new work opportunities I would have otherwise not known of. I have attended the SEMPA conference and as a Director at large would support keeping it affordable and accessible for all of our members by seeking out new venues in larger, more accessible metro areas.

As a potential director at large I have several other goals I would like to pursue. I believe as EMPA’s we have a unique skill set to be of assistance in the arena of disaster and global medicine. Every day we are exposed to the stress of individual disasters at work and are often better able to deal with these situations than our colleagues who practice in other specialties. If elected, I would pursue establishing a working group within SEMPA which would help fellow EMPA’s with an interest in international, disaster, and global medicine find opportunities to utilize their skills in these settings. As a concurrent member of the specialty PA society “PA’s for global health” I would like to facilitate a sharing of resources with this organization and have spoken with their leadership regarding this. They maintain a database of overseas volunteer positions for PA’s that I hope to make available to SEMPA members. Additionally I intend to write articles in the SEMPA newsletter detailing ways EMPA’s who aspire to work internationally can join DMAT’s and other volunteer disaster teams as well as discuss ways in which they can prepare themselves for deployments through formal training and self study.

I believe our recent affiliation with the American college of emergency physicians is a crucial step in maintaining our prominence as the advanced practice clinician of choice in the field of emergency medicine. We must remain committed to the principle of appropriate physician oversight in all settings while assuring EMPA’s retain the ability to increase our scope of practice and autonomy within the context of that relationship through education and on the job training with our physician partners.

In addition to lifelong on the job learning I believe SEMPA must also be committed to assisting in the creation of new EMPA residencies. Many new graduates wishing to pursue employment in our field find themselves stifled by the words “experience required”. Completion of a residency provides those skills and experiences needed to open the doors to a rewarding career as an EMPA.

As the organization representing all EMPA’s in all settings (including within the field of urgent care medicine) we must work with the NCCPA to assure that the specialty exam in emergency medicine is realistic and appropriate to the skills needed to perform well within our field.

Thank you for considering me for the position of director at large for SEMPA. I hope to meet you all at our next conference in 2011.

Eric Holden, PA-C, MPA, EMT-P, DFAAPA

[EHOLDENPA-C]

http://www.sempa.org/about-sempa/board-of-directors

 

Thank you all for your support. I will do my best to represent empa's over the next 2 years.

[rcdavis]

Great job!

[medic25]

Congrats E; very happy to have you represent us!