Waltham – Policies focusing on health care access for immigrants,
education on most current evidence regarding care for individuals born
intersex, training for mass-casualty situations and educating clinicians
on managing patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease are among those
newly adopted by the physician-members of the Massachusetts Medical
Society.
Physicians from
across the state at 2018 Interim Meeting, held Nov. 30 and Dec. 1,
considered resolutions proposed by members to the organization’s House
of Delegates, the medical society’s governing body. Resolutions that
were accepted by the House of Delegates are now organizational policy.
The adopted policies include:
Immigration:
The Massachusetts
Medical Society will advocate for safe access to health care for
immigrants and refugees in the Commonwealth regardless of immigration
status, advocate for and support legislative efforts to designate
healthcare facilities as sensitive locations by law. MMS will work with
appropriate stakeholders to educate medical providers on the rights of
undocumented patients while receiving medical care, and the designation
of health care facilities as sensitive locations where US immigration
enforcement actions should not occur. The medical society will encourage
health care facilities to clearly demonstrate and promote their status
as sensitive locations, and oppose the presence of immigration
enforcement agents at health care facilities.
LGBTQ matters:
The medical
society will promote the education of providers, parents, patients, and
multidisciplinary teams based on the most current evidence concerning
the care for individuals born with differences in sex
development/intersex.
Stop the Bleed/Emergency Preparedness:
The
MMS will implement a three-year bleeding control “train the trainer”
demonstration project to provide hands-on regional instruction for
physicians and allied health professionals in bleeding control, wound
packing, and tourniquet application in order to increase the number of
individuals trained in bleeding control in the Commonwealth.
Alzheimer’s Disease:
The
Massachusetts Medical Society will develop an online educational
activity for physicians and other health care professionals on the
diagnosis and management of patients with cognitive impairments,
including, but not limited to, Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias,
and which addresses the role of caregivers including the burden of
round-the-clock care, caregiver burnout, and the potential for abuse.
The Interim
Meeting also included an ethics forum, “Health Care as a Basic Human
Right,” and a continuing medical education component featuring an
oration by Dr. Denise Faustman, who has led groundbreaking research of
Type 1 diabetes.
