Dear Colleagues,

I hope that each of you had a great Christmas and enjoyed the holiday season. Starting a new year usually marks a fresh beginning: the opportunity to do some familiar things again and maybe be better at them. In this spirit, I’d like to share my top New Year’s Resolutions for what we hope to accomplish in 2022, which are unlike those resolutions that about 45% of us make and 25% of us break before month’s end—come on, admit it…

Resolution 1: Bridge the gap between what FCEP strives for organizational success and what is truly meaningful and adds value to FCEP members. FCEP membership is deep, diversified, and powerful. But is the membership empowered to make a difference and have a voice in today’s acute unscheduled care delivery model? How do we support each other, and how do we measure success? We can ask hard questions, but we need to be willing to answer them candidly and collaborate for our mutual understanding and benefit. Please consider Attending our next virtual Membership & Professional Development Committee meeting on February 8 to share your input.

We did a lot of internal restructuring in 2021. With back-to-back years in our executive director leadership transition, the FCEP Board of Directors will continue to focus on staff retention and providing new growth opportunities for team members to thrive in 2022.

Resolution 2: With a fresh perspective, identify operational areas for improvement while continuing fiscal responsibility. This strategy may require FCEP to relinquish traditional meetings and commitments and promote new member-specific agendas with educational venues. Our FCEP staff and BOD stand ready to disrupt the usual and embrace new avenues that promote best and safe practices. Please consider Attending our next virtual Education & Academic Affairs Committee or Board meeting on February 8 to provide feedback on educational initiatives and events.

Now I’d like to shift gears and reflect on the reality of our current practice environment. We find ourselves facing the ongoing pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it has presented unimaginable challenges for you and our entire workforce. Unfortunately, the Omicron variant continues to rapidly spread nationwide. Within Florida, urgent care clinics and emergency departments have noted record-breaking volumes and positivity rates, surpassing levels experienced during the summer’s Delta surge. While early studies indicate that the Omicron variant may cause less severe disease than Delta, we must prepare and remain vigilant, as the sheer number of infections could still overwhelm healthcare systems nationally. FCEP will rise to the occasion as we always have: continuing to promote the public health benefit when it comes to vaccination and boosters, organizing chaos in the midst of supply chain shortages for outpatient testing, and giving practical insight on the appropriate return to work policies in our respective clinical practices.

To conclude, I challenge you to share any of your New Year’s Resolutions with your fellow FCEP member colleagues. Remember that the resolutions we make as a team we are most likely to achieve! As our challenges continue within this pandemic, we will continue to make meaningful advances and add value together in our emergency departments. I wish you and your families a very happy, healthy, and safe New Year. ■