The Med-Peds

Interest Group

(MPIG)

Handbook

Kierstin Leslie, MD

(including overall ideas for creating a Med-Peds interest group at your school, sample by-laws, and sample budget forms)

National Med-Peds Residents' Association (NMPRA)

2009

(3/1/2009)

Med-Peds Interest Group Start-up Handbook

In order to establish your interest group as an official student organization, you will have to present your idea to the administration and fulfill several requirements, including but not limited to, providing goals for your organization, a constitution and bylaws for the organization, name of a faculty advisor, and if you are requesting funds from the school, an itemized budget. Here is a step-by-step guide to getting started:

  1. Identify a faculty advisor—if there is a Med-Peds program at your school then this step is simple. Your Med-Peds program director is a perfect faculty advisor as they can help you establish goals for your group, find speakers for your events, and provide you and the other members with invaluable resources. If you do not have a med-peds program, don’t fret—you have an Internal Medicine AND a Pediatrics program full of faculty members who could potentially be your advisor. Simply identify a few potential advisors and email them one by one, (you don’t want to email them all at the same time and have them ALL agree to be your advisor!) explain what you are trying to do and ask if they would be willing to serve as your advisor. Make yourself available to meet with them to discuss the plans for the year and for the organization in general.
  1. Get organized—After you have met with your advisor its time to prepare your documents before you meet with the administration. You’ll need to prepare an explanation for why you want to start a MPIG and how this will help the students at your school. From there establish a constitution and bylaws, what events or activities you want to have for the year, decide whether you will need funding and if so create a sample budget (you can ask your director of student organizations for insight on creating a reasonable budget based on your school’s financial status) and then email the appropriate person in your school’s administration to set up a meeting. See the sample documents for examples on how to create your constitution and bylaws and budget.
  1. Plan your first event—Once you have been established as an official student organization, you’ll need to hit the ground running! The best thing to do is plan an event to introduce you to the student body. A common first event is a “What IS Med-Peds?” lunch. (This will allow you to introduce both the organization and the field to the students at your school.) If you choose to do a lunch you will need to take the following steps:
  2. Choose the topic of your event
  3. Choose a date
  4. Find a speaker
  5. Secure a location
  6. Decide if you want (or can afford) to provide food or if it will be a “brown-bag” event
  7. Publicize your event (send emails, post flyers, etc)
  8. And be sure to have a sign-up of some sort for interested students so that you can contact them in the future!

If you would like to do a different type of event to introduce your organization here are some examples:

  1. Co-sponsor an event with either your IM or Pediatrics interests groups (a great idea if your budget is limited)
  2. Volunteer as a group—for example at a free clinic, a health fair, or some other community outreach event associated with your school
  3. Hold a workshop—suturing, intubating or any other skill you can find someone to teach for you (residents make great instructors!)
  1. Prepare for the next year—Now that you have an idea of what you want to do with your organization, now is the time to start laying the ground work for next year. Take note of things that didn’t go as planned or that you didn’t have the resources to pull off your first year, so that the next year’s officers have an idea of what works and does not work. Also, start to identify members who are interested in being officers and plan when and how you will hold elections.

*****SAMPLE CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS*****

University of AlabamaSchool of Medicine

Internal Medicine-Pediatrics Interest Group/Med-Peds

Constitution and By-Laws

March 2006

Article IName and Objective

SECTION IThe name of the organization shall be the University of Alabama School of Medicine

Internal Medicine-Pediatrics Interest Group/ Med-Peds (MPIG)

SECTION IIThe objective of MPIG shall be to increase awareness of and interest in the medical

specialty of Internal Medicine-Pediatrics, to contribute to the education of UASOM students and to provide interactions between medical students and med-peds physicians.

Article IIOrganization

SECTION IExecutive board shall be composed of MSII President, MS-I Vice President(s), Secretary, and Treasurer (can be either MS-I or MS-II), 2 third or fourth year advisors and any other positions deemed necessary.

SECTION IIMPIG is sponsored by the UAB Department of Internal Medicine-Pediatrics. At least one member of the department’s faculty shall serve as the MPIG faculty sponsor.

Article IIIElections

SECTION IPresident and Vice-President shall be determined in April-May of their MSI year. The MSI officers shall be determined as soon as possible in the fall of their MSI year.

SECTION II Officers elected in May will become active in that office June 1 following the election.

Each officer’s term will last one year.

SECTION IIIActive members of the MPIG are eligible to hold a MPIG office.

Article IVMembership

SECTION IAny medical student at the University of Alabama School of Medicine is eligible for

membership in MPIG.

SECTION IIActive membership in the organization is considered to be 50% attendance at meetings

and participation in MPIG sponsored mentoring, philanthropy or any

combination of the two.

SECTION IIIA list of active members shall be submitted to the Director of Medical Student Services each year to be kept in the member’s student file.

Article VAmendments and By-Laws

SECTION IAll proposed amendments to the constitution must be submitted to the Executive Board for review at the monthly organizational meetings. After review the executive board may, at their discretion, choose to propose the amendment to the general membership for a final vote. Amendments to the constitution require approval by a minimum of 50% of the general membership.

Article VIMeetings and Business

SECTION IMPIG shall have monthly group meetings or activities in addition to periodic Executive Board meetings.

SECTION IIThe Executive Board shall be responsible for developing the mentor groups, facilitating communication with faculty sponsors and developing other programs on an as needed basis.

SECTION IIIThe President shall be responsible for communication with the Director of Medical Student Life.

*****SAMPLE BUDGET*****

UASOM Med-Peds Interest Group

National Affiliation—National Med-Peds Residents Association

Faculty Sponsor: ______

Faculty Sponsor signature:______

Executive Board:______

______

______

Total amount allocated from MSS in 2008: $0.00

Summary statement of Organization Mission: ______

Organization:Med-Peds Interest Group Year: _2009

Sample Operating Budget
Income:
Source(s) of Funds / Amount expected / Amount Received
Membership Dues (if any)
University-allocated funds
Fund-raiser (if any)
Total Funds Received
Expenses:
Event / Projected Student Attendance / Amount Budgeted / Source(s) of Funds / Amount Spent
Informational “Free” Lunch Event
Lunch Event #2
Materials for Workshop
Materials for Community Service Event
Total Funds Spent