Picture a busy hospital floor with nurses bustling between rooms, residents and attendings verbalizing plans, technicians reading telemetry monitors and alarms sounding. To the uninitiated, this setting is completely bewildering. As physicians, we learn to navigate this seemingly chaotic environment to effectively care for patients, recognizing how to prioritize the critical information and filter out the noise. It is much the same in the political world, where issues arise and stories break – all while the core of business continues underneath the surface. For many resident physicians, most of whom have little exposure to the inner workings of state and national politics, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and perhaps intimidated by this relatively unfamiliar environment.
Although entering the political sphere can be daunting, involvement has never been more important. As we look forward in 2013, some political journalists have referred to it as “the year of health care.” A...
