_______ MD, FACEP, FAAEM, ????

Have you ever wondered what the FACEP and FAAEM meant after many EM physicians' names?

FACEP = "Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians"
FAAEM = "Fellow of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine"

The College (ACEP) and Academy (AAEM) are two of the major emergency medicine professional organizations. Although you may think they are the same, there are some differences in their ideas for emergency medicine (I'm still learning about the differences so I'm not much help yet). It seems that physicians can join either or both organizations. The fellow part means that they have met certain professional, ethical, and educational requirements for that status, specifically EM board certified.

You can check them out and learn about student membership information below. AAEM-RSA offers a FREE one-year trial membership from medical students, too. Membership comes with journal subscriptions, residency books, and spam mail. I've been a member of both organizations for a year now and found that the journals and magazines are really interesting and the residency books are very useful, especially EMRA Survival Guide.

AAEM - Resident and Student Association (AAEM-RSA)

ACEP - Residents and Medical Students (EMRA)

*At Noel's request, check out EMRA's Facebook group, too! Here's a link to Noel's early post about this.