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APS Bulletin • Volume 9, Number 1, January/February 1999
President's Message
APS Explores New Activities and Objectives
Russell K. Portenoy, MD
The 17th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Pain Society was a rousing success. It attracted the largest number of attendees ever, featured a superb program, and offered innumerable opportunities to network in a growing community of pain specialists.
The annual meeting always showcases the most remarkable aspects of APS. It is truly an interdisciplinary organization that equally respects basic scientists, clinicians in every discipline related to pain, and pain specialists in every practice and research sphere. Our recently revised mission statement highlights our broad range of interests and objectives:
The American Pain Society is a multidisciplinary organization of basic and clinical scientists, practicing clinicians, policy analysts, and others. The mission of the American Pain Society is to advance pain-related research, education, treatment, and professional practice.
As incoming president, I have had the opportunity to catalogue the expanding activities of our organization. Much is being accomplished through initiatives of the board and the task forces and committees on which our members serve. The following are just a few high points:
- Through the efforts of chair Ada Jacox, PhD RN, and many others, the APS Clinical Practice Guidelines Program has received grant commitments totaling more than $1.5 million from industry partners, philanthropies, and government. A new system for stewarding these funds will help target them to the development of specific evidence-based practice guidelines relevant to pain management. The goals for this year include the completion of the guideline on sickle-cell disease pain, the recruitment of expert panels to develop guidelines for management of pain caused by arthritis, and the development of a plan to revise the cancer pain guidelines.
- The APS Web site recently was enhanced and redesigned. It is now receiving more than 100,000 hits per month. The Web site includes pages on APS history, the Bulletin, the regional societies, and the annual meeting. We have recently accepted ownership of the TALARIA site, which provides information related to cancer pain, and we have a pain facilities directory. To help direct our efforts in this important medium, the organization will name an editor and editorial board for Web functions this year.
- The APS Managed Care Task Force, chaired by Stephen Lande, PhD, has been working on a handbook to help pain practitioners negotiate the increasingly complex practice environment. A position statement is also planned. The task force is planning to repeat both its successful 1998 professional development course and its October 1998 industry roundtable.
- Guided by Michael Ashburn, MD, APS has joined forces with the American Academy of Pain Medicine and the American Association for the Study of Headache to create the Pain Care Coalition. The coalition works closely with a professional group in Washington, DC, to monitor legislation and speak on behalf of its member organizations. The most important accomplishment during the past year was its collaboration with more than 20 other healthcare organizations to successfully fight the Hyde-Nickles Lethal Drug Abuse Prevention Act. This legislation was an attempt to stall the assisted-suicide movement by giving federal drug enforcement personnel the responsibility to review decisions by healthcare providers treating patients at the end of life. It could have had negative effects on the effort to improve palliative care, including pain management. During the coming year, the coalition will continue its efforts to influence this and other legislation and to provide information related to pain to legislators and those in the regulatory community.
- New groups have been established in APS, including a palliative care special interest group chaired by Kristine Nelson, MD, and a task force on ethics chaired by Michel Dubois, MD. These groups are now establishing agendas and goals. A new task force is planned to explore opportunities that relate to collaboration, coalition, or affiliation with other professional organizations that address issues related to pain.
There is much more, and much to expect in the coming year. Planning for the next annual meeting is under way, led by Judith Paice, PhD RN, chair of the scientific program committee. APS will continue to provide professional development courses at the meeting, and the chair of the professional development courses subcommittee, Bradley Galer, MD, will explore the feasibility of regional courses at other times of the year. APS publications during 1999 will include Pain Forum, APS Bulletin, the fourth edition of Principles of Analgesic Use in the Treatment of Chronic Pain, Managed Pain Care: A Handbook for Pain Specialists, clinical practice guidelines on sickle-cell disease pain, and others.
APS is a unique professional society. I am honored to be president this year, and I look forward to working with the extraordinary people involved in our diverse initiatives.
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