Publications
APS Bulletin • Volume 13, Number 2, 2003
President’s Message
And Miles to Go
Christine Miaskowski, PhD RN
As I write my final President’s Message, the words of the poet Robert Frost echo in my head: “For I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep.” To prepare this column, I reread my inaugural President’s Message and the promises I made to the APS membership. This message summarizes our successes and the areas that require additional effort.
One of the major goals for this year was the development of a strategic plan that would serve as a guide for the organization during the next 3 years. The Board of Directors developed a strategic plan that integrates well with the objectives set forth by the Task Force for the Decade of Pain Control and Research. The work for the coming years is to implement this plan through various committee and task force assignments.
The diversity of APS’s membership is one of our greatest strengths, and, potentially, one of our greatest liabilities. I wrote about this issue in my January/February 2003 President’s Message. During the past several years, we have given a great deal of attention to APS’s basic scientists. These efforts have been a success, and the Basic Science Task Force has done an excellent job developing this critical segment of our membership. The excellent work of this task force will undoubtedly continue.
At this point in our organization’s history, it is imperative we focus our efforts on the recruitment and retention of physician members. Our physician members have numerous, diverse needs. At our March meeting, I will speak with the Board of Directors about establishing a task force to examine these issues in detail and provide an action plan.
Another issue I addressed in my inaugural President’s Message was the crisis related to the decrease in funding for chronic pain rehabilitation. APS established a multiorganizational task force under the leadership of Dr. Ed Covington to develop a plan to address this crisis. This task force, which included representatives from the American Academy of Pain Medicine and the American Society of Pain Management Nurses, as well as several consumer groups, met in Chicago and is working on a position paper to address this problem. I would like to thank Dr. Covington for his leadership of this task force.
Another goal of my presidency was to strengthen the Clinical Practice Guidelines Program. Members repeatedly identify this program as an important benefit. During this past year, the program was restructured to facilitate its growth and development. The Arthritis Guideline is disseminated widely; more than 164,000 copies have been sold. The Cancer Pain Guideline is in peer review, and will be released this spring. Our guideline on fibromyalgia is also ready for peer review. Using the newly established APS E-News electronic newsletter, we have surveyed the membership to determine high-priority topics for subsequent Clinical Practice Guidelines.
When our members identified a need for increased communication, we bridged the communication gap with the launch of APS E-News. To date, several issues have been “mailed,” and the response to each issue’s survey has been extraordinary. I hope the membership will leverage the benefits of this form of communication, and respond to inquiries through this communication medium.
During my year as president, I also focused on the financial stability of the organization. APS has a strong financial base, but, at the same time, we need to expand it to be able to support the development of a larger variety of programs. To that end, the APS executive director and I have been working on the development of a Capital Campaign. I will be presenting this plan to the Board of Directors for approval at the March Board meeting. With 2003 being the Society’s 25th anniversary, I think now is the appropriate time to launch a Capital Campaign to ensure a strong financial base.
This year was an incredible journey that was filled with numerous challenges and opportunities. As I reflect on my year as president, I believe I fulfilled some of the promises I made when I took office. At the same time, a year is a relatively short period of time to achieve specific goals within a large and complex organization. Consequently, some of these goals will be addressed by our new president and Board of Directors. I would like to thank the members of the Executive Committee; the Board of Directors; our executive director, Catherine Underwood; and the AMC staff for all of the help and support during the past year. I wish Dr. Richard Payne a fruitful and exciting year as APS president.