Publications
APS Bulletin • Volume 18, Number 2, 2008
President’s Message
Charles E. Inturrisi, PhD
The APS Strategic Plan
This is my first opportunity since becoming APS President to communicate to members via the APS Bulletin. I would like to thank you for your support and let you know that I am committed to continuing the strong leadership provided by APS’s previous presidents and boards. I want to express gratitude to retiring and returning members of the board of directors and to our previous president, Judy Paice. Judy’s enthusiasm, sound judgment, and sense of purpose will guide me throughout the next 2 years.
Every organization must reevaluate itself and plan for future endeavors. This self-examination not only strengthens APS but also has very direct and immediate consequences by transforming the resultant goals into priorities reflected in APS’s future budgetary expenditures. Because we want to be the best stewards of APS funds, we must be sure we carefully consider the future priorities of APS.
In 2004 the APS Board of Directors began redefining APS’s mission, vision, and values. The strategic goals and priorities of this process are outlined on the APS Web site (see About/APS Strategic Plan.
Last fall the board began reevaluating the strategic plan to see whether goals and priorities set in the original plan were still relevant to the membership of APS. Consultant Glen Tucker guided and facilitated a thoughtful process determining “where APS should be going and how we can get there.” Our staff supported this process at every step. We began by reexamining APS’s mission, vision, and core values to gain a fresh perspective on where we want APS to be in 3 to 5 years and then developed a series of specific objectives and priorities to achieve APS’s mission of increasing the knowledge of pain and transforming public policy and clinical practice to reduce pain. Because we are a multidisciplinary community that brings together a diverse group of scientists, clinicians, and other professionals, we are the organization with the vision, the values, and the member support to succeed in this essential mission.
Developing a strategic plan requires thinking about what we do best and which APS resources we can marshal to accomplish our goals. We began by defining a “Big, Audacious Goal.” This goal expresses how we want the world to see APS upon the plan’s completion. The board unanimously agreed that we want APS to be viewed as the lead organization in advocacy and the main resource for scientific knowledge to optimize the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of pain. When we achieve our goals, APS members, other healthcare professionals, public policy makers, and payers as well as patients and society will recognize our preeminent leadership in each of these aspects of pain management.
The next step was to draft a series of goals. The first, our clinical treatment goal, is to continue to develop APS standards, as exemplified by our very successful Centers of Excellence in Pain Management award program. With the educational goal, we plan to continue our valued guidelines program and expand distribution of the guidelines to reach not only our primary target audience, the members of APS, but also other groups, from providers to payers to patients. The education goal will use Web 2.0 to enhance collaboration among APS members and visitors to APS’s Web site. Those of you who use social-networking sites, wikis, or blogs are already aware of the potential for communication through these Web applications. For the rest of us—get ready!
Next, the research goal includes identifying and implementing different approaches to increasing both the availability of and APS pain researchers’ access to National Institutes of Health and private funding. The patient advocacy goal includes defining and promoting standards and practices utilized by our 12 Centers of Excellence. The advocacy goal will allow us to expand our interdisciplinary programs beyond the annual meeting to foster improved communication between basic and clinical scientists. Web 2.0 will also play a role here. A point of emphasis in the advocacy goal is the implementation of new programs that will increase the healthcare community’s recognition of APS as the leading national advocate for pain research and treatment.
An essential component of any plan is a method of evaluating successful outcomes and implementing changes in the plan to accommodate changing conditions. Both measures are being developed by the board.
You, the members of APS, will have an essential role in both the implementation and the evaluation processes. In the final analysis, the plan is designed to reflect the needs and desires of APS members. Audacious? Perhaps, but together we can accomplish these goals.