 |
Mission
Accomplished
By Paul
Lombardo, MPS, RPA-C
APAP President
Last October,
as my year as president of the Association approached, I did a number
of things that most incoming presidents do. I thought a great deal
about the mission of the Association — especially about its currency
and relevance. I considered how best to honor APAP's commitment to
provide the most effective level of service to our members. I spoke
with past and present leaders, constituents, and staff members to
get a sense of what they believed were the Association's priorities.
I inventoried the strengths that I brought to the table and considered
how to optimize the talent and experience of those with whom I would
be working.
In going through this
process I either recognized or heeded others' reminders of the need
to set realistic goals and periodically evaluate progress towards
achieving them. Creating a positive working relationship among key
stakeholders, especially our board, staff, and members, was certainly
going to be critical to success. The importance of planning by the
board and staff for the future needs of our Association and its members
seemed imperative in this time of great change and advances in medical
education and practice. That I be fiscally responsible was another
piece of advice I received, although, as is often the case, I realized
that the many wants and needs expressed were likely to exceed the
resources available — a key challenge to any president armed with
a mission.
In the final analysis
it became clear that in order to move forward there was a need to
reexamine APAP's mission statement and organizational structure in
light of the realities of 2004 and establish specific goals and objectives
that would be applicable today and for the near future. Now, as the
end of my term approaches, the time has come to examine the outcome
of a great deal of planning and hard work on the part of many. I would
offer the following as some of the highlights accomplished over the
last year:
- A new mission statement
that more fully reflects Association's purpose and priorities has
been carefully crafted and unanimously endorsed by the APAP Board
of Directors. Members will have the opportunity to vote on this
mission statement, as well as new vision and value statements, during
our Education Forum.
- A long-term goal of
the organization has been to bring the Association to independent
management and increase its visibility as the sole organization
representing entry-level physician assistants. The Transition Task
Force has made significant progress in moving the Association in
this direction.
- The globalization of
the physician assistant concept is underway. This year the Association
created a new International Affairs Committee to increase understanding
and facilitate the development of international PA programs. To
support this effort, the Association developed a "Guide to
International Physician Assistant Program Development," which
will serve as a valuable resource for those interested in establishing
programs in their own countries.
- The Association established
a Graduate Education Commission whose primary purpose is to identify
the current state of graduate level PA education and report their
findings and recommendations to the board. It is expected that this
task will be completed in 2005.
- The Recruitment Task
Force was created and has been hard at work finalizing its findings
and recommendations to the board and is expected to present a report
at our Education Forum this November.
- The board of directors
established a Governance Work Group in response to the need to conduct
a more efficient business meeting. The work group's charge was to
suggest changes that would achieve this objective. All programs
have received the work group's detailed recommendations which will
be pilot tested at our upcoming forum.
- The recommendations
of the Governance Work Group represented part of the board and staff's
overall effort to increase operating efficiency and effectiveness
over the past year. This included the development of specific annual
charges for each committee, task force, work group, institute, and
council within the Association. These charges are being utilized
to assess the progress and effectiveness of these groups in responding
to their annual objectives. In addition, the role of the board liaison
to each of these groups was better delineated, and a specific tool
for evaluating the effectiveness of committee functioning was developed.
These measures will improve the board's ability to provide more
substantive feedback to those who perform the work of the Association.
- The board established
a Research Database Group in response to increasing research endeavors
on the part of APAP members. The group's charge is to develop organizational
policies for the use and distribution of APAP data. The group has
presented its report to the board, and recommendations will be implemented
in 2005.
- The National PA Honor
Society will be up and running shortly. This endeavor will help
to increase the visibility of the excellent work accomplished by
PA students in their respective educational institutions.
- The central application
service continues to thrive and has improved its responsiveness
to the needs of APAP's member programs. Our goal is nothing less
than having CASPA recognized as the premier, Web-based application
service in the health professions, and I have no doubt that we will
achieve it in the near future.
Although time and space
do not allow for the same comprehensive review of all the activities
that you will find in the Association's business report, those noted
reflect some of the significant strides that have been made to address
the present and future needs of our member programs and their faculty.
Like most successful endeavors, the past year has truly been a team
effort. I hope that you will join me in expressing your sincere appreciation
to the dedicated members and devoted staff who continue to inspire
and without whose talent and skills it would not be possible to claim
"mission accomplished."
|