Arthur M. Boudreaux, M.D.

n his book The Richest Man Who Ever Lived,¹ Steven K. Scott discusses King Solomon’s secrets to success, wealth and happiness. Solomon, purportedly one of the wisest men who ever lived, stressed the importance of vision and diligence in achieving success at any endeavor. Mr. Scott defines vision as “a precise, clearly defined goal with a detailed plan and timetable for achieving that goal.” Of equal importance is diligence, “a learnable skill that combines creative persistence, a smart-working effort rightly planned and rightly performed in a timely, efficient, and effective manner…”

Strategic planning is an important part of most large organizations. Some groups, however, spend much time and effort on the planning process, generate a thoughtful document, congratulate themselves on a job well done, and never implement any of the strategies proposed. The vision may be too broad, the goals not realistic or perhaps external circumstances arise to derail the process.

We have heard much in the past few months about our strengths in patient safety, membership, education, support for research and advocacy. Our leadership has discussed the need for organizational improvement to make us more efficient and effective in order to position our Society and our specialty for the myriad changes in medical practice expected in the future. Strategic planning with vision and performed with diligence will assist us in achieving our goals.

At the August Board of Directors meeting, the Administrative Council approved a strategic plan for 2007-09 and distributed it to the Board of Directors for comment and feedback. Some highlights of the plan follow:

A. New Vision and Mission Statements

Vision
ASA is the world’s premier medical specialty organization, leading through innovation in patient safety, clinical care, advocacy, education and research.

Mission
ASA is an organization of physicians and other professionals, dedicated to serving the best interests of its members and their patients. ASA supports patient safety by promoting improved quality, ethical behavior, discovery of new knowledge and involvement of an anesthesiologist with every patient receiving anesthesia services, including perioperative care, pain management and critical care.

B. Values

This section describes the values of our Society and its members. It includes the paramount importance of safe patient care, integrity, ethical behavior, respect for the rights of patients, promotion and dissemination of educational information, active promotion of new knowledge, advocacy for the specialty as the practice of medicine and for fair compensation for our services and encouragement for leadership and participation in professional, community service and charitable organizations.

C. Strategic Priorities

This section includes 10 specific, detailed goals and objectives for fulfilling our mission. These goals involve education and training, advocacy for the specialty, increasing member value, support of the subspecialty societies and for the work and goals of ASA’s foundations, support for research, and development of an effective organizational infrastructure.

We will utilize the new strategic plan as a guide for officers, staff, division chiefs, section chairs and committee chairs to direct committee and staff work products for future years. With this focus, we will be able to more effectively meet our fiduciary responsibilities to our members and fulfill our vision and mission as stated above. The strategic plan will be revised as needed on a timely basis. The goals are reasonable and achievable. ASA is fortunate to have hundreds of volunteer physicians and other members and staff who will most certainly provide the “creative persistence and smart-working effort” necessary to fulfill each goal. We should all look forward to a bright future for our Society and for the medical specialty of anesthesiology.

Reference:
1. Scott SK. The Richest Man Who Ever Lived — King Solomon’s Secrets to Success, Wealth, and Happiness. New York: Doubleday; 2006.

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