Vision and Purpose: AAPM Members Lead National Initiative to Improve Pain Care, Education, and Training

Abstract

In the fall of 2007, American Academy of Pain Medicine's (AAPM) Strategic Planning Committee hosted a retreat with AAPM executives, staff, and outside consultants to develop a vision for the AAPM in the coming years. The result of that meeting was an identification of the critical issues facing AAPM, a list of the goals and objectives to be pursued over the next 2 years, and a set of action steps to achieve those goals and objectives. The Strategic Plan 2008–2010 has served as AAPM's roadmap ever since, and we are delighted to be able to report on significant progress made during 2009 on those goals and objectives, as well as important new developments for 2010. As will be discussed in more detail below, we are very thankful for the leadership of our members who serve on the committees doing the work of the AAPM to move our specialty forward. Please let us know of you interest in working on any committees and give us your ideas. The first goal of the Strategic Plan is to develop AAPM into the voice of pain medicine and to establish AAPM as the premier pain medicine organization. We have completed several important steps that go a long way in accomplishing this goal: ### Pain Medicine Summit The long-planned American Medical Association (AMA) Section Council Pain Summit of the Pain and Palliative Medicine Specialty Section was held on November 5 in conjunction with the AMA House of Delegates (HOD) meeting in Houston. The Summit was held in response to AMA Resolution 321-A08 that was introduced and adopted by the HOD in June 2008 with the purpose “to improve pain care in US,” as follows: “RESOLVED, That our American Medical Association express its strong commitment to better access and delivery of quality pain care through the promotion of enhanced research, …