Peter J. Davis, MD
SPA President
Children's Hospital
Pittsburgh, PA
As we return from the summer and begin to look at upcoming SPA programs, it is clear that educational activities are a large proportion of what defines SPA. SPA continues in its mission to provide educational opportunities to its membership through its two meetings a year and support of pediatric anesthesia based research. In conjunction with the AAP, last year's winter program in San Diego was a huge success. This year Jim Steven, with the aid of the Educational Committee, is putting together another outstanding 3-day program. This winter's meeting will be March 7 - 10 and will be held at the Fontainebleu Hilton Resort in Miami Beach. This year's annual one-day meeting in October, which is just prior to the ASA, will be held October 12, 2001, at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel. Frank Kern has put together a tremendous program that is both scientific and clinically oriented. Clearly, meeting the educational needs of our members is no small task. Both Frank and Jim are to be congratulated for two years of excellent quality meetings.
In addition to providing didactic educational programs for its members, SPA further promotes its educational mission with its research support of FAER. This year SPA will help support the research of Dr. Hong Liu. Dr. Liu is at the University of California Davis Medical Center. His project is "Volatile Anesthetic Preconditioniong: Effects of pH, Na, and Ca in Newborn Hearts During Ischemia and Reperfusion." We look forward to Dr. Liu's progress reports over the next years. In addition to Dr. Liu, SPA is also supporting the work of Shu-Ming Wang from Yale University. Her project is "Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting in Children: An Alternative Treatment Modality"
In an effort to solicit what members want and what members need, SPA is striving to be more interactive with its membership. Thus, the web is becoming an integral component of our SPA lives (visit www.pedsanesthesia.org). As a result, the SPA website is growing and the society now employs two people to maintain its web site. The website is now a location for members to help with program development, program content, program location and program format.
In addition to meeting and program information, the website will also serve as a vehicle of information. Information regarding fellowship directories, membership directories, job postings and third world country/missionary opportunities are now accessible via the SPA website. Quentin Fisher and the SPA Committee on International Outreach Programs has done an excellent job putting together pertinent information on available opportunities and on appropriate checklists for those individuals actually going on medical missions. This information can now be accessed on the website.
As the educational needs of the society change and if recertification in anesthesiology becomes mandatory for all, one of the long range educational missions of SPA is to provide the necessary educational tools (i.e., refresher courses, tests, CME ) to its members. To further strengthen these educational endeavors, SPA has recently been accredited by the ACCME. This accreditation will now give SPA the ability to give CME credits for its own programs. In the past, CME credit for SPA programs has come through the Society for Education in Anesthesia.
However, as stated in previous newsletters, the educational price of running meetings, sustaining a website and providing members with value added come at a cost. The cost is not offset by dues and registration fees. As I have previously noted, the operational cost of the organization is greater than its income from meeting registrations and dues. The need for members to make a philanthropic contribution to SPA is important. Dues have not been raised, and costs continue to rise. Our goal of raising enough money to endow an educational fund is essential to maintaining the quality of our educational mission while maintaining an affordable registration fee for meetings. If all members pledge the remuneration of one myringotomy and tube procedure ($250) to the SPA Educational Fund, this donation would allow us to reach our goal of an educational endowment.
As we look to our future educational needs, the society will look to its members for direction and guidance as well to its members' pockets to help preserve its mission. What we as an organization do best is education and teaching. The Society's strength lies in its membership and financial support.
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