Publications
APS Bulletin • Volume 15, Number 3, Summer 2005
President’s Message
Reflecting on the Core Values, Vision, and Mission of APS
Dennis C. Turk, PhD
The American Pain Society was founded in 1978 as a multidisciplinary organization of basic and clinical scientists, practicing clinicians, policy analysts, and others. Since its founding, APS’s mission has been to advance pain-related research, education, treatment, and professional practice.
In 1978 no other societies devoted exclusively to pain research, practice, education, and policy existed. The closest organizations with any interest in pain were either disease or discipline specific. For these groups, pain was an afterthought, at best.
In the last three decades, however, pain has emerged as an area of interest and importance in its own right. I like to think that the influence of APS has contributed to the greater awareness and understanding of the importance of pain by the public, as well as by investigators and clinicians of various disciplines and specialties. Of course there is much more to do to educate policy makers and healthcare providers about pain. Since the majority of healthcare providers who treat people with pain do not view themselves as pain specialists, we have our work cut out for us.
One result of the expanded focus on pain has been the development of numerous organizations that have had a primary focus on pain, but that have evolved based on common clinical interests in specialties, diseases, or preferred sets of treatment modalities. Special interest groups (SIGs) within larger pain organizations have also been established.
Given this growth of the interest in pain and of complementary entities, the APS board of directors felt it was appropriate to reexamine APS’s core values, vision, and mission, as these define APS, distinguish us from other organizations, and express our uniqueness. The board of directors began this reevaluation process approximately 9 months ago. During our meetings and conference calls, an outside facilitator guided us through the process of self-exploration.
It is important to be mindful that a society or association, such as APS, consists of a group of people who voluntarily come together to solve common problems, meet common needs, and accomplish a shared vision. Thus, the core values, vision, and mission of APS make it truly unique.
Core Values
Core values consist of a central set of beliefs that form the basic philosophy, spirit, and driving force behind an organization—in short, what we believe, what we hold dear, and what is central to our existence. Core values guide our day-to-day thinking, decision making, and actions. After much reflection, the board of directors identified the following set of core values for APS:
- Leadership in the areas of research, education, policy, and practice
- Integrity
- Objectivity
- Integration
- Multidisciplinary approach
- Diversity
Vision
Next, we considered our shared vision for APS—to what do we aspire?—and crafted the following vision statement:
We prefaced the statement of APS’s vision with the admonition—“Pain Hurts! It hurts people with pain, their significant others, and society.”
Mission Statement
A mission statement describes our society’s purpose and what we hope to accomplish. It is an extension of our core values and guide for attaining our vision. The mission statement we drafted follows:
I have briefly summarized the process and the board’s progress in establishing APS’s core values, lofty vision, and renewed mission statement. I view our progress as more evolutionary than revolutionary: a recapitulation of who we are, what we believe, and why we exist. As always all of us on the board welcome your comments as we finalize our statements about APS’s vision and mission. We hope that a clear statement of our values and mission will encourage like-minded people to join us. I welcome your participation as we move forward.
Dennis C. Turk, PhD, is the John and Emma Bonica Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Research in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Washington in Seattle, e-mail turkdc@u.washington.edu