STS News, Spring 2016 -- Every 5 years for the past 20 years, STS has embarked on an effort to establish and review its mission, vision, and strategic goals so that future activities align with the needs of its members and the specialty at large.
In May 2015, under the direction of 2015-2016 STS President Mark S. Allen, MD, the Society began an 8-month process that involved numerous meetings with surgeon leaders, the STS management team, and an outside consulting firm, as well as a detailed member survey.
“Members were really willing to chime in and help out,” said Dr. Allen. “We heard a lot of new ideas, and I think the new strategic plan covers all—or almost all—of the concerns and issues we heard during the process.”
Although the Society’s mission was unchanged, the vision was updated to reflect a basic desire by members to improve the lives of patients with cardiothoracic disease.
Also reflected was the understanding that many surgeons are experiencing some sort of transition. Whether it was keeping up with new technology, changing employment situations, or work-life balance issues, survey participants indicated that they had stressors they hoped the Society could help to alleviate.
“I was surprised by the large number of our member surgeons who are now employed by hospital systems,” said Dr. Allen. “This is a big change from 5 years ago. The new strategic plan will help us proactively assist our members and the specialty; without it, we would just be reacting to what is happening.”
Strategic Goals and Objectives
The foundation for the new STS Strategic Plan, approved by the Board of Directors in January, concentrates on three main goals:
- Lead innovation and education;
- Foster collaboration and connection; and
- Advance quality.
Among the objectives are expanding and enhancing STS educational offerings and platforms and optimizing the value, functionality, and sustainability of the STS National Database.
“Our Database is one of the most valuable assets in medicine,” said 2016-2017 STS President Joseph E. Bavaria, MD. "Not only is it a credible source of clinical outcomes data that has been recognized by payers and researchers alike, but it also helps drive practice improvement, which ultimately leads to better care of our patients. In the coming years, we would like to broaden the scope of the Database, as well as make it easier for the user to understand his or her outcomes reports.”
Enhancements to the Database that are under way include a web-based report dashboard and a new data collection and reporting methodology that will allow continuous data harvests.
"The new strategic plan will help us proactively assist our members and the specialty; without it, we would just be reacting to what is happening."
As the Society begins to unfold its new strategic initiatives, two new workforces have been created—the Workforce on E-Learning and Educational Innovation, chaired by Dr. Allen, and the Workforce on Early Careerists, chaired by Vinay Badhwar, MD.
Some of the initiatives that these workforces will undertake include expanding the current e-learning system and creating resources for career development.
“We’re also going to work very hard with other global cardiothoracic surgery organizations to deepen our ties on the educational front, as well as on the clinical practice guidelines front,” said Dr. Bavaria.
New Core Values
For the first time, an STS Strategic Plan includes core values. These core values were designed to complement and replace staff core values that were developed shortly after the Society became self-managed.
“Back in 2004, when our staff was a fraction of its current size of 60 employees, we put together an interdepartmental team to articulate a set of core staff values that all of us could buy into, borrowing a page from the playbook employed by many for-profit companies seeking to nurture a positive and productive culture,” explained Robert A. Wynbrandt, STS Executive Director & General Counsel. “One of the more gratifying byproducts of the Society’s most recent strategic planning exercise was our surgeon leaders’ enthusiasm for the development of core organizational values as a component of the new strategic plan. Just as our former core staff values helped to fuel the success of the Society in a variety of ways that we may not have fully anticipated in 2004, I expect that the formal adoption of our five organizational core values will further contribute to STS success on numerous fronts over the long term.” (See page 4 for additional commentary.)
To view the 2016 STS Strategic Plan map, go to www.sts.org/about-sts/strategic-plan.