By Gayle Gliva-McConvey
It has been an honor to serve ASPE and you, the membership, these past 2 years. I have learned a tremendous amount, met stimulating people, made new friends and always appreciated your continued support of both ASPE and me. I want to extend a heartfelt Thank you for allowing me this opportunity.
I have also had the privilege of working with a dedicated, creative and brilliant Board of Directors over the past two years. They work hard for you and I want to take the opportunity to summarize some of the projects that are both seen and unseen by ASPE members.
Over the last couple of years, we have gone through major administration transitions, strategic planning, organizational changes and new concepts.
Accomplishments of the Board of Directors:
We have now fully completed the transition to Kautter Management Group (KMG) and entering the production phase of the relationship.
ASPE 2013 Strategic Plan: In 2013 at the annual face-to-face board meeting, an ASPE strategic plan was developed. Over the next 3 years, the work the BOD and committees do for you, our members, will be guided by these 6 priorities.
In order, the top six priorities identified:
- Confirm our Identity
- Expand Membership & Member benefits
- Create New Marketing Strategies
- Increase ASPE Publications
- Nurture Future ASPE Leadership
- Maximize Benefits of Existing Affiliations
We restructured two committees:
Original Committee: Education and Professional Development Committee (EP&D) and now restructured to two separate committees:
- Educational Content Committee
- Educational Resources Committee
Original Committee: Publications & Website (Pubs & Web) and now separated and restructured to:
- Website & Social Media Committee
- Publications Committee
After 50 years, we wanted to recognize the work of Howard S. Barrows, MD. We created the Howard Barrows invited Presenter series. Our first recipient was Dr. Jan-Joost Rethans from Maastricht, Netherlands at the ASPE conference 2013.
A second SP Educator of the Year Award was created to recognize our young leaders. The first Association of Standardized Patient Educators Emerging Leader Award was presented to Amelia Wallace at the 2013 Annual Conference.
We continued our International Affiliation Goals with a new Affiliation agreement with the Society in Europe for Simulation Applied to Medicine (SESAM).
The discussion of formal renaming/branding of ASPE continues.
Accomplishments of the ASPE Committees:
The restructured Website & Social Media Committee: A major project re-building the website was initiated with the expertise of our new management group and KMG webmaster;
- Migration from the old website to the KMG server with revised content was completed.
- The Website & Social Media Committee continues to work diligently to redesign the website with representatives of all ASPE committees who are assessing the content specific to their committees and the general relevance of each existing web page.
- ASPE and Social media – ASPE is now seen on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and IT!
The Publication committee continues to focus on the development and dissemination of a high quality bi-monthly newsletter, ASPE News, and has increased consistent communication with ASPE members.
The New Educational Resources committee focuses on the development and maintenance of ASPE Educational Resources. This committee is responsible for monitoring quality and approving educational resources submitted to the ASPE website and in the process of revitalizing the materials and expanding the categories of materials available to the members. This committee also organizes the ASPE Webinars. ASPE now offers two types of virtual training opportunities: the popular Webinar seminars and now the new “How TO Hour.”
The New Educational Content committee: This new committee has several subcommittees to accomplish various initiatives & goals. These are:
- Education Certificate “Core Curriculum” Series
- International Presentations
- Special Interest Groups
In collaboration with the Conference Committee, the first ASPE-SP Conference was piloted. At the 2013 Annual conference, the first Standardized Patient Conference was held in conjunction with the Pre-conference Immersion courses. Forty Standardized Patients attended the conference day and it was deemed extremely successful by both faculty and SPs. A repeat SP Conference will be held in Indianapolis.
We also conducted a very successful Annual Conference, offering new formats and a very robust program.
The International committee introduced two new international membership benefits:
- A new grant category for international members to encourage international research
- Special membership for emergent countries
The Membership committee has completed the annual survey and is working with the information you all so generously provided us. Many new things are happening in 2014!
Grants and Research increased the number of grants and awards in 2013,
We have been busy! If you are reading this and get excited about all the projects we are working on and want to join any committee – I strongly urge you to contact us. We would be very pleased to have you join us and share in the growth of ASPE.
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