Our work with the Connecticut and Ohio Academies of Family Physicians involved the development of the first self-testing, self-evaluation program for family physicians, which is now known internationally as the Core Content Review of Family Medicine. This vehicle, which is designed, promoted, and produced by S & S staff members, is now considered the finest home-study, self-assessment program in print and electronic versions available to primary care physicians in the United States and Canada. The Review calls for expertise in multiple areas, including educational programming, marketing, careful financial controls, mailing efficiency, and long-range planning to meet changing trends in continuing medical education such as internet CME.
S & S Management was retained by the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL) in January 1993, after the Academy conducted an extensive search, considering both individual candidates and management firms. Since that time, membership in the Academy has more than doubled; direct accreditation by the ACCME has been obtained; three volumes of Landmark Cases and a Supplement have been produced in CD-ROM form; the Journal is being redesigned (with the Executive Director appointed as Managing Editor) and many new projects have been started. One of the first tasks given to the Executive Office was to update the image of the organization.
These examples illustrate the use of a staff director approach to association problems, which is based on thorough knowledge of the association’s history, the public it serves, and its goals and objectives. Using this approach, we not only achieve high levels of efficiency and expertise in all the essential areas of association management, but we ensure continuity of servicing. Your Association will continue to function during vacation periods, illness of a protracted nature, even an unfortunate catastrophe.