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Ann Thorac Surg 2002;73:9-10
© 2002 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

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President's page

Implementation of the 2000–2001 strategic plan begins: new bylaws and more

* Address reprint requests to Dr Orringer, General Thoracic Surgery, University of Michigan Medical Center, 1500 E Medical Center Dr, 2120 Taubman Center, Box 0344, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
e-mail: morrin{at}umich.edu

As my term of office as President of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons draws to a close, this will be the last of my messages to you in The Annals. The activities of The Society remain extraordinarily diverse, and the continued success of this organization absolutely dependent upon the efforts of our member volunteers. I can assure you that the trajectory of the STS is "on course," and as we now begin to implement our recently developed Strategic Plan, the future of the STS looks encouragingly "solid."

Proposed new bylaws

During the past two years, STS leadership has been involved in a strategic planning process intended to better prepare and sustain us in the years ahead. Dr. Jack Matloff began this initiative in 2000 when it was becoming all too apparent that our traditional professional societal infrastructure—based upon rotating leaders, volunteerism, and membership dues—could not adequately support the breadth of activities now encompassed by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons—"the face of thoracic surgery" in this country and world wide. We have adopted a new mission statement: "Help cardiothoracic surgeons serve patients better." We have clearly identified the major stakeholders of the STS—members, patients and society. To achieve the goals of the strategic plan, the Council created a mandate for change in the governance and administrative structure of The Society so that our resources—volunteer time, administrative staff, and financial—would be used most effectively and efficiently. It was a unanimous feeling that the Society needed to adopt a self-sustaining business perspective—not undertaking every proposed project without careful assessment of fiscal implications. The Council charged the Constitution and Bylaws Committee with the task of rewriting and modernizing our current Constitution and Bylaws with the goals of improving services and professional support and involving more members in the work of the Society.

Since, May, 2001, the Constitution and Bylaws Committee, chaired by Dr Nicholas Kouchoukos, and including Drs John Benfield, Leslie Kohman, and Gordon Murray, with ongoing support from Mr Rob Wynbrandt, our legal counsel, and Mike Thompson, Executive Director, have worked diligently to produce a set of revised Bylaws which have been mailed to all voting members for their consideration and will be voted upon at our next business meeting in Ft. Lauderdale on January 28, 2002. The Society is indebted to Dr Kouchoukos and his Committee for the thoroughness of their work and the high quality document they have produced. While each of the proposed changes in our STS governance structure cannot all be enumerated here, the most significant are as follows:

1. The name of the governing body of The Society will change from the Council to the Board of Directors to better reflect its responsibilities: formulating policy and maintaining the financial integrity of The Society. Broad representation of the membership on the Board is ensured by including six Directors-at-Large and an International Director.
   
2. In order to provide greater continuity of leadership and "institutional memory" for those assuming the Presidency, there will be an additional Vice-President.
   
3. Rather than our current 25+ committees, which must be formed and dissolved by cumbersome and lengthy bylaws changes, there will be only five standing committees of The Society—Executive, Finance, Nominating, Membership, and Standards and Ethics. All current committees as well as those established in the future will become "workforces" which will function under one of three Councils.
   
4. The day to day operations of the Society will be the responsibility of three Councils, (1) Education and Member Services, (2) Quality Assurance and Patient Advocacy, and (3) Health Policy and Relationships, each governed by an Operating Board and a Chair, who will oversee the activities of their respective workforces. I am convinced that this organizational structure will provide more flexible and responsive decision-making than has been possible in the past and will allow greater ease of member participation and input into the activities of the Society. This will facilitate a major goal of The Society: to create greater value for its constituents.
   

It is extremely important that every voting member exercise his or her vote on the Bylaws either through the proxy statement which has been mailed or at the time of the Business Meeting in January in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on January 28, 2002.

Possible STS name change

A tangential but related issue—that of the name of the Society—will no doubt surface in the coming year. During the discussions by the STS Council about modernizing and revising the governance and administrative structure of the organization, the question was raised as to whether or not the name "Society of Thoracic Surgeons" adequately reflects our organization and its members in 2001. Would a name change to "The Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons" (or a variant thereof) better serve the Society and its membership? This argument has been around since the subspecialty of cardiac surgery began to dominate a field which had begun with surgery for tuberculosis—true "thoracic" surgery.

The case against changing the name of the STS is easily stated:

1. It’s not broken; don’t fix it. Our name is not a "problem."
   
2. The historical precedent of the "Big T" definition of Thoracic Surgery should be honored.
   
3. Our major professional societies (AATS, WTSA, STSA) and leadership groups (ABTS, RRC, TSDA) all use the traditional "Thoracic" designation; a name change would be more divisive by creating a "splinter group" of the STS.
   
4. The STS is a professional society, and we all know what "Thoracic" means.
   

On the other hand, there are a number of compelling reasons for change:

1. Thoracic Surgery began when the specialty was "chest" surgery treating tuberculosis: with the current dominance of cardiac surgery, perpetuation of a greater than 70-year-old name does not adequately acknowledge our major component subspecialties.
   
2. In the current era, "thoracic" surgery has in effect become synonymous with "general thoracic" surgery; modern heart surgeons define themselves as cardiac, not thoracic surgeons.
   
3. The STS has become much more than a traditional professional society focused on member education and a journal; our current array of health policy and patient advocacy initiatives are compelling arguments to identify our major constituents (cardiac and thoracic surgery) in our name when we address legislators, government agencies, and the public.
   
4. The term "cardiothoracic" surgery is already widely accepted in Europe (European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery), modern information media (CTSNet), the American College of Surgeons (Advisory Council for Cardiothoracic Surgery), and the majority of our residency programs in which house officers are typically referred as "CT residents." As the "face of our specialty" in the U.S. and abroad, the STS should lead the way in changing our name.
   
5. Even in our recent strategic planning process, our new mission statement adopted by Council— "Help cardiothoracic surgeons serve patients better"—reflects the "best" term by which we define ourselves.
   

While several years ago I favored maintaining the status quo so far as the name of the STS was concerned, citing the historic tradition of the specialty begun by Dr. John Alexander in 1928, this year as President of the STS has caused me to rethink this position. When speaking before the public, government officials, and our patients, the need to define the overall specialty of "Thoracic Surgery" as including both cardiac ("heart") and thoracic ("lung, esophagus, and other organs in the chest") surgery has been repetitive. The term "cardiothoracic" is much more reflective of who we are and what we do, and "The Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons" may be a more precise and appropriate designation for the new millennium. This will be food for thought in the coming year.

Other issues

Many substantive issues lie before us, including declining reimbursement for our services, the future of thoracic surgical residency education, responding to society’s mandate for objective measurements of quality in patient care, and demonstrating our specialty’s efforts in improving patient safety, to name but a few. However leadership of the STS is strong, and the spirit of volunteerism—the backbone of the Society—remains a force that is up to the task of meeting these challenges. It has been a privilege to serve as your President this past year.

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Mark B. Orringer Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Orringer, M. B. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Orringer, M. B. Related Collections Professional affairs