Report on ACSPA/ACS activities, February 2017
The Board of Directors of the
American College of Surgeons
Professional Association (ACSPA)
and the Board of Regents (B/R) of
the American College of Surgeons
(ACS) met February 11–12 at the
College’s headquarters in Chicago,
IL. The following is a summary
of their discussions and actions.
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ACSPA
As of February 9, the ACSPA
political action committee
(ACSPA-SurgeonsPAC) raised
over $78,000 from more
than 230 College members
and staff. In addition, the
SurgeonsPAC disbursed $126,220
to 24 congressional candidates,
leadership PACs, and political
campaign committees. In
line with congressional
party ratios, 60 percent was
given to Republicans and
40 percent to Democrats.
ACS
In addition to reviewing
reports from the ACS division
directors, the B/R reviewed
and approved new policy
statements on the following:
•2017 ACS Statement on
Health Care Reform (see
page 35 of this issue)
•Statement on the Use of General
Anesthetics and Sedation
Drugs in Young Children
by Diana L. Farmer, MD, FACS, FRCS
and Pregnant Women (see
page 39, April Bulletin).
Division of Education
The Board of Regents approved
the continuation of the Surgical
Education and Self-Assessment
Program (SESAP®) for another
three-year cycle. The Board also
approved the ACS Division of
Education’s collaboration with
the American Society of Colon
and Rectal Surgeons to further
develop, implement, and evaluate
the impact of the Colorectal
Objective Structured Assessment
of Technical Skill program.
A total of 11,745 surgical
professionals attended the Clinical
Congress held in Washington,
DC, on October 16–20, 2016.
Division of Integrated
Communications
To further build enthusiasm
for the digital version of the
Bulletin, the Division of Integrated
Communications is launching
a marketing campaign to
encourage readers to read the
monthly publication in one of
its online formats. Future plans
for the Bulletin website call for
revitalizing and reconstructing it
to make it more responsive and
reader friendly. New features that
are under consideration include
videos, a running news feed,
and an open forum. The goal
is to make the Bulletin the go-
to source of news, information,
and commentary for members
of the College. To further assist
the division in determining
what today’s Bulletin readers
want and need, a survey will
be conducted in the spring.
Media coverage highlights for 2016
Media coverage of the landmark
findings from the Flexibility in
Duty Hour Requirements for
Surgical Trainees (FIRST) Trial
began February 2, 2016, when
results were published in the
New England Journal of Medicine
and presented concurrently
at the 2016 Academic Surgical
Congress. The key takeaway
message from this first national
randomized trial of resident
duty hours was that flexible, less
restrictive duty hour policies are
safe for patients, reduce handoffs,
and lead to greater resident
satisfaction. The Resident and
Associate Society of the ACS also
released a statement endorsing
the study’s findings. The FIRST
Trial news story received 2,088
total media mentions in the
period from its publication in
February to December 2016, and
167 articles mentioned the ACS.
In addition, the ACS media
relations team prepared a press
release on a study published in
the Journal of the American College
of Surgeons (JACS) describing the
increasing number of patients
who would benefit from liver
transplant being removed from
