President's Message
We Want To Hear From You!
By Lia Lowrie, MD
SPS President
In the Winter SPS Newsletter, our immediate past President, Dr. Mick Connors, talked about turning the page on pediatric procedural sedation. Well, I am so honored to help represent that newly turned leaf as the new President of the SPS. I am a Pediatric Intensivist by training (and many would say by temperament) and have been interested and active in Pediatric Sedation as a patient service and as a new discipline since early in my career. I had the honor of being part of the Founding Board of SPS in 2007 and continue to be amazed at what SPS has become – 600+ members and many strong institutional partners involved in research and the pursuit of quality care. We are well on our way to living up to our ambitious Mission Statement.
The energy and work done in this past five years have been phenomenal. Highlights include:
- incorporation of and efficiency improvements to the Pediatric Sedation Research Consortium database into the SPS resulting in high quality research output and continued data delivery for individual Sedation Services quality assessment programs;
- development and production of the SPS Sedation Provider Course;
- seven impressive annual conferences;
- development of core competencies for pediatric procedural sedation for a variety of professional roles; and
- successful partnership with AHRQ and quality experts to begin to define quality improvement in the field of pediatric sedation.
SPS is gradually becoming a sought-after voice for regulatory bodies because of our multidisciplinary focus and data-driven assessments of what is really needed to provide excellent patient care. It’s this kind of ongoing work that I think has prompted the extraordinary number of volunteers and nominations for seats on the SPS Board this spring.
Your votes elected Cheri Landers, MD to the Board. We also recognized the service to the Board and the Society of Joe Cravero, MD and Jana Stockwell, MD. Both Drs. Cravero and Stockwell intend to stay active members of SPS and I’d like that to be my message to you all this spring and summer. Get involved with SPS! You all have the perspectives, process and knowledge of pediatric sedation from what you do every day, and sharing that insight is what will accomplish the SPS Mission.
To help promote that crucial SPS member involvement we have re-energized the committee structure of the SPS. There are opportunities for participation through involvement on all of our Committees and subcommittees: Quality and Safety, Research, Membership, Communication, Technology, CME, Newsletter, Nursing, Non-Pharmacologic Adjuncts, Annual Program, SPS Provider Course, and Emergent Sedation. On the SPS website there is a list of committees, with contact information for the Chairs and Co-Chairs, along with the current charge or projects on which each committee is working.
All of the Chairs and Co-Chairs are actively searching for new ideas and people. Please contact the individual Chairs and Co-Chairs with your offers of time and talent! If you have an idea that doesn’t seem to fit within a current committee, contact me, Trish Scherrer, MD (Vice-President) or Joye Stewart at the SPS office.
