I am excited and have high expectations as I begin my term as AGA president. Communication to you, the members, is important to me, so during my term, I plan to continue the monthly presidential e-mails initiated by Emmet Keeffe during his presidency. Especially valuable will be your input on where AGA can improve but also about what we are doing right.

While we will be involved in many diverse activities in the coming year, there are three issues that are particularly important to me and that will shape my presidency in a profound way — professionalism, philanthropy and political action. These three very important concepts have a common theme. Together they deal with who we are (as individuals and as an association), what we do with our resources and what we must do to ensure the future vitality of our chosen profession.

Today I’ll discuss only professionalism. As the medical community comes under assault from many directions, professionalism must remain at the very core of our activities. Often we feel discouraged by daily hassles, endless regulations and administrators telling us what we can and cannot do. We can’t let this overshadow what my wife Kristin reminds me is the “prime directive,” why I worked so hard to become a physician. As physicians, our patients trust us — they bring us their problems. They share their thoughts, their concerns and their fears with us — often things that they don’t share even with their families. And they have faith that we will do right by them. Deserving this trust and respect and our commitment to do what’s best are why we chose our profession in the first place. What we as individuals do and what we do as an association must always remain patient centered — that is our professional obligation and it is the right thing to do.

It’s my commitment to provide you, the AGA members, with the resources needed to foster professionalism and improve patient care. A major initiative toward this end is the newly established Center for Quality in Practice. In collaboration with the Committee on Clinical Practice and Economics, the Center will develop an AGA Quality Package, which will include tools to evaluate patient experience, quality and access to care, and provide information on measurable evidence-based guidelines and clinical processes. The Center will conduct continuous review of national quality and patient-safety standards and identify key quality-of-care indicators in the treatment of digestive diseases and how you can measure them. While a movement to tie the quality of physician performance to reimbursement makes quality measurement important from a financial standpoint, the bottom line is that improving care is best for our patients.

One way to maintain a high level of patient care skills is through ongoing clinical education. This December, the AGA will host our first-ever Clinical Congress. This assembly, to be held Dec. 8-11, 2005 in a beachside setting in south Florida, will give you practical applications for recent scientific findings. You’ll also have the opportunity to learn more about CT colonography during an interactive dinner session, which opens the Congress on the evening of Dec. 8. Go to the AGA Web site www.gastro.org for more information and to register for the meeting. I plan to see you there.

Hopefully, this e-mail has allowed you to take few minutes to reflect on professionalism, your commitment to quality patient care and continuing medical education. Remember send me your comments or suggestions and, be careful out there!

Sincerely,
David A. Peura, MD
President, AGA