Ad Hoc Headquarters Site Visit Committee Report-B35FE4D2
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Purpose and goal:
The triennial headquarters (HQ) site visit is an opportunity for a high level review of HQ operations and focus. Ideas may arise from this review that could result in specific, actionable recommendations and in other cases raise issues that the Board or other entities should address.
The overall goal of the site visit is to examine issues that are related to AAPM staff operations and that can be best done by direct interaction with staff in their own working environment, and by observation of that environment. The site visit team should also elicit feedback from all members of the AAPM staff on their experience as employees including, but not limited to, applicable policies and procedures, their understanding of their role, their interaction with colleagues, their interaction with the membership, their supervision and evaluation, their opportunities for growth within the organization, and their overall job satisfaction.
Executive Summary
I. The Association lacks an effective approach to media relations and social media presence. As competition intensifies for ever-more-limited clinical and research funds, the importance of timely and effective messaging regarding the medical physics profession’s relevance to public health and safety will only increase. The HQ management team should provide a summary to the Board with its assessment of the resources required for an effective media relations operation. The Association should be able to facilitate media connections to subject-matter experts within hours of such requests for “technical background information” (e.g. through the active maintenance of a pool of expert volunteers), and should be able to render and publicize an Association position on matters of public interest (e.g. proposed legislative restrictions on access to imaging or radiotherapy services) within one business day. Our current operations do not meet this standard.
II. The HQ team currently does not possess a sufficient knowledge base and connections to properly monitor regulatory and legislative initiatives in order to provide the volunteer leadership with appropriate opportunities to consider the impact of such initiatives. Given the importance of timely engagement on regulatory and legislative initiatives with an impact on medical physics, the HQ management team and Excom should develop an arrangement to bring radiation-application expertise into the Association (through a staff position, consultant arrangement, or hybrid) to address this gap.
III. When eliminating a position, there is currently no structured, transparent assessment of the knowledge, skills and contacts (internal and external) that may be impacted by the elimination. This results in potential risk for the Association which should be better managed. The HQ management team and Excom should outline a structured process for assessing the impact (loss of knowledge, skills, contacts) of any planned position elimination, and present the proposed process to the Board for review and input. Such a process should include Excom and the leadership of the affected entities.
IV. The Association lacks a robust Content Management System (CMS) to better facilitate the significant scope of collaborative writing and information sharing across the Committee structure (including Task Groups). The Information Services team should present a recommendation to the Board for consideration of a specific CMS platform (most likely of the Digital Asset Management type), preferably accessible through the AAPM website to address firewall restrictions against common file sharing sites.
V. The Information Services team has historically relied on the Electronic Media Coordinating Committee (EMCC) for guidance and policy enforcement. The current dynamic between the Information Services team and EMCC has become dysfunctional. Given the importance of the Association’s electronic media, Excom should assess how to guide EMCC back to its historic function in supporting the Information Services team and deliberating relevant policies.
Full report available here
The triennial headquarters (HQ) site visit is an opportunity for a high level review of HQ operations and focus. Ideas may arise from this review that could result in specific, actionable recommendations and in other cases raise issues that the Board or other entities should address.
The overall goal of the site visit is to examine issues that are related to AAPM staff operations and that can be best done by direct interaction with staff in their own working environment, and by observation of that environment. The site visit team should also elicit feedback from all members of the AAPM staff on their experience as employees including, but not limited to, applicable policies and procedures, their understanding of their role, their interaction with colleagues, their interaction with the membership, their supervision and evaluation, their opportunities for growth within the organization, and their overall job satisfaction.
Executive Summary
I. The Association lacks an effective approach to media relations and social media presence. As competition intensifies for ever-more-limited clinical and research funds, the importance of timely and effective messaging regarding the medical physics profession’s relevance to public health and safety will only increase. The HQ management team should provide a summary to the Board with its assessment of the resources required for an effective media relations operation. The Association should be able to facilitate media connections to subject-matter experts within hours of such requests for “technical background information” (e.g. through the active maintenance of a pool of expert volunteers), and should be able to render and publicize an Association position on matters of public interest (e.g. proposed legislative restrictions on access to imaging or radiotherapy services) within one business day. Our current operations do not meet this standard.
II. The HQ team currently does not possess a sufficient knowledge base and connections to properly monitor regulatory and legislative initiatives in order to provide the volunteer leadership with appropriate opportunities to consider the impact of such initiatives. Given the importance of timely engagement on regulatory and legislative initiatives with an impact on medical physics, the HQ management team and Excom should develop an arrangement to bring radiation-application expertise into the Association (through a staff position, consultant arrangement, or hybrid) to address this gap.
III. When eliminating a position, there is currently no structured, transparent assessment of the knowledge, skills and contacts (internal and external) that may be impacted by the elimination. This results in potential risk for the Association which should be better managed. The HQ management team and Excom should outline a structured process for assessing the impact (loss of knowledge, skills, contacts) of any planned position elimination, and present the proposed process to the Board for review and input. Such a process should include Excom and the leadership of the affected entities.
IV. The Association lacks a robust Content Management System (CMS) to better facilitate the significant scope of collaborative writing and information sharing across the Committee structure (including Task Groups). The Information Services team should present a recommendation to the Board for consideration of a specific CMS platform (most likely of the Digital Asset Management type), preferably accessible through the AAPM website to address firewall restrictions against common file sharing sites.
V. The Information Services team has historically relied on the Electronic Media Coordinating Committee (EMCC) for guidance and policy enforcement. The current dynamic between the Information Services team and EMCC has become dysfunctional. Given the importance of the Association’s electronic media, Excom should assess how to guide EMCC back to its historic function in supporting the Information Services team and deliberating relevant policies.
Full report available here