The halfway mark in our five-year strategic plan: How are we doing?

At the recent Winter Board meeting, I had the opportunity to review the status of the CUA’s 2019–2024 strategic plan, enacted during Dr. Fred Saad’s presidential term. The plan identified several lofty objectives for future boards to address to strengthen the CUA’s various mandates. At the midway point, the CUA continues to forge ahead on the various initiatives that had been identified as key priorities for our organization, including:

1. Grow the membership and increase member engagement

• – Promote a robust Community Urology Committee. Under the leadership of Drs. Lorne Aaron, Chair, and Dr. Mike Bell, Vice-Chair, this committee has been one of the most active within the CUA. Establishing a mentorship program, community education/research grants, and an “Ask the Expert” platform are just a few of the ongoing initiatives that have relevance to the largest constituency of our membership.

• – Establish and maintain a functional Residents’/Fellows’ Committee. As the future of our organization, engaging this group early on has been a high priority. With a seat at the board table, we are confident the bidirectional passage of information will ensure our trainees have their voices heard and are up-to-date on the important issues they will face upon beginning practice.

• – Develop an equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) policy. This initiative was a critical first step in directing how the CUA will attune itself to the needs of all its constituents. The policy was approved in 2021 and included the appointment of Dr. Ashley Cox as the EDI officer. This important policy will impact all CUA activities in the years to come.

• – Increase female member involvement. Female members now account for 17% of the CUA membership, with a level of engagement that continues to grow. Four females have joined the CUA board. The Women in Urology Group, under the leadership of Dr. Monica Farcas, was recently granted affiliate status and will play an important role in assisting the CUA in its efforts to promote greater gender diversification.

• – Establish a Young Urology Committee. Realizing the needs of those members fresh out of training are unique, particularly around practice management and career development, the CUA board endorsed the establishment of the Young Urology Committee. A dynamic group of young leaders have taken up the challenge of promoting the needs of their cohort and we look forward to their ideas.

• – Translate educational material into French. All guidelines, webinars, slide decks, and patient information pamphlets are now available in English and French.

• – Expanding social media offerings. The CUA’s social media footprint has increased greatly over the past three years, and the various offerings have become a key vehicle for the sharing of information with members, as well as effective marketing channels for our educational offerings.

• – Redesign the website. The new website provides a more user-friendly platform for members. The successful launch of UROpedia Canada during the pandemic provided an easy-to-use, searchable, educational library.

2. Continue to be “The Voice of Urology in Canada”

The membership has clearly indicated there is an appetite for having the CUA represent its members and the patients they serve by addressing advocacy issues. Issues related to patient access to urological consultation and surgery, ensuring the necessary resources are present to provide state-of-the-art care, and ensuring an adequate workforce are perhaps even more important than ever as we look forward to coming out of the pandemic. Most specialties will face similar challenges; to make our case and have our needs addressed, interacting with policymakers will be important. Activities include:

• – Increase CUA’s profile among policymakers. The need to establish contacts with policymakers and ensure they are familiar with our members’ and patients’ issues are critical first steps.

• – Assist members with access to data to support self-advocacy. Compilation of national data on wait times for consultation and surgery has begun and a survey is planned to canvas the membership on differences in regional resources.

• – Compile updated workforce data. The Health Policy Committee is developing a census to capture this information.

While much is happening in this area, the horizon is far away when it comes to advocacy; we will need to consider how to best maintain the initial inertia to ensure our efforts are rewarded.

3. Continue to be the pre-eminent urological resource for patients and health professionals

This has long been a strength of our organization, mostly through in-person learning opportunities related to the annual meeting and other CUA-supported conferences. The pandemic has forced the use of virtual learning activities and the CUA, through the Office of Education, has done a fantastic job in choosing a wide array of high-quality topics of interest to the membership. Various initiatives are actively being pursued to support urologists’ learning needs and those of our allied healthcare colleagues and patients. Examples include UROpedia Canada; expanded number of webinars; educational programs for genitourinary medical and radiation oncologists; GP learning tools; aligning patient information pamphlets with clinical practice guideline content; and development of patient resources.

4. Secure continued revenue growth and stability

Through the efforts of our corporate office, revenues and expenses continue to meet budget projections. The strategic plan encouraged the establishment of non-pharmaceutical linkages, such as with device manufacturers and non-medical partners, and this has been highly successful to date. Stronger support from the endourology device-makers and new relationship with financial institutions have been fruitful to date.

5. Ensure the CUA continues to be led effectively

The CUA is fortunate to have had exceptional organizational leadership for many years. To respond to the evolution of our organization, several initiatives have been developed or are in process to ensure the CUA remains effective through good governance. Examples include: primer for new board members/committee chairs; online annual self-assessment for all board members/chairs; codification of nominating process for officers and committee chairs; pay equity evaluation for corporate staff; code of conduct with industry; and contingency financial planning process.

In summary, the CUA has effectively addressed many of the goals outlined in the current strategic plan. These initiatives could not be achieved without the vision and hard work of many. I would like to thank members of the corporate office, board of directors, and the committee chairs for their efforts and creativity in achieving the success to date.