Legacy of Excellence Digital Flipbook

Chapter 2: 2002 – 2006

It is really quite simple. For more than a century, otolaryngology has prospered because we who embrace this specialty are united…in advancing new research

associated with the diagnosis and treatment of ear, nose, and throat disorders…united in ensuring that third parties do not remove patients’ rights to seek specialty care…and united in establishing our training and education as second to none.” – K.J. Lee, MD, 2001-2002 President, April 2002 Bulletin

In the 2005 Annual Report Dr. Maisel noted, “These exciting new technologies, consisting of a Learning Content Management System (LCMS) and a Learning Management System (LMS) will revolutionize our online learning for members.” AcademyU leveraged existing AAO-HNSF knowledge resources by converting the substantial archive of education products to digital/electronic formats and by delivering these via a web-based system. Additionally, the system created new learning formats for Academy products and provided opportunities for finding links to other ENT educational productions. Growing Role in Sleep Medicine The progression of specialty into sleep medicine started in early 2004 when there were two major advances in the development of sleep medicine: 1) The ACGME approved a sleep medicine fellowship and 2) the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) approved sleep medicine subcertification. These two developments contributed to the legitimacy of sleep medicine as a true medical specialty. Before these steps, both the sleep medicine fellowship and board were run by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. At that time, otolaryngology was not included as an eligible specialty in the application for either the new ACGME sleep medicine fellowship or the ABMS sleep medicine board subcertification. The original sponsoring specialties were internal medicine, neurology/psychiatry, and pediatrics. However, due to the work of J. David Osguthorpe, MD, the Academy’s ACGME RRRC representative and Coordinator for Education, the AAO-HNSF attained inclusion as an eligible specialty for the ACGME sleep medicine fellowship and subsequent subcertification. Inclusion allowed otolaryngologists to train in approved medicine fellowships; allowed for the specialty to be involved in the design, requirements, and approval of

sleep medicine fellowships, such as what should be included in training; allowed existing otolaryngology based sleep medicine programs to flourish; and allowed support of the otolaryngology’s addition in the ABMS sleep medicine board subcertification program. PATIENT OUTREACH BRINGING THE SPECIALTY TOGETHER Patient health education and outreach exploded during this timeframe. The Academy’s focus to empower patients with trusted, reliable information about otolaryngologic diseases and disorders was another

OTO Tech trainees listen intently to a lecture on the hearing testing techniques as the first Certificate Program for Otolaryngology Personnel (CPOP) training in 2004.

James C. Denneny III, MD, Chair of the Coalition for Hearing and Balance, congratulated the first graduating class of the Certificate Program for Otolaryngology Personnel.

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