The AOSpine Education Commission has been discussing if the AOSpine Latin American Continuing Education Program should be implemented across all AOSpine regions.

 

AOSpine Education Commission (AOSEC) members and other regional representatives gathered in May in Cartagena, Columbia to discuss the Continuing Education Program (CEP) developed by AOSpine Latin America and the possibility of making the program available to members in each AO region.

 

Positive impacts

In Latin America, the CEP has had several positive impacts. “The online portion of the CEP has allowed participants to access AOSpine education in locations where face-to-face activities do not regularly take place due to distance or limited resources,” explains Germán Ochoa, who presented the program on behalf of Nestor Fiore, University and Hospital Español, La Plata, Argentina.

 

Additionally, the content of the program is useful in the daily practice of surgeons and has direct impact on patient treatment. The program also helps senior surgeons to fill gaps in their education and enhance their current knowledge.

 

Aligned with the AOSpine Curriculum

The CEP is aligned with the AOSpine Curriculum and covers three levels: Principles, Advanced, and Masters. Modules are based on the 6 spine pathologies, as well as anatomy and biomechanics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

User feedback has been primarily positive, with participants reporting the AOSpine certification adding value to their education.

 

“We find that the program is discussed during events; people are interested in finding out more about it and getting enrolled,” said Ochoa.

 

The CEP currently has 415 registered participants moving through the first and second level of the program, with 60% of those being active participants.

 

Ochoa notes that areas of improvement for the CEP in Latin America include an enhanced technical delivery platform and greater interaction between faculty and project work groups.

 

University accredited

The Latin America CEP is accredited by the University of La Plata, Argentina and endorsed by the National Commission for Accreditation in Brazil.

 

Adapting the CEP to other regions would pose some logistical and technical challenges. “At the Cartagena meeting, there was a great deal of discussion around the adaptations required to ensure each region’s need would be covered, with relevant content for their local members,” said Ochoa, since certain topics are more relevant than others, depending on the region or country. There was also discussion whether each region should have a local university accrediting their program.

 

Barriers identified

Meeting attendees discussed whether each region would have to make adaptations and how that would impact the accreditation process.

 

Additionally, materials are currently available in Spanish and Portuguese, so they would need to be translated and then peer-reviewed by participants and faculty in each region.

 

Currently, the CEP is offered at no cost to AOSpine members. In the future, the AOSpine International Board and the AOSEC together with the regions will need to determine if region-specific CEPs should be offered at a cost to members or not.

 

Other items to be considered when contemplating regional implementation of a CEP include competition from other regional educational offerings, participant and faculty workload, and consistency in the delivery of results from one region to another.

 

Regional decision making

Regional representatives will present the CEP at their board meetings in the comings months, leading to a decision at the AOSEC meeting in December 2014.

International faculty in attendance:

 

Chung Chek Wong

Kuching, Malaysia

 

Claudio Lamartina

Milan, Italy

 

Imad Ahmad

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

 

Juan Emmerich

La Plata, Argentina

 

Osmar Moraes

São Paulo, Brazil

 

Roberto Chapa

Monterrey, Mexico

 

Steven Theiss

Birmingham, USA