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Turkish Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology focuses on education, collaboration
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For several decades, the Turkish Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, which was founded in 1971, has coordinated the efforts of the orthopaedic and traumatology associations in Turkey’s three provinces.
The Turkish Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (TOTBID) was established after the first International Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Orthopedics and Traumatology Congress, in Ankara, Turkey, in 1970. Rdvan Ege, MD, PhD, who was founder chairman at the time, served as the TOTBID chairman from 1970 to 2000, at which time he voluntarily stepped down, according to Sait Ada, MD, PhD, the former president of TOTBID.
Ege received an honorary presidential title in 2000 after 30 years of service to the TOTBID organization, according the society’s website.
Leadership
Presidents of TOTBID who followed Ege were Mümtaz Alpaslan, MD, PhD, who was president from 2000 to 2002; Remzi Tözün, MD, PhD, who was president from 2002 to 2004; Ertan Mergen, MD, PhD, who was president from 2004 to 2006; and Bülent Alparslan, MD, PhD, who was president from 2006 to 2008. After that, Ünal Kuzgun, PhD, MD, served as president from 2008 to 2010, Mahmut Nedim Doral, MD, PhD, was president from 2010 to 2011, and Önder Aydngöz, MD, PhD, was president from 2011 to 2013.
The TOTBID President Mustafa Babozkurt, MD, elected in October 2015 at the society’s annual meeting, told Orthopaedics Today Europe the society works closely with EFORT and its educational committees to reach standardization of modern orthopaedics and traumatology education.
“Our main priority is to contribute reaching international standards of resident education and to have a similar quality nationwide. Besides making our colleagues able to give health service on the same standards and even beyond of European Union countries, restoration of their human rights and implementing them with high quality knowledge by continuous orthopaedics courses will be one of our main purposes,” Babozkurt said.
Currently, the TOTBID consists of 2,109 full members and 571 candidate members. Only orthopaedic surgeons who have Turkish citizenship and reference letters from two full members of the society are eligible to become full members, Ada said.
According to the constitution of the society, presidents and members of the executive committee must change every 2 years.
Society services
“The TOTBID organizes annual meetings and courses in order to take part in the continuing education of the orthopaedic surgeons and trainees. The [Turkish Educational Council of Orthopaedics and Traumatology] TOTEK, which functions within the society, organizes annual orthopaedic board examinations and an annual examination for the orthopaedic trainees. The TOTEK also conducts, free of charge, orthopaedic knowledge update courses and basic science courses for orthopaedic trainees and young orthopaedic surgeons,” Ada told Orthopaedics Today Europe.
Another council of the society is the Turkish Orthopaedic Research Council (TOAK), which provides national and international educational scholarships and funds for research projects and conducts courses on basic science and conducting research, Ada said.
The society also offers legal opinions for medico-legal issues that orthopaedic surgeons face and TOTBID lawyers are involved in medical lawsuits and prepare recommendation reports on similar issues, he said.
Meetings
The TOTBID collaborates with the Turkish Medical Association and other medical associations within Turkey and it lobbies to influence decisions made by the Ministry of Health that affect those who work in the orthopaedics and traumatology specialty.
“One of the major topics we focus on is to regulate the excessive number of meetings and overcome difficulties in funding them. In order to achieve this goal, a coordination committee, which works under TOTBID, represents all the local associations and branch associations we assembled. This committee tries to organize the annual distribution of the meetings and courses, which will increase the productivity of the events,” Ada said.
The society works and conducts various activities to raise awareness of orthopaedic services among Turkish citizens and generate positive public opinion about orthopaedics and traumatology. One TOTBID committee is focused on defending physicians’ rights and it conducts surveys about physicians’ economic and social problems, delivers reports on their results to key Turkish institutions and proposes solutions to them, he said.
Increasing knowledge
The most important task of the TOTBID organization is to bring the knowledge and skills of the society’s members up to the level of international standards and enable the members to provide the latest and highest-quality medical care to their patients, he said.
“Recently, the changes in the Turkish health care system decreased the value of medical labor, obstructed access to qualified medical materials, and a new performance system decreased the number of skilled operations performed in our hospitals. Aside from educational and representative duties, TOTBID will focus on all these recent problems and provide suggestions in order to find an amicable solution,” Ada said.
In the next several years, TOTBID hopes to collaborate with other Turkish medical associations to further support the role of physicians and of members of the society, he said.
“As a respected civil organization, TOTBID is willing to accomplish many tasks. It may play a significant role in preventing problems related to our specialty in our health care system, may perform a consulting service, take part in preventing ethical invasions. TOTBID will increase its collaboration with Turkish Social Health Care Institution in order to provide an efficient usage of the resources. It also supports the foundation of a national medical implant recording system,” he said.
Future of the society
Turkey’s geographic position in Europe provides it with unique opportunities, Ada said.
“As Turkey is at a unique position bridging east and west, we have close relationships with international organizations such as the European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology and the Asia Pacific Orthopaedic Association. We also have close collaborations with SICOT, the Pan Arab Orthopaedic Association and many national orthopaedic associations of other countries. Turkish orthopaedic surgeons take part in many international organizations and succeed in their tasks. The TOTBID strongly supports these colleagues as they represent the Turkish orthopaedic surgeons and contribute to the international organizations,” he said. – by Robert Linnehan
- Reference:
- The Turkish Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology. History of the Turkish Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology. The Turkish Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology website. http://totbid.org.tr/Content.aspx?p=1349. Accessed Aug. 28, 2015.
- For more information:
- Sait Ada, MD, PhD, can be reached at Hand Microsurgery Orthopaedics and Traumatology (EMOT) Hospital, Izmir, Turkey; email: sait_ada@yahoo.com.
- Mustafa Babozkurt, MD, can be reached at Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Gülhane Military Medical Academy, Etlik, 06018, Ankara, Turkey; email: mbasbozkurt@icloud.com.
Disclosure: Ada reports he is immediate past president of the Turkish Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology.