Surgeons with spine fellowships, spine-dedicated practices score higher on ASD knowledge

ORLANDO, Fla. — Orthopedic spine surgeons who completed a spine fellowship and those who have a practice dedicated to the spine were more knowledgeable than their colleagues about adult spinal deformity, according to the results presented at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting.

The study showed results similar to that of a neurosurgeon study, which also found neurosurgeons had greater adult spinal deformity (ASD) knowledge if they completed a spine fellowship and had a spine-dedicated practice. However, unlike neurosurgeons, orthopedic spine surgeons with less than 10 years of experience demonstrated greater ASD knowledge than those with greater than 10 years of experience, Alan H. Daniels, MD, said at the meeting.

“Spine surgery fellowship and a spine-focused practice is associated with a greater ASD knowledge in both orthopedic and neurosurgeons. There is certainly room for improvement, and a further educational focus on ASD evaluation and treatment is needed,” he said.

Daniels and colleagues sent a survey to orthopedic spine surgeon members of the North American Spine Society to assess their level of spine surgery training, practice experience and ASD knowledge base. The survey included the same questions used by a group of neurological surgeons who previously published their own study to compare results between orthopedic and neurological spine surgeons.

In total, 413 surgeons responded to the questionnaire and the overall correct answer rate was 69%. Surgeons with at least 75% of their practice dedicate to spine had the higher overall correction rate (71%) compared with those who had less than 75% of their practice dedicated to the spine (63%). In addition, surgeons with less than 10 years of experience had a significantly higher correct answer rate (74%) compared with those who had 10 years or more years of experience (67%), he said. – by Robert Linnehan

Reference:

Daniels AH, et al. Paper #221. Presented at: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting; March 1-5, 2016; Orlando, Fla.

Disclosure: Daniels reports he receives other financial or material support from and is a paid consultant for DePuy, a Johnson & Johnson Company, is a paid consultant for Globus Medical, receives other financial or material support from Medtronic Sofamor Danek, receives research support from Orthofix Inc, is an unpaid consultant for Osseus, and receives other financial or material support from and is a paid consultant for Stryker.