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Education of orthopaedic fellows is important in Europe
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To enhance and unify orthopaedic training, continuous medical education and knowledge transfer are important, just as teaching is, to support and create new personal bonds, as well as to improve mutual understanding and collaboration.
Education is everything. It aids in prevention of illness, has medico-economic impact and results in harmonization of practices (evaluation, assessment, techniques and indications). We want our fellows to use new tools in the future, such as registries and medico-economic parameters. We want them involved in the process of accreditation.
Therefore, a fellow must prepare for his or her fellowship. To do this, he or she must define goals and perhaps rank them. A goal can be, for example, to spend several months abroad to fulfill academic prerequisites, which is a long-term goal or to have the opportunity to publish, learn the indications of one department, improve one’s understanding of the medical system and to learn the language and culture of one country. A short-term goal may be to update a technique.
Other types of fellowships exist. For example, a small group of fellows may travel together. EFORT offers different models of travelling fellowships that involve three to 14 fellows who travel together, with or without a godfather. During the time they spend together, travelling fellows develop relationships with their hosts, who are usually leaders in their field, as well as with their colleagues. They then belong to an exclusive community with the previous fellows and form the EFORT Alumni.
Investments in the future
It is fascinating to travel, learn and exchange ideas. Although it is never easy, the experience opens your mind, and gives you energy and new ideas, and it expands your horizons. In some instances, a fellow can acquire surgical experience and improve his or her skills. Depending on its location and duration, a fellowship is a personal investment, as well as a family project. Regardless of the financial support provided, a fellowship always results in some expense for the fellow, which should be regarded as a type of investment in better knowledge and expertise in orthopaedic surgery.
The fellow who receives the support of an orthopaedic society can expect a return on the investment in the future. Fellows are often considered potential leaders for the society and are expected to be involved in the review process for articles, abstracts, etc., as well as to serve on committees and, eventually, perhaps be a part of the leadership team.
To be an orthopaedic fellow is always a unique experience. The fellowship must be customized to meet the applicant’s expectations. Every national or subspecialty society tries to develop and promote its fellowship programs simply because education is everything. Europe offers, through its various societies, more than 200 different orthopaedic fellowships.
To illustrate these points, consider the example of the EFORT travelling fellowship, a program that started in 1995 under the direction of Prof. Miklós Szendröi and had as its local host Marc Speckert, of the Netherlands. I have had the privilege to coordinate this program for EFORT since 2000. Since the program began, EFORT has organized 43 fellowships with about 600 fellows in all.
Goals of a traveling fellowship
EFORT aims to enhance and unify orthopaedic training, continuous medical education and knowledge transfer. Its aim is to support and create new personal bonds to improve mutual understanding, collaboration and unity of all national associations of orthopaedics and traumatology in Europe, the so-called National Associations.
Every spring and autumn, twice per year in all, EFORT organizes a Travelling Fellowship with one of the National Associations, which is limited to 1 week. All members of EFORT National Associations can nominate one trainee to participate in one of the two Travelling Fellowships each year. The number of participating fellows is restricted to 14 participants per Travelling Fellowship course, and candidates must be trainees in orthopaedics and traumatology and in their final years of training.
National Association presidents can establish their own selection and nomination procedure for their candidates. The EFORT Board then coordinates all applications from the National Associations for the Travelling Fellowship program. EFORT also contributes a symbolic grant of 500 per resident to the expenses of the organizing committee of the Travelling Fellowship program by the host National Association of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, upon request.
The host National Association also performs the following functions:
- Organizes clinical sessions and operative demonstrations (eg, live surgeries), lectures and social meetings for about 14 fellows in two to four different departments or towns of the host countries. The duration is limited to 1 week. A pre-program with a fixed date and information about the location must be available at least 6 months in advance and the final program needs to be ready 4 months prior to the event;
- Tries to link the visit of the travelling fellows with a pre-existing post-graduate course organized in the host country;
- Bears all the traveling and housing expenses for the fellows during their stay and avoid luxury accommodations to limit expenses; and
- Distributes final information to all participating fellows at least 1 week prior to the fellowship.
Upon completion of the Travelling Fellowship, fellows submit a written report to their National Associations. The entire group of fellows who participated in the fellowship also submit a written report to EFORT for publication on the EFORT Portal and in the EFORT Newsletter.
Afterward, each participant in the fellowship completes a questionnaire to evaluate the program which is then shared with the National Association that organized the particular program. One fact from these evaluations that stands out to me is that 50 of 50 fellows would recommend this type of fellowship to a friend.
- For more information:
- Philippe Neyret, MD, is an Orthopaedics Today Europe Editorial Board member. He can be reached at Hôpital de la Croix Rousse, 103 grande rue de la Croix-Rousse, 69004, Lyon, France; email: philippe.neyret@chu-lyon.fr.
Disclosure: Neyret reports no relevant financial disclosures.