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Education

Against the backdrop of the global COVID-19 pandemic and in line with its mission of promoting excellence in patient care and outcomes in trauma and musculoskeletal disorders, the AO in 2020 leveraged digital technology to underscore its position as the world’s premier education provider to health care professionals working in these fields.

Innovative to the core, the AO—which typically educates more than 58,000 learners per year—in 2020 broke new ground in our response to pandemic-driven global demand for medical education. Across all our clinical divisions, we piloted—and mastered—new educational methods and modalities, we taught our educators to deliver engaging, evidence-based content, and we engaged 140,000–150,000 participants in online offerings in a variety of formats, including live (synchronous); self-directed (asynchronous); blended; and face-to-face, on-site events.

 

 

The AO Davos Courses are our flagship educational event, providing participants with opportunities to learn the newest approaches to education, training, and treatment; meet leaders in their fields; and share experiences and learn from one another. People around the world look to the AO Davos Courses and Davos, Switzerland, for an unforgettable experience that acts as a gateway to excellence in their fields, and the first-ever, fully online AO Davos Courses 2020were no exception. The 60th anniversary edition—with 20 courses and five webinars over four days—drew more than 7,300 participants from 158 countries and featured a new and highly engaging virtual event platform, several side events, and more than 80 surgeon interviews streamed live on AO TV. Participants also benefited from the continued expansion of the myAOsecure, digital knowledge exchange platform: Dedicated chat groups enabled by the addition of the new myAO groups function paved the way to enhanced online interaction during courses.

 

 

Additionally, the AO in 2020 was distinguished in medical education research, publishing four peer-reviewed papers, contributing to eleven conferences and workshops, and presenting a conference poster at the Association for Medical Education in Europe. We took the first steps in creating the AO Fellowship in Medical Education Research in partnership with Maastricht University, the University of Toronto, and Ottawa University, and strengthened our collaboration with key organizations to promote medical education research, share best practices, and continuously improve medical education. Involving surgeons and education specialists from the entire AO network, we are preparing a fully AO-dedicated supplement issue on the AO way of providing medical education to be included in the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma, which will be published in 2021.

 

 

The year 2020 was also filled with milestones for the popular AO Surgery Reference, including the premiere of a new technology solution allowing for integration with other AO educational offerings, easier maintenance of both content and the user interface; the debut of five new AO Surgery Reference modules—adult trauma distal femur, pediatric trauma distal femur and femoral shaft, periprosthetic fracture management of the hip, and dog and cat patella—and receipt of five top-tier awards.

 

 

Furthermore, in 2020, the AO Education Institute collaborated online with expert surgeons to develop a curriculum for the new AO Sports initiative and developed a dedicated website for the online AO Program for Excellence in Education and Research (AO PEER). AO PEER premiered the self-directed, online version of its popular Principles of Clinical Research course at the AO Davos Courses 2020.

 

 

Explore the detail on AO education provision across our organization, in 2020, below.

Events

59,663 participants/323 events

  • International

    12,340 participants/45 events

  • North America

    5,513 participants/57 events

  • Latin America

    22,035 participants/52 events

  • Europe and Southern Africa

    7,044 participants/81 events

  • Middle East and Northern Africa

    3,452 participants/18 events

  • Asia Pacific

    9,279 participants/70 events

Faculty involvement

2,698 faculty/5642 faculty days

  • International

    351 faculties/780 faculty days

  • North America

    531 faculties/910 faculty days

  • Latin America

    285 faculties/414 faculty days

  • Europe and Southern Africa

    665 faculties/1,791 faculty days

  • Middle East and Northern Africa

    183 faculties/431 faculty days

  • Asia Pacific

    683 faculties/1,316 faculty days

Events

30,920 participants/256 events

  • International

    1,854 participants/8 events

  • North America

    842 participants/18 events

  • Latin America

    4,376 participants/65 events

  • Europe and Southern Africa

    4,800 participants/42 events

  • Middle East and Northern Africa

    2,149 participants/38 events

  • Asia Pacific

    16,899 participants/85 events

Faculty involvement

1,097 faculty/1,111 faculty days

  • International

    43 faculties/78 faculty days

  • North America

    65 faculties/77 faculty days

  • Latin America

    303 faculties/170 faculty days

  • Europe and Southern Africa

    152 faculties/150 faculty days

  • Middle East and Northern Africa

    134 faculties/150 faculty days

  • Asia Pacific

    400 faculties/486 faculty days

Events

28,371 participants/133 events

  • International

    33 participants/1 event

  • North America

    2,171 participants/11 events

  • Latin America

    7,672 participants/31 events

  • Europe and Southern Africa

    7,494 participants/37 events

  • Middle East and Northern Africa

    6,327 participants/27 events

  • Asia Pacific

    4,677 participants/26 events

Faculty involvement

709 faculty/841 faculty days

  • International

    3 faculties/2 faculty days

  • North America

    45 faculties/58 faculty days

  • Latin America

    160 faculties/103 faculty days

  • Europe and Southern Africa

    178 faculties/212 faculty days

  • Middle East and Northern Africa

    141 faculties/152 faculty days

  • Asia Pacific

    182 faculties/314 faculty days

Events

13,094 participants/41 events

  • International

    4,733 participants/28 events

  • North America

    8,101 participants/9 events

  • Europe and Southern Africa

    260 participants/4 events

Faculty involvement

146 faculty/262 faculty days

  • International

    73 faculties/77 faculty days

  • North America

    37 faculties/62 faculty days

  • Europe and Southern Africa

    36 faculties/123 faculty days

Events

4,547 participants/28 events

  • International

    1,893 participants/12 events

  • North America

    300 participants/1 event

  • Latin America

    334 participants/3 events

  • Europe and Southern Africa

    1,397 participants/7 events

  • Middle East and Northern Africa

    243 participants/2 events

  • Asia Pacific

    380 participants/3 events

Faculty involvement

176 faculty/305 faculty days

  • International

    61 faculties/125 faculty days

  • North America

    2 faculties/2 faculty days

  • Latin America

    24 faculties/36 faculty days

  • Europe and Southern Africa

    43 faculties/82 faculty days

  • Middle East and Northern Africa

    10 faculties/10 faculty days

  • Asia Pacific

    36 faculties/50 faculty days

AO Trauma

The largest global group of dedicated orthopedic and trauma surgeons, researchers, and operating room personnel (ORP) striving for excellence and volunteering for a common goal, AO Trauma intelligently harnessed digital technology in response to the pandemic-driven scarcity in on-site educational opportunities.

For example, the AO Trauma upper extremity curriculum was successfully piloted in an online format, achieving impressive results and enthusiastic responses from the faculty. The curriculum, which provides a robust and flexible educational framework, addresses the needs of practicing surgeons treating upper-extremity injuries.

Further evidence of AO Trauma’s response to the overwhelming global demand for high-quality education in a globally accessible format in the face of COVID-19 was the new AO Trauma Online Course—Basic Principles of Fracture Management Essentials, launched in June 2020. The course, offered twice in 2020 and completed by 178 people, outpaced typical online course offerings.

 
AO Trauma World Meeting 2020—online

AO Trauma pivoted to an online format with the AO Trauma World Meeting. Originally scheduled for April in Madrid, Spain, the meeting was convened as a fully online event with five purely online courses over three days. This gave the world its first glimpse of the AO’s highly engaging and immersive virtual event platform employed at the AO Davos Courses 2020 in December.

Competency-based Training and Assessment Program (CTAP)

Further asserting its innovative nature, AO Trauma continued development of its new, digital Competency-based Training and Assessment Program (CTAP). The program aims to establish the AO as the globally recognized, trusted provider of a certificate of proficiency. It consolidates AO Trauma’s leadership role in global surgical education by providing skills training and assessment in addition to knowledge transfer. It combines the latest digital teaching, training, and assessment tools—such as haptic virtual reality simulation—with online and immersive on-site learning experiences. Initially, CTAP will enable residents to complete the milestones needed for becoming certified orthopedic trauma surgeons.

 

 

AO Global Data

Launched in 2020, AO Global Data is the world’s most comprehensive musculoskeletal registry, with well over a billion data points.

 

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