Learning where care is delivered: Bringing the classroom to the operating room
Vienna, August 2026 — A decade-old workplace education model for operating room personnel (ORP) has reached more than 10,300 participants across 40 countries, according to data presented at AMEE 2026 by Vasiliki Orfanioti of Laiko General Hospital, Athens.
The idea is simple. Operating room staff are essential to every surgical team, yet they rarely get the chance to step away from clinical duties for centralized courses — a persistent threat to perioperative care standards. Launched in 2015, the AO In-Hospital for ORP program flips the model: expert-validated content is delivered inside the hospital in tailored two- to four-hour events, customizable to local needs and available in multiple languages.
Growth and reach. Since 2015, the program has delivered 586 events, growing from 211 participants in its first year to 1,645 in 2025, with a dip during the pandemic years. In total, more than 10,300 participants have attended 1,051 modules. Of the seven available modules, Introduction to fracture treatment and Osteosynthesis with plates and screws are the most requested.
Impact on practice
Survey data from 70 events — 678 responses from 965 participants, a 70.3% response rate — points to strong uptake. Nearly 83% of respondents said they learned something new and planned to use it in practice, another 15% said the event reconfirmed their current approach, and 99.7% would recommend it to colleagues. Learning objectives across the first three modules scored between 4.7 and 4.9 out of 5.
Patient reach
In Greece, 131 attending OR staff working near full-time and supporting 100 to 150 trauma cases a year translate to a conservative estimated reach of 13,100 patients annually.
What faculty want next
Reports converge on the same themes: interactive discussion and hands-on workshops are the most valued elements, while more practice time, better equipment availability, tighter time management, and further translation into local languages top the improvement list.
The conclusion presented is that hospital-based education directly addresses the field's core barriers — time, cost, and language — offering a scalable route to stronger surgical team performance worldwide.
Start organizing your first AO In-Hospital event today!