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.

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.