A Review of the AAOS International Scholars Program after 14 Years: Professional Development and Education of the Recipients

Abstract

introduction: The AAOS International Scholars Program was launched in 2002 with the goal of enhancing the knowledge and skills of orthopedic surgeons in underserved regions. The goals of this study were to (1) characterize the professional and practice profile of scholarship recipients, (2) assess the perceived impact of this short-term educational experience on their clinical practice, (3) if/how the knowledge and skills have been disseminated to students and/or colleagues, and (4) assess career development in a subset of scholarship recipients.Method: The AAOS international scholar database was accessed to review the scholarship applications and all available follow-up questionnaires for 103 scholarship recipients.results: Respondents generally practiced in an academic institution, incorporated the knowledge and skills learned during the short-term educational experience in their practices, and introduced the information acquired to medical students, residents, and colleagues alike. In general, the recipients demonstrated a substantial progress in their career development.conclusion: Our impression is that this short-term educational experience was successful in imparting new knowledge and skills to the scholarship recipients who then shared these experiences with their peers and trainees. Further study will be required to understand the impact of this program on the long-term professional development of the recipients and enhanced health care of the region.

Orthopaedic trauma observerships in North America for international surgeons: the visitors' perspective

“…Currently, many North American (NA) academic centers and professional societies provide such teaching and training opportunities for international surgeons (ISs) from LMICs. [6][7][8] A recent webbased search found that orthopaedic trauma was one of the most prevalent subspecialties among orthopaedic observerships available in North America to ISs. [12] However, the perceived impact of trauma-focused observerships on the visiting LMIC surgeons in the context of their own clinical practice has not been well studied.…”

“…[3,4] The need for improving access to quality surgical care in medically underserved regions globally is well known to the orthopaedic community. [5–11]…”

Pediatric Orthopaedic Observerships in North America for International Surgeons

“…Global surgical education has evolved from shortterm medical missions in LICs and MICs to the development of sustainable partnerships that allow for mutual learning opportunities and the creation of funding and career paths that foster collective responsibility in addressing global inequities in surgical care 2 . The need for improving surgical care in LICs and MICs is well known to the orthopaedic community [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] .…”

“…Currently, many North American (NA) academic centers and professional societies provide international surgeons (ISs) short-term opportunities for clinical observerships 5,7 . In an attempt to better understand the impact of such clinical observerships on ISs and their home countries, a recent study found that participation in an NA pediatric orthopaedic observership had a positive perceived impact on the majority of visiting ISs, did not contribute to substantial brain drain, and may assist with local capacity-building 12 .…”

“…In an attempt to better understand the impact of such clinical observerships on ISs and their home countries, a recent study found that participation in an NA pediatric orthopaedic observership had a positive perceived impact on the majority of visiting ISs, did not contribute to substantial brain drain, and may assist with local capacity-building 12 . Although the study by Carrillo and Sabharwal and other studies suggest an overall positive impact of short-term clinical observerships on the visiting ISs and their peers and patients, the challenges faced by the ISs and their NA hosts remain largely unknown [5][6][7][12][13][14][15][16] . *The values are given as the number of respondents who responded with "Considerably" (4 points) or "A great deal" (5 points) on a 5-point Likert scale, with the percentage in parentheses.…”