Letter to the Editor
The International Centre for Orthopaedic Education
Sir,
Thank you very much for your letter of September 12 1995, regarding your sup-
port for the International Centre for Orthopaedic Education (ICOE). As you
know, the ICOE grew out of the International Symposium on Orthopaedic
Educational Needs and Resources held in San Francisco in 1992. The concept was
supported by 74 national orthopaedic societies and international societies rep
resenting 44 countries.
Considerable funds were raised to develop the data
base and in less than one year of operation we have had over 1500 educational,
research, teaching, service, and other opportunities available worldwide. To
date more than 700 physicians have enquired about possible educational
experiences. We are extremely appreciative of the efforts of the various national
societies worldwide who have publicised the development of the ICOE and con-
tinue to promote its development.
I note from your article in the EFORT Bulletin that you are begining to estab-
lish a parallel organisation through EFORT, which looks very similar in for-
mat and content to the ICOE. The latter was organised by the American Ortho-
paedic Association (AOA) through considerable fund-raising efforts. Although
it is under the auspices of the American Orthopaedic Association, it is an inde-
pendent office with an independent staff.
You should know that the development costs to date have been over $300 000
and we are in the process of trying to raise one to two million dollars to endow
this Centre in perpetuity. We are providing this service absolutely free to indi-
viduals worldwide and plan to continue to do so. We have various other long-
range plans which will be solely dependent upon the acquisition of the
endowment.
The main impetus for establishing the ICOE was until now the haphazard way by
which such postresidency educational experiences were a§anged and the multi-
plicity of methods which were used by individuals to organise such experiences.
It was hoped that by having a single repository for this inforn ation worldwide that a
centralised `command post' to facilitate postgraduate educational experiences
between countries could be establ shed. I have great concem that the project which
you are embarking upon will be a duplication of the ICOE.
As I mentioned above, it
has required considerable resources to establish the data base and to continue to
keep the service updated, to add new offerings on a daily basis, and to provide
infor nation to interested individuals worldwide. I would hope that the Execu-
tive Board of EFORT would not consider the establishment of a separate structure
for arranging these Visiting Fellowships.
I would like to propose that EFORT considers obtaining this information and
then contributing it to the ICOE so that interested European surgeons can then be
directed to the Centre to arrange for their educational experience in Europe. The
offerings can certainly be limited to orthopaedic surgeons in Europe by having that
stated on the application forrn, i.e. this experience is only available to European
orthopaedic surgeons. As is listed in your proposal and is the fundamental tenet of
the ICOE, the host is responsible for selecting those individuals whom he or she
wishes to accept, and should practice in Europe be a criterion, so be it. There are
many offerings in the ICOE which make very specific restrictions on who may
apply.
I do hope that you and the Executive Board of EFORT will consider supporting
the ICOE and encourage the EFORT members to provide educational offerings
to the ICOE, even although the offering hosts wish to accept only European ortho-
paedic surgeons. Those wishing to extend the offering to orthopaedic surgeons
worldwide could do so. Once again, I do thank you for your supportive letter.
Stuart L. Weinstein, MD
Chairman
Intemational Centre for Orthopaedic Education
Reply:
Sir,
Thank you very much for your letter of
September 29 1995, to Professor Jacques
Duparc. As the initiator of the EFORT
Visiting Fellowship I am delighted to learn from your comments that you do not con-
sider it as a competitor to the International Centre for Orthopaedic Education (ICOE),
but rather as an additional way of enhancing international exchange of orthopaedic
knowledge by helping young ortl opaedic surgeons to visit orthopaedic centres in
other countries.
The European Visiting Fellowship is a parallel organisation, but its structure,
aims and the potential participants will be different in many ways from those of the
ICOE.
First, as a newly-established organisation - as a federation and not as an associa-
tion with a well-organised and strictly centralised structure - EFORT has no mon-
ey for setting up such a sophisticated organisation as the ICOE. To begin with there
will not be a central institution responsible for the organisation of Visiting Fellow-
ships. In Bulletin No 3 (May 1995) we merely request chairrnen of orthopaedic
institutions throughout Europe to indicate whether or not they are willing to accept
visitors. From all orthopaedic institutions willing to do so a list or book will be
printed and distributed to the national associations. All contacts and all arrange
ments for visits will be made directly in a completely personal atmosphere.
The main goal of EFORT is the harmonisation of orthopaedics and traumatol-
ogy in Europe. This process cannot occur by exchanging science and practical
know-how alone. The enhancement of personal contacts and the establishment
of personal friendships are of utmost importance in achieving this goal and the
language spoken by the individual surgeons also plays a decisive role.
Although English has been decreed our official language, there are only two
countries (United Kingdom and Ireland) which have English as their mother ton-
gue! Furthermore, every medical system is becoming more and more influenced
(and even managed) by political factors.
The various languages and the various political systems in Europe are problems
which do not necessarily facil«tate the achievement of harmonisation. Visiting
Fellowships are an excellent way of stimulating personal contacts and friendships.
With this in mind you will note that the EFORT Visiting Fellowship is by no
means in competition with ICOE. On the contrary, we fully support the ICOE.
With the `personal touch' in mind, we are sure that many European orthopaedic
institutions will be willing to offer a visiting post, which they would not dare to
do so in the ICOE. On the other hand, we think that it would be inappropriate for
orthopaedic institutions in your computer files to indicate that they are not interest-
ed in accepting visitors from outside Europe.
Thank you once again for your very informative letter. We, the EFORT Executive Board,
congratulate you for establishing a worldwide International Centre
of Orthopaedic Education. As mentioned in Bulletin No 3 we fully support your
intentions and stimulate chairmen of European orthopaedic institutions to join
the ICOE.
Erwin W. Morscher
President of EFORT
CONTENTS
Created on 21-11-1996 at 19.00 by Nicola Vachaviolos