Hello from AO

Greetings from your AOUK&I colleagues. There’s such an overlap of interests between AOUK&I and OTS we thought a brief blog every few months might help us all. We will brief you about each course and any news we feel may be interesting. We shall start this month with our Introduction to AO Principles course, an initiative aimed at engaging early-career doctors with trauma and orthopaedics, which is essential for cultivating interest in the speciality.

Overview of the Course:

Duration: One-day program is held on Sundays before Basic Principles courses.

Target Audience: Currently focused on undergraduates and foundation doctors with plans to include the wider surgical team

Goal: To provide a foundational understanding of trauma and orthopaedics, allowing participants to make informed career choices.

Course Intentions and Insights:

· Addressing the concerns of foundation doctors who might be unable to apply their learning immediately after attending the Basic Principles course.

· Engaging students early on to counteract misleading narratives about the specialty’s work-life balance.

· Acknowledging the current limitations in surgical exposure within medical curricula while recognising the need for proactive workforce planning.

Programme Logistics:

A nominal fee has been set for the course to encourage commitment from participants.

Efforts are underway to appoint medical student ambassadors, although maintaining active representation has faced challenges.

Call to Action:

Your assistance in identifying potential participants is invaluable. We encourage you to consider diverse candidates, including those who may not typically express confidence or interest in this speciality. Finding a balance in the participants’ demographic can enrich the future of trauma and orthopaedics and help address diversity challenges in the field.

We look forward to collaborating closely and sharing future courses and initiatives updates.