AO ORP Principles Course in New Zealand

Hi, my name is John Han and I am new to the AO faculty. I live and work in Sydney, Australia. From March 31 to April 5, 2008, I had the opportunity to participate in the AO Principles and Advances Course for Operating Room Personnel as a course observer and table instructor. It was an excellent and rewarding experience for me and I learned a lot during the course.

The 2009 AO Course was my first involvement in presenting and to be more involved in the course. After the Sydney course, I was invited to the AO course in New Zealand by Andrew Vincent and Anna Grieve.

The New Zealand ORP course was held in Christchurch, the autumn season at Christchurch was beautiful. The course ran from April 1 to April 3, 2009. A total of approximately 40 participants attended the course. They came from all over New Zealand. The course for the surgeons was held simultaneously.

As always the faculty consisted of both surgeons and ORP. The ORP faculty team was made up of Anna Grieve, Nicola Kildea, Mark Freeman, Kane Henwood (first-time course observer) and myself, John Han.

The ORP faculty was supported by surgeons headed by AO Trustee Andrew Vincent, along with international faculty Vajara Phiphbmongkol from Thailand and Rene Zellweger from Australia.

The course commenced with AO history and philosophy by Bruce Twaddle, a history of how the AO has evolved after 51 years of existence. With the current principles of bone healing that emphasized direct and indirect bone healing, relative vs. absolute stability. The importance of soft tissue and preservation of the blood supply were discussed. With all these concepts the participants were asked to apply them to the practical’s and discussion groups.

The presentation by Nicola Kildea on “Safety around Radiation” and Bruce Twaddle’s presentation on “Implant Removal” gave the course content an excellent balance. There is often more to our working day than anatomical reduction, stable internal fixation, preservation of blood supply and active pain-free motion. It is also about other smaller things that make the complete picture. The importance of preparation for implant removal can not be underestimated.

What goes in sometimes needs to come out, everyone knows that every so often it is not easy to remove implants.

The discussion groups act as an icebreaker, it allows the participants to get to know each other and to share their knowledge and experience. The case studies provide the participants with a learning approach that requires them to actively participate in group discussions to practice organizing patient care, instruments and equipment required, based on any given polytrauma scenario. The theme that ran through the discussion group was the importance of effective communications between ORP and the surgical team.

Overall the participants were very keen in the discussion groups to share their knowledge and experiences. They had great fun in the practical sessions as they all found that it is not very easy to reduce complex fractures.

The organization was outstanding and demonstrated the group’s hard work headed by Andrew Vincent and Anna Grieve to attain successful course. The convention center was located within walking distance from the hotel. The facility for this course was also excellent.

As I have previously read in the AO ORP News: “The take home message for all the participants and faculties was that AO is a big network of surgeons and ORP that came from all over the world in education, research development and friendship all of which contribute to create the famous AO spirit.”

AO ORP Principles Course in New Zealand – by Mark Freeman

Once again a thoroughly rewarding experience was had at the recent ORP course held in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The South Island holds a relaxed atmosphere and this follows itself onto the course. The ORP faculty team was made up Nicola Kildea, Anna Grieve, John Han, and myself, Mark Freeman. Special thanks go to Anna as course coordinator. Kane Henwood was a new face to the ORP faculty, he came from Wellington as an observer with a view to joining the team next year. Nic’s wealth of experience in AO courses was as ever greatly appreciated. John Han, from Sydney, Australia was greatly utilized and his experience was greatly appreciated.

The ORP team was supported by surgeons headed by Dr Andrew Vincent of Christchurch. The international faculty was boosted this year by Vajara Phiphobmongkol and Rene Zellweger. The latter surgeon caused a stir amongst two senior AO members, namely, Mr Kevin Karpik and Mr Bruce Twaddle, who were clearly expecting the actress and not the surgeon of the same name!

Reduction, not as easy as once thought!

As John has already mentioned, a broad scope of subjects were discussed on the course. 

Traditional AO Principles of Fracture Management were covered including soft tissue respect and management criteria for employing absolute and relative stability. The practicals were well received.

Speaking to a number of participants when I returned back to work, they enjoyed the practicals as it gave an insight into the complexities of fracture reduction, as seen in the accompanying picture.

The team plus superstar Rene Zellweger, in disguise as an orthopedic surgeon.

The support of colleagues within the AO Foundation never ceases to amaze me. Good content plus good participants lead to a great three-day course with free flowing information.

This type of course always benefits faculty members with participants bringing different stories to the discussion groups.

Having recently completed a teaching course, the teaching styles involved in the AO Courses reinforce the philosophy of inclusion. Whether we have participants that learn through visual, audio or touch learning, the AO Courses are structured to deal with these learning needs. The courses are therefore entertaining as well as extremely informative.

One of the most exciting moments came in the final moments of the course with Andrew Vincent stating that an AO Advances ORP Course would be run next year in New Zealand – the most Southerly AO ORP Advances Course in the entire world!