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SICOT e-Newsletter

Issue No. 39 - December 2011

Editorial by Kandiah Raveendran, SICOT First Vice President

SICOT Education Centre

"SICOT is dedicated to the improvement of orthopaedic surgery throughout the world. The most certain way of achieving its goal is to help in the education of surgeons"
Charles Sorbie, SICOT Past President

The SICOT Constitution emphasises education as its primary goal and objective. SICOT has evolved many facets in educating orthopaedic trainees and surgeons all over the world. It has built a strong armamentarium including its Annual Conferences/Triennial World Congresses, fellowships, trainees' meetings, electronic learning (SIGNEL), SICOT diploma examination, educational day, telediagnostic centres, SICOT publications (International Orthopaedics and SICOT Newsletters) and Education Centres.

In my mind, the SICOT Education Centre or EduCentre is a natural progression from its telediagnostic centre. SICOT has proceeded cautiously in the establishment of Education Centres as a strong foundation is necessary to keep them growing and expanding. SICOT does not want its Education Centres to become white elephants.

An Education Centre has many objectives but the main one is to assist in the education of orthopaedic trainees and continuing the knowledge of established orthopaedic surgeons. It should also be involved in the training of allied health workers like nurses and physiotherapists knowing full well the importance of dedicated teamwork in the management of patients.

What then constitutes a SICOT Education Centre? This may sound like a rhetorical question. However, this editorial will try to define it in its proper perspective knowing full well that it is not a static entity but an evolving and dynamic one.

SICOT has established guidelines and procedures to assist hospitals or universities who wish to set up Education Centres in their city or country. Generally, this application should be sent through the SICOT National Representatives.

An Education Centre will only be created with the full agreement of the Health/Education Ministries and governing authorities of the city/country, university or hospital. This requires the provision of physical infrastructure in the form of a building or room/rooms. Next, the facility should be adequately furnished with teaching aids like computers, projectors and internet access. Books, journals and printed material should also be provided with possible access to electronic orthopaedic journals. Provision should be made for the ongoing costs of maintenance, electricity, water, insurance and internet access. The financial cost to set up an Education Centre varies from country to country. The bulk of the cost should be sourced locally and established infrastructure facilities can be utilised to reduce costs.

It is very important that the quality of the centre be maintained and the protocol for the creation and maintenance of the centre be strictly followed. Besides the physical infrastructure, SICOT also envisions that the Education Centre should have a two-way training process - first with SICOT lecturers visiting the centre and the other by surgeons/trainees being fellows attached to more established and specialised centres preferably with subspecialty training.

In principle, the centre provides a place for orthopaedic surgeons and allied personnel to meet, learn and to socialise. It should also provide an environment to promote research and the writing of papers for publication.

Other organisations, such as ISAKOS, have approved teaching centres but they only provide fellowship attachments for trainees. The SICOT Education Centre is an innovative and unique concept unparalleled in the orthopaedic community. Knowing the difficulties and stringent standards in the establishment and maintenance of an Education Centre, it is not surprising that SICOT has only three functioning Education Centres today.

The first centre was opened in Lahore, Pakistan, on 19 January 2004, through the untiring efforts of Professor Syed Awais. This may be considered the model SICOT centre with a conference room, a SICOT library, a skills workshop, a museum and 20 computer terminals with 24-hour internet access. There was collaboration between Lahore and Belgium in the training of orthopaedic fellows.

The second centre was opened in Assiut, Egypt, on 19 December 2009 (after a gap of 4 years) under the leadership of Professor Galal Zaki Said. Assiut University Hospital has trained 50 African fellows since 2002, from 12 different countries, with SICOT Foundation aid and it was a natural progression to set up an Education Centre. The Assiut Centre is in a large room within the Orthopaedic Department equipped with 8 computers with broadband access. It has a well-stocked library of books, CDs and videotapes. It also houses a telediagnostic centre.

The third centre was inaugurated on 28 April 2011 at MONIKI (M.F. Vladimirskiy Moscow Regional Clinical and Research Institute) in Moscow. MONIKI is one of the oldest medical institutions in Russia. The centre is coordinated by Dr S.A. Saravanan.

Lagos, Nigeria, has applied to set up an Education Centre and is in the process of opening it in 2012.

The SICOT Executive Committee views the SICOT Education Centre as a priority activity of SICOT. In cognisance of this, it has appointed Dr Kandiah Raveendran, First Vice President, to coordinate all Education Centres. The protocol for the Education Centre is being upgraded. Existing centres will be monitored with annual reports.

SICOT is not about to flood the orthopaedic world with SICOT Education Centres. Each application will be closely scrutinised following the established guidelines. To me, the success of the Education Centre rests not on the physical infrastructure or the funds available or the number of computers, but on the people behind it, especially the director/coordinator of the centre.