AO North America President Eric Johnson (left), with faculty members Joel Matta and Keith Mayo at the AO Alumni Reception in Cosa Mesa, California, February 1999.
A Letter from Eric Johnson...
To the members of AO North America,
"The AO Brotherhood"
1998 was a very busy and productive year for our AO North America organization. The new preceptorship programs were highly utilized by surgeon members of all our specialty groups, the three Education Committees (Orthopaedic/Spine/Maxillofacial) sponsored a wide variety of outstanding courses, and the new per diem program was very well received by participating faculty.
AO North America President Eric Johnson (left), with faculty members Joel Matta and Keith Mayo at the AO Alumni Reception in Cosa Mesa, California, February 1999. |
I am often asked why AO North American courses and AO courses in general continue to set the standards for the world in offering the highest educational experience and maintaining the highest reputation of excellence in teaching. The answer which always results is that we are truly a "fraternity" of surgeons who were trained by a previous group of volunteer educators, who selflessly passed on their experience and technique without compensation, as a contribution to their profession and to improve patient care. As the late AO Founder Professor Hans Willenegger always said, "the only thing that matters is the patient." Our unique group follows that philosophy and readily donates time and energy to educate surgeons and OR personnel about the art of fracture care, all for the betterment of the outcome for the injured patient.
This tradition of voluntary teaching began with the inception of the AO, forty years ago in Switzerland. The Founders were dedicated to the improvement of patient care, and after developing a superior system of instrumentation and new techniques, insisted upon carefully training surgeons who wished to utilize this new method. From the beginning, these surgeons taught without compensation so that others would be able to apply the AO techniques and improve patient outcomes. Our "fraternity" of volunteer teachers evolved from these pioneers and this tradition continues to be the defining characteristic of our faculty. Our preservation of these ideals and goals distinguishes us from all other educational courses throughout the world, and leads to the excellence we have been able to maintain.
There is always an aura of excitement at the beginning of an AO course, and this special feeling continues throughout the week, as individual faculty spend countless hours educating participants on all aspects of the surgical management of trauma and fractures. All this is accomplished with the only reward being the gratitude of the course participants and the satisfaction of contributing to the improvement of patient care and the honor of participating in an AO course.
AO courses have always allowed faculty to present their specific techniques whether they are AO approved or produced by other companies. We encourage different ideas, advanced techniques and concepts at basic and advanced courses. It is the camaraderie and interaction of surgeons who consider it an honor to participate at an AO course that uniquely defines these courses, in contrast to all other educational activities available to participants. There is no implant producer that can command the expertise of world class surgeons, ask them to produce presentations on topics ranging from basic to advanced fracture management, and request that they give up their time and work to come to an academic course and volunteer their knowledge to train other surgeons. To pay our faculty by the hour, day or course would be prohibitively expensive and would in essence destroy our ideals and lower us to a level of paid employees. The uniqueness of the AO Fraternity, in this tradition of dedication and volunteer effort linking us to our past founders of AO, is the reason we have been successful in our attempts to train and improve the operative skills of surgeons throughout the country and the world.
We have not thanked our faculty in the past sufficiently to let you know of our great debt to you for your time and efforts to maintain the excellence of AO courses above all other educational activities. AO North America would like to formally thank each and every faculty member who has participated in AO courses throughout the years. We acknowledge your volunteer participation, your erudite expertise and your dedication to educating future surgeons with the ideals and knowledge that have been given to us by AO teachers from the past. This is a defining principle of the "AO Fraternity" and is deeply appreciated.
Eric E. Johnson, M.D.