AOA offers a comprehensive CPD program that is tailored for orthopaedic surgeons. The program is available to all AOA members. In addition to an online CPD portal, AOA offers a quick and easy way of logging and keeping track of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities through a CPD app. The App is supported by an online system and is designed to be used on any mobile device. It can be accessed via: trainingapp.aoa.org.au

For more information about AOA’s CPD program, please visit the AOA website. If you have questions or want more information, please contact the AOA CPD team on 02 8071 8029 or email cpd@aoa.org.au

Surgeons' joint replacement data on hip, knee, shoulder, elbow, wrist, ankle and spinal disc replacement is available for review and comparison through the AOA National Joint Replacement Registry (AOANJRR) Surgeon Portal.

The AOANJRR Surgeon Portal includes a detailed individualised report – available for surgeons who have undertaken at least 50 hip and/or knee procedures, or at least 10 shoulder procedures of any one class. Members can access Registry data through the AOANJRR website.

AOANJRR is an initiative of AOA and aims to improve and maintain the quality of care for individuals receiving joint replacement surgery. Currently, almost all surgeons undertaking arthroplasty surgery enter their data into the AOANJRR.

For more information, please contact Kathy Hill at kathy.hill@aoa.org.au

For members looking to transition to private practice, or looking to grow their current practice, AOA can offer support through our education partners.

Our partners offer members the opportunity to benefit from some of the latest ideas, strategies, business and financial management principles at a discounted rate.

For more information on this service, please contact AOA Education Manager Elizabeth Burrell at elizabeth.burrell@aoa.org.au for more information.

AOA recognises that members have a higher risk of mental health issues compared to both the Australian population and other professions (according to a 2013 national beyondblue survey) and is committed to providing support.

For personal and confidential health and wellness advice, including stress and mental illness, drug and alcohol problems, or personal and financial difficulties, members and their immediate family members can access support from Converge International. Call 1300 687 327 or email eap@convergeintl.com.au for more information.

Through RACS, AOA members are allowed four free Converge International sessions per calendar year via telephone, online or face to face. These services are confidential and private. They also offer 24/7 emergency telephone counselling.

The AMA also offers all doctors a web-based tool that evaluates the safety of your roster. The AMA’s fatigue risk assessment tool enables you to track your work, on-call, recreational and sleeping hours over a week, and determine whether your work arrangements are placing you at risk of serious fatigue. The assessment tool is available on their website: http://safehours.ama.com.au/

AOA recommends that legal advice and support be sought from members’ Medical Defence Organisation (MDO) as required. In addition to having lawyers who deal constantly with issues that can arise in the workplace, each of the MDOs have extensive wellness support programs for their members, such as external counselling providers.

Ethi-call is a further support service offered by The Ethics Centre as a free, independent, national helpline. It provides expert and impartial guidance to navigate challenges. Operating for over 25 years, Ethi-call deals with personal or professional ethical issues. It offers a private, anonymous one-hour call with an ethics counsellor. Ethi-call is available day and night, seven days a week by appointment. More information is available here: www.ethics.org.au/ethi-call/ethi-call

AOA strongly recommends that members have their own general practitioner and see them for health check-ups on a regular basis. Appointments with a GP are completely confidential. A condition will only be reported to a regulator in extreme circumstances where your GP believes your behaviour or conduct may place your colleagues or the public at risk of harm.

AOA also supports a mentoring program which may assist members, particularly young surgeons. More information is included under ‘Join the AOA Mentoring Program’.

AOA’s Fellowships department provides administrative and financial services founded upon a detailed and up-to-date understanding of the complex web of rules that regulate Australian immigration, health-practitioner registration and medical device company sponsorship.

Should you wish to have a Fellow join your practice, AOA can assist with:

Fellowship administration service

• All RACS, AHPRA and Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) application and supplementary documentation prepared and lodged on behalf of the fellow and supervisor
• Established working relationships with government bodies involved
• Knowledge of the latest changes to immigration, registration and RACS-approval processes
• Telephone and email support from a dedicated fellowships officer and manager for both fellow and supervisor
• Professional, efficient and transparent service dedicated to excellent customer service and client satisfaction.

Fellowship funds transfer service

• Acts as a financial intermediary between funding bodies and sponsored fellowships
• Allows transparent and arm’s-length fi nancial interactions between medical device companies and fellowship supervisors
• Facilitates internal compliance and arm’s-length financial interactions between medical device companies and fellowship supervisors.

Fellowship Program payroll service

• Extends upon the Funds Transfer Service
• Alleviates the administrative burden of receiving and redistributing funds in accordance with tax and payroll legislation.

The AOA Fellowships Team provides comprehensive support for both the supervisor and the fellow.

For more information, contact the AOA Fellowships team on (02) 8071 8000 or email fellowships@aoa.org.au

The AOA Research Foundation performs an important role in providing support for short-term studies (in general up to two years) and initiating long-term studies carried out by AOA members.

The Foundation is also an important back-up source of funding for established orthopaedic research groups who receive their major financial support from other funding organisations.

The Foundation also awards ‘Early Researcher Grants’, which are intended to encourage younger members to engage in orthopaedic research.

To apply for an AOARF grant, applicants must be AOA members. For more information on the AOA Research Foundation grants, please visit the AOARF webpage.

To contact the AOA research team, please call 02 8071 8000 or email research@aoa.org.au

Further information on AOA’s other research activities can be accessed through the Research Strategic Plan 2016–2021.

AOA’s Conference and Events Management (CEM) department offers a comprehensive management service that handles everything related to an AOA member's event. This includes:

Advertising and marketing

• Electronic marketing materials such as save-the-date flyers and abstract submission, registration-open and program-availability announcements
• Integrated marketing with member communications such as eNewsletter and print publications
• Cross promotion at other meetings
• Design and print of scientific programs

Sponsorship and trade exhibition services

• Preparation of sponsorship prospectus
• Prospectus distribution to previous event sponsors and AOA CEM industry database
• Acquisition of signed legal sponsorship agreements
• On-site exhibition management

In-meeting coordination

• Extensive experience in event management specifically relating to medical scientific meetings.
• Established relationships with venues, accommodation providers and every major medical sponsor in the Australian market

Financial management

• Preliminary budget preparation, including individually itemised income and expense forecasts
• Regular updates reflecting any budget adjustments
• Submission of final profit and loss statements upon event completion

Registration services

• Conference website creation
• Customised online registration and abstract forms
• Management of all delegate registrations, confirmations and cancellations
• Distribution of weekly registration report

Venue, social event and activity services

• Selection
• Booking
• Co-ordination.

For more information about how AOA can support an event, please contact Conference and Events Manager Alison Fallon on 0403 652 145 or email alison.fallon@aoa.org.au

AOA members can keep up-to-date with issues and events prominent in Australian and international orthopaedics through subscribing to AOA’s email and print publications.

AOA produces two orthopaedic-focused publications – the AOA Bulletin magazine, distributed Summer, Winter and Spring, and the monthly eNewsletter.

Members are automatically subscribed to these publications.

For more information on AOA's member publications, please email AOA Communications Manager Arne Hogan at arne.hogan@aoa.org.au

AOA’s eProceedings library contains audio recordings synchronised to presentation slideshows from AOA’s Annual Scientific Meetings (ASMs). Through the eProceedings library, members are able to review presentations that they found particularly interesting and catch up on those that they may have missed during the meeting.

AOA eProceedings libraries are released approximately a week after the completion of the meeting and are free to meeting attendees. Access can also be purchased by AOA members. All libraries are made free to access by members one year following the library’s release date.

eProceedings libraries can be viewed via the AOA website.

For further information, please contact Senior Conference and Events Coordinator Michelle Van Biljon at michelle.vanbiljon@aoa.org.au

AOA has delivered director education sessions both internally throughout AOA’s branches and subspecialties, and also externally for other surgical specialties.

A governance education session can be organised for members' state branch or subspecialty to discuss topics such as: the basics of governance, an effective Board, and strategy and risk.

Please contact Executive Assistant Assumpta O’Brien at assumpta.obrien@aoa.org.au for more information.

A range of orthopaedic banners, a video and orthopaedic models can be loaned to members who are hosting community, GP, allied health or other information sessions or promotional events.

A list of available resources can be viewed on the exhibition webpage.

Please contact AOA Education Manager Elizabeth Burrell at elizabeth.burrell@aoa.org.au for more information.

AOA advertises orthopaedic job vacancies on behalf of members and third parties on its website and in its monthly eNewsletter.

AOA members are able to review the Positions Vacant webpage for job positions or to advertise a position. AOA members that are directly employing a candidate for a position can use this posting service at no cost.

For more information, email AOA Communications Manager Arne Hogan at arne.hogan@aoa.org.au

AOA can assist with organising flights and accommodation relating to events, conferences and executive meetings. Please contact admin@aoa.org.au for more information.

One of the aims of AOA 21 is to further develop AOA member skills to make clinical teaching more effective. A range of AOA 21 workshops have been developed, which aim to support any member involved in training. AOA accredited hospital sites are encouraged to host workshops in conjunction with their department.

Workshop topics include:

• Workplace Based Assessment
• Trainee Rotations – A Planned Approach
• Helping Underperforming Trainees
• Effective Feedback
• Teaching in the Clinical Setting
• Induction to AOA 21.

Each workshop is run by a facilitator who is an AOA member based in the relevant region. Comprehensive training is provided and new facilitators are supported by a more experienced facilitator during the delivery of their first workshops.

If you are passionate about training and are interested in more information on becoming an AOA workshop facilitator, please contact the AOA Training Team on 02 8071 8000 or email training@aoa.org.au

Hospitals and private sites that would like to offer training in orthopaedic surgery must apply to AOA for accreditation of one or more training positions. AOA assesses each training site on a range of criteria to ensure that the site is appropriately equipped to provide education and training opportunities in accordance with the curriculum and AOA 21 Training Program requirements. Hospitals are assessed against the criteria specified in the AOA Accreditation Standards for Hospitals and Training Positions.

The assessment of each training site is conducted by volunteer AOA hospital accreditors, who are trained on the application of the Standards and related policies. All travel and incidental expenses related to a site visit are covered by AOA. Further information on the accreditation process is available on the AOA website.

If you are interested in becoming a hospital accreditor, please contact the AOA Accreditation Team on 02 8071 8000 or email accreditation@aoa.org.au

AOA’s annual selection process is an important step in creating the next generation of orthopaedic surgeons to serve the Australian community.

As part of the selection process, nationwide interviews are conducted in June. The interview panels are made up of AOA members and a range of non-member representatives. Training is provided and any travel costs or incidental expenses are covered by AOA.

For more information on selection, please email selection@aoa.org.au

Mentoring has been present within surgical training for many years, albeit in different forms. There is evidence to show that mentoring, within the field of medicine, can improve patient outcomes and facilitate learning and personal growth in the mentee. It also allows the mentees to develop their ethical decision making, which will continue to mature when practised mindfully.

Through a mentoring program, mentees gain professional and personal development by having a role model and being able to work through issues in a non-threatening environment.

Aspects of mentoring include, but are not limited to:

• Assisting in ethical decision making or in areas of life when people are facing choices
• Career progression
• Working relationships with colleagues
• Providing advice on patient matters and surgical techniques
• Academic development, research and scholarly projects.

AOA has developed resources for mentors and mentees to ensure that the mentoring relationship benefits both parties. Members are invited to download the list of AOA mentors. These AOA members have volunteered to act as mentors for younger AOA surgeons. If you are interested in mentoring or being mentored, please get in touch with the regional contact for their details.

The AOA Emerging Leaders Forum is an AOA initiative that has been designed to facilitate the development of surgical and organisational leadership through interactive discussions, breakout sessions and group activities. It is aimed at trainees in their later stages of training and consultants within their first 10 years of practice, who have demonstrated leadership skills within the community.

The Forum offers guest speakers from a variety of disciplines that share their experiences and insights on leadership. This is a great opportunity for those who have already demonstrated leadership potential to refine, learn and develop their skills.

If you would like to be involved in the annual AOA Emerging Leaders Forum, please contact AOA.

The Australian orthopaedic community consists of 11 subspecialty societies, which are run independently but in collaboration with AOA. They are as follows:

• Arthroplasty Society of Australia
• Australian Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society Knee
• Australian Knee Society
• Australian Hand Surgery Society
• Medico-legal Society
• Australian Paediatric Orthopaedic Society
• Australian and New Zealand Orthopaedic Research
  Society
• Australian Sarcoma Group
• Shoulder and Elbow Society of Australia
• Spine Society of Australia
• Australian Orthopaedic Trauma Society
• Australian Limb Lengthening and Reconstruction Society

For more information on the subspecialty societies, please visit the subspecialties webpage.

AOA’s work in the Asia Pacific is focused on creating and strengthening relationships with communities and organisations throughout the region, with a particular focus on humanitarian initiatives. The education and training provided by our members is highly regarded in these areas, and we’re currently working to focus our strategy in the region, using a clear understanding of the organisations and individuals providing support as the foundation for efforts to ensure that resources available are used as efficiently as possible.

If you’d like more information on initiatives within the region, please contact the Asia-Pacific Committee via Memberships Officer Bev Hughes at bev.hughes@aoa.org.au

The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Travelling Fellowship is a further opportunity for two AOA members per year to visit a range of hospitals throughout Southeast Asia, learning and teaching in various settings that often vary greatly from the Australian hospital experience. The Fellowship culminates in attendance and presentation at a major scientific meeting.

The experience invariably proves educative and inspirational, providing new experiences, an appreciation of the conditions in which peers in the region deal with a different set of common injuries and conditions, and a fresh perspective on the Australian surgical environment.

Please contact Memberships Officer Bev Hughes at bev.hughes@aoa.org.au for more information on the Fellowship.

Many AOA members provide invaluable services to disadvantaged communities in the Asia Pacific by providing education and training to local doctors; by providing teaching and mentoring for local surgeons involved in orthopaedic surgery; and by undertaking more complex surgeries. This will ensure their influence can still benefit the local population between visits.

Visits are co-ordinated and funded by Orthopaedic Outreach, a charitable organisation that AOA is proud to support, and members undertake the work on a pro-bono basis.

Please visit www.orthoreach.org.au to find out more about Orthopaedic Outreach or to make a donation.