British Orthopaedic Association Annual Congress – October 2013

Abstract

Last year’s annual congress of the British Orthopaedic Association took place at the ICC in Birmingham and, judging by the number of delegates who attended, there was a tangible difference to previous annual meetings. There were just under 2000 delegates present and the sheer number provided a new and much needed impetus to the congress which was a tremendous success. A clear victory for the BOA’s policy of including the congress registration in the membership fees. The theme of last year’s congress was ‘Putting Evidence Into Action’, a response to a period of tremendous and unprecedented change within the NHS, and the need for the orthopaedic profession to use evidence to support and underpin best practice. The four-day event included an increase in revalidation/instructional symposia and the addition of new sessions including GPs and Commissioning of health care, Good Clinical Practice training and the spectacularly popular Trauma Boot Camp sessions with overflowing auditoriums for many of the sessions. An Update on Infection in Orthopaedics instructional session provided a topical and comprehensive overview on an extensive and hugely important issue from a multi-disciplinary panel of experts. Opinions were put forward from orthopaedic and plastic surgeons and microbiologists. Some points of interest raised in preventing infection were the avoidance of use of forced air warming which increases air contamination in laminar flow theatres. Questions were asked as to …