Orthopaedic Trauma Association Global Outreach Task Force Proceedings

INTRODUCTION: In 2020, the Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA) adopted an updated strategic plan emphasizing global outreach. A task force was appointed to better understand the current global orthopaedic trauma educational demand and how the organization may better partner with our global colleagues. This article provides a description of the process and the results of the findings. METHODS: First, the current international demographics of the OTA membership were reviewed. Then, 2 surveys were distributed. The first was sent to all current members of the OTA to determine how important the members believe that global orthopaedics should be to the organization's mission. The second survey was sent out to our international orthopaedic trauma colleagues. The results of both surveys were reviewed, analyzed, and summarized in an executive summary report which was presented to the OTA Board of Directors earlier this year. RESULTS: The responses from the membership survey indicated a keen interest in the development of global outreach within our organization. The global outreach survey received 72 responses from 28 different countries, mostly lower and lower-middle income countries. This included many countries in Asia and Africa who had no prior relationship with the OTA. Most respondents were already using online educational materials and expressed a desire for more high-quality online offerings as well as regional resource-specific orthopaedic trauma courses. CONCLUSION: The overwhelming majority of member respondents believe that global orthopaedics is highly important and central to our mission. Similarly, a majority of the international respondents believed that global orthopaedics is necessary and worthwhile. They expressed a need for more educational opportunities and collaboration, particularly in the areas of online offerings as well as regional, resource-specific courses.