October 2005 • Vol. 1, No. 4
	Advancing Orthotic and Prosthetic Care Through Knowledge

Learn the Latest from the Best and the Brightest at the Annual Meeting

Judging by the rave reviews of dedicated Annual Meeting attendees, any practitioners not planning to be in Chicago, Illinois, March 1–4, 2006, for the 32nd Academy Annual Meeting & Scientific Symposium may want to rethink their decision.

"The state of the art is always advancing, and if you want to stay in tune with what's happening, that's the place to be," said Bill Barringer, CO, FAAOP, who estimates he has attended at least 20 Annual Meetings since 1981. With more than ten Annual Meetings under his belt, Jason Bradshaw, CO, couldn't agree more. "If you were to only go to one show per year, you'd have to choose the Academy for the best experience. You're going to take more away from that than any other show. It's the best package for the dollar," he explained.

No matter how long clinicians have been practicing and no matter what their specialty, the Annual Meeting has valuable insights and information to offer, according to regular attendees. "It's the scientific Wal-Mart for O&P. You go to one place and get everything you need," said Jim Young, Jr., CP, FAAOP, pointing out that the broad spectrum of scientific and educational topics covered at the meeting is supplemented by specialized presentations from the Academy's special interest societies. Deanna Fish, CPO, put it succintly, "It's a phenomenal event—there's nothing like it."

Since the Annual Meeting's inception, the Academy has focused on making it the premier source of continuing clinical education in the field. Over six years ago, Tom DiBello, CO, FAAOP, a former Academy president, led the blue-ribbon task force to evaluate the meeting and recommend improvements. As a result, the meeting traded its solely abstract-driven format for a multifaceted approach incorporating instructional courses and symposia, free papers, and poster presentations, in addition to the exhibit hall. For the past two years, Jim Campbell, PhD, CO, has chaired the Clinical Content Committee for the increasingly popular event, which attracted a record 1,751 attendees to Orlando, Florida, in 2005. Campbell's goal has been to make the Annual Meeting the highlight of the calendar year from an educational perspective by creating a high-quality program that is both interesting and relevant.

"We've been able to continually raise the bar over the past several years. As the quality of the meeting has grown, we have attracted speakers and attendees from around the world," he observed. Campbell also pointed out that more doctors, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and engineers now attend, giving the formerly insular meeting a multidisciplinary flavor and encouraging cross-pollination of ideas. In addition, the number of paper and poster presentations has increased, enabling the committee to be more selective. "The meeting is a reflection of our profession," Campbell said. "The quality of the science and the presentations have improved."

Fish, who has attended every meeting in the past decade, agreed, "As our profession moves toward more evidence-based information, more presentations are based on clinical research, where it used to be anecdotal. Now we're trying to measure and quantify. Twenty years ago, people didn't think like that."

Attendees appreciate the meeting's focus on learning and the science of the field. "I applaud them for steering clear of the extrinsic hoopla and keeping the emphasis on education and patient care," Gerald Stark, Jr., CP, FAAOP, said. Young concurred, commenting, "The educational and scientific components of the meeting are unsurpassed. A lot of other meetings seem like infomercials. The Academy has more independent studies, scientific presentations, and straight research versus what manufacturers want said about their products." And practitioners praise the quality of the presenters as well as the meeting's content. "They bring in the best for the scientific presentations. The presenters are the cream of the crop," Bradshaw said.

Campbell identified three ways he envisions the Annual Meeting impacting attendees: "I hope, number one, they take away something they can immediately implement in their practice; two, that their horizons have been broadened and their perspectives challenged; and three, that they leave feeling it was worthwhile." From all accounts, Annual Meetings succeed in meeting these objectives.

Gary Horton, CO, FAAOP, has attended close to 20 Annual Meetings. He recalled observing a demonstration on taking a blanket cast for a spinal TLSO, a technique he had heard about but never seen. "I immediately starting doing it and still do it today," he said. Barringer said, "There are many things I learned about scoliosis treatment that I brought back and put into practice, as well as knowledge about plagiocephaly." And both Bradshaw and Young singled out Marlo Ortiz Vasquez del Mercado's presentation on the M.A.S.® socket at last year's conference as particularly beneficial and applicable to their own practices.

In addition to the practical and motivating educational sessions, seeing the latest technology firsthand in the exhibit hall encourages practitioners to think in new and different ways. Stark recalled seeing a tracer CAD system introduced for the first time at a meeting several years ago, as well as a prosthetic knee controlled with an electrode. "You see the technology evolving, and you see where the quantum leaps are. Being an upper-extremity specialist, I always have to keep my eyes open, because the field is constantly changing," he said. "You get familiar with the new technology, and start figuring out how to incorporate it into your practice."

Horton rates the opportunity to look at the new componentry equal in importance to the scientific lectures. "You don't get to put the product in your hand unless you're at the meeting. It's not the same as a brochure or the Internet," he said. As an exhibitor and a practitioner, Bradshaw appreciates the friendly feel of the exhibit hall with the tabletop displays in the center and the larger booths on the perimeter. "It's a more open forum and allows a lot more interaction with practitioners," he pointed out. Marty Carlson, CPO, also finds that the environment encourages beneficial information exchange. "As a designer and manufacturer of components, tools and materials for the O&P industry, it is imperative that I and key Tamarack employees meet and visit with clinicians and technicians. The best forum for that is at the Academy Annual Meetings. In those interactions, very important information is communicated in both directions," he said. "During the few days of one Academy Annual Meeting we learn all sorts of things that we would otherwise be unaware of. As a clinician for many years, that meeting has been important to gather a multitude of design ideas, to learn about new practice techniques, to broaden my awareness of pathological factors important to my practice, and to learn about new products and materials."

Stark welcomes the opportunity to widen his horizons by viewing different techniques and materials, convinced that it's critical to advancing the profession. "In our field, people are usually schooled in one technique. At the meeting, you see people turning things upside down and inside out," he said. "And in your office you get used to certain materials. We have a small field, and small offices—this is a chance to get together and become more eclectic in our approaches." He strongly believes that the earlier in their career practitioners attend the meeting, the better. "You're shaping the fundamentals early in your career. If we incorporate younger people, they'll realize there's a wider spectrum of approaches."

Inevitably, practitioners who attend the Annual Meeting find the informal and frequent interaction with colleagues and presenters at least as valuable as the formal educational sessions. "I love the camaraderie," Young declared. "We can all be colleagues, share ideas, and talk about what's going on in our neck of the woods instead of fighting for pieces of the same pie." He especially appreciates the opportunity to talk with international attendees, noting, "In a lot of ways, Europe is way advanced. At the Annual Meeting, I can get that international perspective as well." Bradshaw agrees, "The biggest thing I take away is the interaction with other practitioners. The sharing of ideas, the opportunity to discuss complicated cases, is something I like to soak in." Describing the Annual Meeting as "the meeting place of the field," Stark values the chance to meet and talk one-on-one with leaders in the field he has read about or who have invented components he uses.

For Annual Meeting attendees, the unparalleled opportunity to explore the latest scientific research, clinical practices, and technology is a means to an end—better patient care. "Our university training gives us the basic foundation to be good clinicians. If you want to be a great clinician, you need continuing education. It's our responsibility to go out and look for opportunities to continuously improve our efforts so we can create life-changing programs for patients," Fish explained.

Young added, "Education is power—it's important to advance our profession. Sometimes we get so focused on reimbursement and the business side, but the Academy never loses sight of the fact that this is about the patient. When we talk to referring docs, it's important to have the science to back up what we're doing. The Academy Annual Meeting is where you get that."