You Had to Be There
Residents host another successful meeting in Toronto

Daniel Penello, M.D.
Anna Kulidjian, M.D.
Co-Presidents, 2006 CORA Annual Meeting

University of Toronto
Toronto, ON

The past year has been very successful and exciting for the Canadian Orthopaedic Residents’ Association (CORA). In the next few paragraphs, we will highlight the events that made this year a memorable one. In the early Fall of 2005, the results from CORA’s country-wide orthopaedic residency programme survey were compiled, revealing important differences among the various programmes. Questions regarding research opportunities, funding for books and conferences, scheduled teaching rounds and resident educational activities as well as protected study time for the final-year residents were included in the survey. The results were provided to the CORA resident representatives from each programme. Hopefully, these results will stimulate change and result in a standardized educational experience for all residents across the country.

The 2005 COA Mid-Winter meeting was a very monumental event for CORA. As a reflection of the COA’s continuing and ever-growing support for orthopaedic residents, and in an effort to increase resident membership in the Association, the COA Board unanimously agreed to offer all residents and fellows registered in a Canadian orthopaedic training programme FREE membership to the COA. Once a resident or fellow becomes a member of the COA, they can register for the Annual Meeting for FREE as well. We are privileged to have such strong support and are very appreciative of this very generous gesture. This initiative was organized as quickly as possible, and despite time constraints in raising awareness of these changes, a record number of 64 residents applied for Associate membership to the COA this past Spring.

The 32^nd CORA Annual Meeting was held in Toronto in conjunction once again with the Annual Meeting of the COA. Pairing of the two meetings has been a very successful strategy for both Associations. CORA benefits from this arrangement by increased and more easily accessible corporate sponsorship, reduced organizational costs as well as increased attendance by staff surgeons. The COA benefits through greater resident and fellow attendance as most residents who attend the CORA Meeting also stay to attend the meeting of the COA. This year 156 Associate members (residents and fellows) attended the COA Annual meeting, topping the previous record of 130. We believe this was largely due to the waived registration fee.

The CORA scientific programme consisted of 20 podium presentations of exceptional quality. Our moderators had the challenging task of selecting three award winners. The J. A. Nutter Award for the best paper overall was presented to Dr. Matthew Di Silvestro from the University of Calgary. Dr. Michael Weber from the University of British Columbia received the COSA Award for the best Basic Science paper. The Alexandra Kirkley Award for best clinical paper was presented to Dr. Sonja Mathes from the University of British Columbia. The abstracts of these three excellent presentations follow this article.

The highlight of our meeting was a very animated debate between Dr. Brain Day and Dr. Michael Rachlis on the role of private health care in Canada. This highly anticipated debate was delivered to a crowded conference room and generated intense discussion among the audience which carried on into the corridors long after the session had ended. This was a very timely topic for orthopaedic residents in Canada as we will witness changes that will leave us practicing in a very different system than what currently exists.

CORA’s objectives for the next academic year will be to develop and distribute Part II of the Residency Programme Survey. This will focus on quality-of-life issues as well as duty hours, surgical exposure and factors determining career paths. Furthermore, with the aid of the resident representatives from each of the sites, CORA will develop a Fellowship Feedback Directory whose purpose will be to provide current residents with the contact information for fellows who have recently completed a fellowship. This will allow residents to gather relevant and practical feedback regarding a fellowship of interest. Lastly, given the number of disasters that are occurring around the world today, CORA will strive to develop a partnership with an outreach organization which will provide interested residents with the information and resources to apply their skills abroad.

These ambitious initiatives will be lead by the new CORA Co-Presidents, Drs. Ben Smith and Nadia Murphy from Dalhousie University in Halifax, the host city of next year’s Annual Meeting. There is much to accomplish and much to be gained. Take interest. Get involved. Help guide the future of orthopaedics in Canada!

It has been our distinct pleasure and privilege to serve as your Co-Presidents during this dynamic and eventful time. We would like extend our sincere gratitude to the COA as a whole, as well as to Mr. Doug Thomson, Dr. Robert Bourne and Ms. Cynthia Vezina for their tremendous support and encouragement. They truly made this a very smooth, enjoyable and highly rewarding experience.