CONTENTS

1. Outcomes-guided Clinical Care
2. Whistler Podium and Poster Presentations
3. COA Reception in Las Vegas
4. MANUS Call For Abstracts
5. Surgeon Feedback Required - Bone and Joint Canada
6. Come Wind, Come Weather

1) OUTCOMES-GUIDED CLINICAL CARE
The strategic planning session conducted by the Board in December 2007 identified three priority areas of focus for the COA: 1. Advocacy. 2. Modeling of care. 3. Outcomes-guided clinical care.

As part of the outcomes initiative, the working group felt that COA members would benefit from having access to information about the outcome measures that are currently being used by clinical researches in orthopaedics in Canada.  All COA members who are interested in clinical research should have easy access to outcome measures that would be useful for projects that they may be interested in undertaking. 

The subspecialty chairs met by teleconference and then met with researchers in each subspecialty area to determine the most common outcomes measures used in clinical research in Canada in 2008.  A list of general and disease-specific outcome measures was then generated.

The list is posted on the COA web site as an outcomes toolkit.  The toolkit is meant to be readily available to COA members who wish to undertake a clinical research project and will allow our members to review the outcome measures that are commonly used in clinical orthopaedic research in Canada.

2) WHISTLER PODIUM AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS
Notifications were e-mailed earlier this month to authors who submitted abstracts for presentation at the upcoming 2009 Whistler Annual Meeting.  If you submitted an abstract and have not yet received e-mail notification about your paper, please contact Trinity Wittman: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Accepted authors are reminded to complete their disclosure information by March 2.  Submitting authors are to ensure that each co-author submits disclosure information by March 2.  Failure to comply will result in that author's name being removed from the final programme.  Please remind your colleagues to complete their disclosure information as soon as possible.  Complete instructions and details can be found here http://www.coaannualmeeting.ca/

Information is being added regularly to the 2009 Whistler Annual Meeting web site.  You can find programme details, travel and housing info, as well as sports and social program highlights at http://www.coaannualmeeting.ca/.  Updates are being made weekly so check back often to stay posted.

3) COA RECEPTION IN LAS VEGAS
The COA will be hosting a reception during the upcoming AAOS Annual Meeting in Las Vegas.  The reception will be held on Thursday, February 26 from 6:00-8:00pm in the Grand Salon of the Pinot Brasserie inside the Venetian Resort: 3355 Las Vegas Blvd. South.  All members are invited to attend.  We look forward to seeing you there.

4) MANUS CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
The 2009 Annual Scientific Meeting of the Canadian Society for Surgery of the Hand (MANUS) will take place in Whistler on Monday, July 6^th, 2009 in conjunction with the COA Annual Meeting.  Abstracts are invited for any papers related to upper extremity surgery.   Abstract deadline is April 1^st, 2009.  Please contact Dr. Robert Richards, Secretary of MANUS Canada, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

5) SURGEON FEEDBACK REQUIRED - BONE AND JOINT CANADA
Bone and Joint Canada (BJC) is in urgent need of surgeons who could provide feedback in the development of a Toolkit to help address surgical wait times for Hip and Knee Surgery. BJC is inviting participants to get involved in one or more teleconferences (over the months of January and February 2009) and to provide feedback to draft written materials.

Detailed descriptions of the project and additional information can be obtained from the Executive Director of BJC, Ms. Hazel Wood. She can be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 416-323-6861 x 222.

6) COME WIND, COME WEATHER
Dr. Brookes Heywood, Past President of the South African Orthopaedic Association, has written a memoir with his wife Jeanne about how these two retired academics sailed three oceans in a yacht built in their own garden.  Those interested in purchasing a copy of their book can contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .