1
U.E.M.SEBOT
Union Européenne des Médecins SpecialistesEuropean Board of
European Union of Medical SpecialistsOrthopaedics and Traumatology
Section of Orthopaedics and Traumatology September 2008
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE SECTION ON SEPTEMBER 26-27 2008
ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS EDINBURGH UNITED KINGDOM
PRESENT:
AUSTRIA: Dr. Thomas Motycka
BELGIUMProf. Jean-Jacques Rombouts
CROATIA:Prof. Miroslav Hašpl
DENMARK:Dr. Hans Jeremiassen
:Prof. Finn Bjarke Christensen
ESTONIA:Dr. Aare Märtson
Dr. Toomas Tein
FINLAND:Prof. Ilkka Kiviranta
FRANCE:Dr. Patrice Papin
GERMANY:Dr. Günter Abt
Dr. Joachim Grifka
GREECE:Dr. Savas Sourmelis
:Dr. Aristides Zoubos
IRELAND:Dr. Gerry McCoy
THE NETHERLANDS:Dr Frank Oosterhout
NORWAY:Dr. Kari Indrekvam
Dr. Øyvind Hagen
PORTUGAL:Dr. Roxo Neves
ROMANIA:Dr. Radu Radulescu
SLOVAKIA:Prof. Lubos Rehak
SPAIN:Dr. José Cordero
SWEDEN:Dr. Richard Wallensten
:Dr. Hanne Hedin
TURKEY:Prof. Mehmet Demirhan
UNITED KINGDOM:Mr. David Finlayson
Mr. John Albert
President:Dr. Richard Wallensten
Stand in secretary:Dr. Hanne Hedin
Treasurer:Dr. Henri Schlammes
FRIDAY 26th SEPTEMBER 2008 – GENERAL MEETING PART I
- OPENING
- The president opened the meeting, welcomed the delegates to Edinburgh and thanked
Dr John Albert and Dr David Finlayson for hosting the meeting. Dr Finlayson gave a short overview of the history of the Royal College of Surgeons and the impressive building that houses the College now. He also introduced the two guests Clare Marx and David Pitts
- APOLOGIES
Delegates not present at the meeting: Prof. Stefan Nehrer, Austria; Prof. Hugo de Boeck; Belgium; Dr Nicholas Maroudias and Dr. Ntinous Georgios, Cyprus; Dr. Zdenek Matĕjovsky, Czech Republic; Prof. Marku Järvinen, Finland; Prof. J. Puget, France; Prof. Kalman Szepesi, Hungary; Dr John Corrigan, Ireland; Prof. Ernesto Ippolito and Prof. Carlo Fabbriciani, Italy; Dr Henri Schlammes, Luxemburg; Dr Christian Stoica, Romania; Prof George Zafiroski, Macedonia; Dr. Rob Nelissen, The Netherlands; Prof. Enrique Caceres, Spain; Dr. Andreas Lehmann and Prof Walter Dick, Switzerland.
Once again the president has had contact with Bulgaria, Poland and has had a letter from The Serbian Orthopaedic Association with interest of becoming an observer country. None of them have joined the meeting.
3. WELCOME AND RESIGNATIONS
New Italian delegate Prof. Carlo Fabbriciani did not attend the meeting.
4. MINUTES OF SECTION’S MEETING IN BERLIN 30TH-31st OCTOBER 2008
No comments were made and the minutes were approved.
5. COMMUNICATIONS
5.1. THE PRESIDENT
Incoming and outgoing post
5.1.1 The president of the Section of Neurosurgery, Hans J Reulen, has sent a mail to all surgery
sections concerning the working hour directive. He is worried about the 48 hour and wants it
extended to 60 hours if on call time is not included and 65 hours if it is included. The president
of UEMS Dr Zlatko Fras has written a final letter telling that all need to act should be
coordinated and directed through the council. In a way it has been settled as only 2 out of 27
countries follow the directive.
5.1.2 Dr Gerd Hoffman (Liaison officer UEMS) has sent a letter concerning guidelines in our speciality. UEMS is member of Guidelines International Network (GIN) and all UEMS-sections have the free access to the biggest collection of guidelines worldwide of GIN. He wants the section to be a clearing-station for guidelines in our speciality to give recommendations about the best evaluated and evidence-based ones for the European countries. None of the delegates knew anything about GIN. Decisions the president answers the letter of Dr Hoffman and invite him to our next meeting in Dubrovnik to inform us and to discuss how we can continue.
The feeling among the delegates was that if they want us to accredit the guidelines it should cost money the same way as we get money from accrediting CME points.
5.1.3 We have received an invitation to a meeting in a Multidisciplinary Joint Committee in Sport Medicine. They want to discuss the final text the curriculum Program for Sport Medicine. The meeting is in Brussels October 25th. Several delegates found that it was an interesting field. It is already a speciality in several countries as United Kingdom, Estonia and the Netherlands.
Decision: Dr Oosterhout and possibly Dr Demirhan will represent our section in the meeting.
5.2. THE SECRETARY
The secretary asked for corrections in the list of members. All communication with the delegates is by e-mail, so it is of outmost importance to have an e-mail address list that is updated.
5.3. THE TREASURER
The treasurer was not present but has sent and overview of the finances. Most of the member countries have paid their fees and the rest will pay soon. The best income is from EACCME through the evaluation and accreditation of orthopaedic events. The biggest expense is still for the EBOT-exam. However, we get financial support for the exam from EFORT and a fee from the candidates to sit the exam. The financial situation now makes it possible to support delegates attending the different working groups within UEMS.
5.4 UEMS
5.4.1 Newsletters 2008/4 and 2008/5 have been mailed to all delegates and can be found on UEMS home page and also on our own home-page
One of the items with the working hour directive was discussed above. The EU ministers have compromised on working time. The amendment provides that the working time shall be of a maximum 48h per week. The inactive part of on-call shall not be counted as working time. Compensatory leave can be taken with reasonable delay and is no longer required to be immediately after the working period. There is a stricter framework for the individual employee who decides to opt-out from the working time limit of 48h
Another item that was discussed was the directive on patient mobility. The directive aims to clarify the freedom of patients wanting to be treated abroad. The concern was the costs and the standards.
5.4.2 Three years ago a first meeting was held with sections of UEMS that had created a board exam. Later CESME (the council for specialist examinations) was formed. More and more specialities have joined and for now the number are 16. A board has been created with Steven Potts as president. If we want to continue to be a member of the council we have to pay an annual fee of 250Eur. Decision: To join the council and pay the fee.
5.5 EFORT
The president reported from EFORT. There was an executive committee meeting in Lund September 12-13. The EBOT-exam was discussed. Please se item 7.
Besides that the meeting discussed how the executive works. To make it more efficient it was decided to make working groups. The groups were for: 1. The presidential line. 2. Specialities. 3. Events. 4. Courses. 5. Publication. 6. Scientific programs etc.
The plan is to start a European Journal of Orthopaedics. Another plan is to start EFORT Foundation with a cost of 1Eur/member. There will be a Grants Board Committee for research and one for Education. Besides there will be an Industry Advisory Committee and a Campaign Advisory Committee.
The finances in EFORT are not as good as before. This is one of the reasons that EFORT has decided to have annual meetings to get more income. The next congress will be held in Vienna 2009. 2010 will be in Madrid and 2011 in Copenhagen.
6. MANPOWER DATA
The item was not discussed at this meeting
7. INFORMATION ABOUT THE EBOT-EXAMINATION AND COLLABORATION WITH EFORT
Richard Wallensten reported from the executive meeting of EFORT where the exam was
Discussed. There was a support for getting the written part done by Internet. EFORT had been in
contact with a Portuguese party that offered a solution to a cost of 67 000 € which is far too
expensive. There is a Swedish alternative being constructed, which is much cheaper. It will be
tested at the next exam in Sweden and it could be an alternative.
There were mixed feelings and the elderly were not supportive to the expensive part.
Besides and exam manager EFORT has promised a support of 15000€/ year for five years. This
goes out next year and has to be negotiated again.
There will be a course preparing for the exam at the next EFORT congress in Vienna. When the
written exam is available at the Internet, the trainees can try the exam but do not have to send it
in.
Next EBOT-exam will be in Geneva 4 – 5 October, and information can as usual be found on the web site. 13-14 candidates have applied from all over. It is still too few.
The address for the homepage is and the mail address is
8. INFORMATION ABOUT THE WEB SITE
Dr Abt informed shortly about the home page. He asked for contributions and suggestions to the web site. The address is . There is a link to central UEMS the address is . All new documents will be placed on the home page. The new password will be albert.
9. EACCME AND CENTRAL UEMS INFORMATION
Dr Günter Abt reported about EACCME. According to him it is all about money. There are differences between reviewers and providers. A Harmonisation Committee has been created. Dr Abt is part of it and so is Dr Edwin Borman. Rules will be made. A work is done to give CME-points to e-learning. It is for young people that do not want to travel. Dr Abt did not mention it but a good deal of our income is from the accreditation of CME points done by Dr Abt.
10. CURRICULUM OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOINT COMMITTEE ON EMERGENCY MEDICINE
The final draft was discussed. The delegates found it strange in many ways as it contains a lot of
sophisticated diagnosis that cannot be expected to be a part of the task for the emergency doctor
as f ex DDH. The chairman of the committee Dr David Williams has asked our opinion. Our
opinion is that the curriculum should concentrate upon teaching the future emergency doctors
how to take a proper history and how to perform a thorough physical examination. The task of
the emergency doctor concerning orthopaedics and traumatology is mainly to triage and
diagnose common orthopaedic problems and to diagnose common fractures and other injuries
and infections. The treatment of these afflictions is then usually performed by specialists in
orthopaedics and traumatology so for the emergency doctor the most important thing is to know
where to refer the patient and which ones to refer.
The president will answer Dr Williams with our opinions. Dr Demirhan will review the
curriculum and suggest changes in the part of orthopaedics and sent it all to the delegates for
comments. Dr Abt and Dr Demirhan will also participate in the next meeting of the committee
on November 28th .
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 27TH - GENERAL MEETING PART II
11. PRESENTATION OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETIES
Dr Wallensten gave an interesting expose over Sweden and the Orthopaedics in Sweden followed by equal interesting information about Spain and the Spanish Orthopaedics given by Dr Cordero. Both presentations will be found on our web site.
12. EDUCATION SESSION
First John Albert introduced Clare Marx, the first female orthopaedic president.
Clare Marx gave a talk on The Future of Training in Trauma & Orthopaedics in the United
Kingdom. She asked whether there was a United Kingdom when it comes to training? Just now
there are 7500 graduates and 75% are women. For now the current hours are 56 but it will be 48
from August 2009.
Davis Pitts then gave an up-date of what was said in Toulouse. All the presentations can be
found on The e-logbook is used by 93% of the trainees. It is financed by
industry and other sponsors. The trainees have to pay £ 130/year. Next year it is free for
consultants that is training. A steering group is responsible for the evolution. A problem is: How
do you control the quality of the procedures done?
13. REPORTS FROM WORKING GROUP IN HAND SURGERY
Dr Sourmelis reported from the Multidisciplinary Joint Committee of Hand Surgery. He
attended a meeting June 21st . The committee cooperates with FESHE. There are not many
countries with hand surgery as an independent speciality (Sweden and Finland). An exam was
created already 1996. A draft of Curriculum on Hand Surgery has been made and was presented
at Central UEMS in March. We have to go through the curriculum before it is finalized. Dr
Sourmelis will mail it for comments. A meeting was held in Budapest, but Dr Sourmelis was not
there because of bad communications.
14. CHANGE OF PRESIDENT
After this meeting Dr John Albert will take over as president. He will give us his visions for the
future at the next meeting in Dubrovnik. At the dinner tonight there will be held a more formal
ceremony.
15. FUTURE STRATEGY AND WORKING PROCEDURES FOR THE SECTION
Dr John Albert gave a list of the subject he is going to work with as president:
- Education programs
- That any agreement goes back to the national societies
- To hear from all of you
- How medical students are involved in Orthopaedic Training if at all
- Recruiting
- FORTE
- PWG
- Recertification of Training (an issue in Turkey)
- Accreditation of Training Centres (The Netherlands)
- Undergraduate Core Curriculum
- Minimal Requirements
- BJD-decade. Demographic Development. Manifest
- How to implement research data
16. NEXT MEETINGS
Meeting in Dubrovnik, Croatia, April 24th -25th, 2009. Dr Hašpl gave a nice overview of the meeting place Hotel Palace and the program for the meeting.
Meeting in Vienna, Austria, October 2nd – 3rd, 2009
15. CLOSURE OF THE MEETING
Dr Wallensten closed the meeting again thanking Dr David Finlayson and Dr John Albertfor hosting the meeting. He also thanked all the delegates for coming to Edinburgh.
Dr. Hanne HedinDr. Richard Wallensten
SecretaryPresident
On Friday evening we had a traditional Scottish dinner at the national Museum of Scotland. Saturday we had a light lunch at the college after the Saturday session followed by a visit to Edinburgh Castle walking there through the old town of Edinburgh. Our group had a charming Scottish guide wearing kilt. In the evening we had dinner at the college. At the entrance we were received by David Finlayson playing the pipes in full Scottish dress. A very pleasant experience. At the dinner Dr Jorge Mineiro joined us. Several talks were given to thank Dr Richard Wallensten for his time as president. He was given a Swedish Crystal Apple and a bottle of fine Scottish Whiskey as presents from our section.