Learn How OrthoInfo Can Transform Your Patient Education Program

Capital One asks, “What’s in your wallet?” AAOS asks, “What’s in your patient education library?”

Patient education is essential for any orthopaedic practice. When patients understand their diagnoses and treatments, they are better able to communicate with their doctors and other members of the healthcare team, make more informed decisions, and feel more confident about and satisfied with their care.

However, developing and maintaining patient education materials in house can be costly and time consuming. Although numerous websites offer musculoskeletal health advice, there is a lot of bad information online, so it can be difficult to know where to send patients—not to mention, patients often conduct their own online searches outside of the doctor’s office.

AAOS members may not be aware that the Academy has its own robust, well-established patient education website: orthoinfo.org.

OrthoInfo offers more than 450 pieces of patient-friendly online (but printer-friendly) content, developed and updated regularly by orthopaedic specialists. The OrthoInfo library covers musculoskeletal conditions, nonsurgical and surgical treatments, rehabilitation and conditioning exercises, and bone health topics across all orthopaedic specialties.

For members who have never heard of OrthoInfo, it is worth getting to know the site. For those who are already using OrthoInfo content, it is worth seeing if you are getting the most out of the site. For those who have used OrthoInfo but have not visited lately, it is worth coming back—nearly all the content has been reviewed and updated since January 2021, and more than a dozen new articles have been added.

Introducing the OrthoInfo portal page
Now, AAOS has one convenient place for members to learn how OrthoInfo can help meet their patient education needs at aaos.org/aboutorthoinfo.

This comprehensive portal page features:

• all of the free options for disseminating OrthoInfo content to patients
• information about paid licensing (co-branding) opportunities
• a downloadable QR code (connecting users to the OrthoInfo home-page) that can be added to everything from handouts to posters
• when members are ready to start exploring OrthoInfo, links to the OrthoInfo home page

Whether a surgeon has been in practice for decades or is just starting their career, OrthoInfo is an outstanding educational resource. It contains validated information that can help patients partner with their healthcare teams to make the best possible decisions. Even for those who develop their own patient education materials or whose hospital produces materials, OrthoInfo is available to fill in the gaps. And the QR code makes it easy to direct patients and caregivers to the website.

Every AAOS member should take the time to visit aaos.org/aboutorthoinfo to download the QR code and start exploring OrthoInfo.

Thomas W. (Quin) Throckmorton, MD, FAAOS, is a shoulder and elbow surgeon at Campbell Clinic in Germantown, Tennessee, and serves as editor-in-chief for OrthoInfo.