Debunking the myths of MOC™

Jennie McKee

Separate fact from fiction when it comes to Maintenance of Certification What have you heard about Maintenance of Certification™ (MOC)? That MOC requires you to take call? That non-operating orthopaedists don’t have to participate to maintain their board certification? If some of your MOC knowledge has come by word-of-mouth, you may have received conflicting information. AAOS Now gathered a list of “MOC myths” and asked Shepard R.

Second Look – Clinical

If you missed these Headline News Now items the first time around, AAOS Now gives you a second chance to review them. Headline News Now—the AAOS thrice-weekly, online update of news of interest to orthopaedic surgeons—brings you the latest on clinical, socioeconomic, and political issues, as well as important announcements from AAOS. FDA issues notification regarding CT scans The U.S.

Repair without a tear?

Annie Hayashi

New technique could change approach to partial rotator cuff tears “If a patient has a partial tear of the rotator cuff, it makes more sense to me to repair it in situ than to complete the tear and start all over again. We have refined an arthroscopic, transtendon technique to repair partial thickness rotator cuff tears and are able to report excellent results,” said Timothy E.

Managing medial epicondyle fractures in adolescent athletes

Annie Hayashi

Study compares surgical and nonsurgical treatments Whether to treat an adolescent’s medial epicondyle fracture with surgery or casting is a controversial issue, particularly for isolated, displaced fractures. Many orthopaedists are reluctant to treat young overhead athletes with casting alone because of the lack of data on this population and the risk for instability. According to results of a retrospective study presented by J. Todd R.

Can MRI predict ‘return to play’ timeframes?

Annie Hayashi

Study correlates MRI findings with bench time after hamstring injuries “Hamstring injuries are common among professional football players and can cause them to take a prolonged absence from the game. But the medical staff and athletic trainers are under tremendous pressure to allow the athlete to return to competition as soon as possible,” said Steven B.

Disclosure trend is growing

Mark W. Wieting

From “black dot” to Web site, AAOS leads the way Disclosing conflicts of interest has become an integral part of continuing medical education (CME) and, more generally, the practice of medicine. Recent public scrutiny of relationships between physicians and commercial entities has raised the stakes, turning “transparency” from a buzz word into a business imperative.

Communication is key to ease worry about orthopaedic surgery

Study finds that older patients’ concerns often go unspoken and unaddressed When discussing surgery with their orthopaedic surgeons, older patients frequently do not raise all of their concerns about proposed procedures. A study published in the July 2008 issue of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery found that patients age 60 or older have many concerns and questions that they do not mention to their orthopaedic surgeons, which, in turn, can become a barrier to obtaining optimal care.

Meetings and Course Listings

Listed below are upcoming continuing medical education (CME) courses and orthopaedic meetings (October 2008 through January 2009). For more information about AAOS-sponsored courses, contact the AAOS customer service department at (800) 626-6726 or visit the CME course section of the AAOS Web site at www.aaos.org/courses For more information about other CME courses or orthopaedic meetings listed, contact the source provided.

The impact of childhood obesity on bones

Peter Pollack

Tibia vara, SCFE, and fractures are common consequences According to recent studies by the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, one in six children (ages 2 to 19 years) is obese. The recent increase in childhood obesity has led to a number of unique orthopaedic challenges. Speaking to members of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America at the AAOS Annual Meeting, Robert H.