Despite a shaky national economy and gloomy financial forecasts, the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists (the Academy) showed a positive outlook for O&P by boasting booming attendance at its 35th annual meeting and scientific symposium March 4–7, in Atlanta, Georgia. More than 1,700 attendees from nine countries filled the Atlanta Hilton for intensive trainings, meetings, exhibitions, and celebrations.
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| Academy President James Rogers, CPO, lectures. |
"We have to admit that we were a little concerned about whether the economy would impact the attendance or feeling at the meeting," said Peter Rosenstein, the Academy's executive director. "It impacted neither one. After the show, we allow our exhibitors to reserve booths for the following year's meeting, and more booths have been reserved for next year than ever before. More than 50 percent sold out, and every one of our major sponsored items has already been reserved by various exhibitors. That said something really positive about the feeling of the entire conference."
Rosenstein also contended that this year's educational program was the most exciting one offered in the history of the Academy. "What our show tries to do is have a really wide range of educational possibilities," Rosenstein explained, "so that there are plenty of offerings for people who have been in the profession for 20 years and for people who have just come into the profession. We have a broad range of opportunities for everybody from technicians to certified prosthetists and orthotists, whatever their individual interests are. Each year, a number of our societies develop programming specifically for the special interests in their society…so during the entire conference there's always something going on that's going to be of interest to you, no matter what your interest and no matter what level you're at."
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| From left: Nikta Pirouz, a graduate student in the master of science in prosthetics and orthotics (MSPO) program at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), and Kali Marquardt, MSPO, who graduated from the Georgia Tech program in May, take part in the O&P career awareness event. |
According to the Academy, the most heavily attended educational programs included the ever-popular Thranhardt lecture series, upper-limb events, and offerings on evidence-based practice. At the session titled "Orthotic Management of Cerebral Palsy: Report from the 2008 ISPO Consensus Conference," Roy Bowers, CPO, of the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, pointed out to a packed audience how far O&P has to go toward providing well-conducted research to practitioners. In a study of the approximately 75 peer-reviewed, published papers available on the orthotic management of cerebral palsy, he found that only a handful were replicable based on the published study. "It was surprising and disappointing to me that you couldn't use the literature review for a prescription guide," he said, and concluded, "You still have to exercise clinical judgment."
To help balance the formal educational offerings with hands-on exposure to new technology, the Academy's clinical-content committee collaborated with the exhibit committee to give attendees uninterrupted time to visit the exhibit hall without missing any of the educational programming. This year, PCE credits were granted for attending the unopposed time in the exhibit hall, which held nearly 300 exhibits representing 188 companies.
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Social and charitable gatherings also brought together practitioners and exhibitors alike. The Orthotic and Prosthetic Assistance Fund (OPAF) raised thousands of dollars at its live and silent auction, and oandp.com celebrated the release of its revamped website. On a similar note, at the reception for the Journal of Prosthetics and Orthotics (JPO), a representative from its publisher announced that the JPO website will also receive a major redesign in the upcoming year.
A special addition to this year's meeting was designed to help O&P students find their ideal residencies. Residency directors from ten different areas of practice sat at separate tables, and students went from table to table to learn about residencies in settings such as private practices, hospitals, and Veterans Administration (VA) sites.
According to Rosenstein, attendee feedback for this event was overwhelmingly positive; in fact, he said it was the most positive in the history of the Academy. According to Rosenstein, the Academy predicts it will only get better at next year's show, scheduled for March 24–27, 2010, in Chicago, Illinois.
—Morgan Stanfield
