The vision of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA) is “A world with optimal musculoskeletal health for all children.” Improving musculoskeletal care for children worldwide has always been a natural goal for POSNA and its members [1]. The inception of a dedicated task force in pursuit of this mission started with the COUR (Children’s Orthopaedics in Underserved Regions) Committee in 1999, followed by its official transition into the Pediatric Orthopaedic Global Outreach (POGO) Committee in 2019 [2], [3]. POGO administers the “POGO Scholars” program that facilitates international pediatric orthopedic surgeons to visit their peers in the United States and Canada as well as to attend the POSNA Annual Meeting or International Pediatric Orthopaedic Symposium (IPOS®) [3], [4]. Over the years, this program has proven itself a mutually beneficial experience; throughout the exchange, North American surgeons have also learned the varying practices of pediatric orthopedics in different environments with differing locoregional pathologies and cultural or economic considerations.
The mission of the POGO Research Subcommittee is to facilitate the Scholars’ research endeavor and to catalyze international academic collaborations. Scientific research led by local research teams has the highest potential of advancing clinical care in their geographic areas. The research questions are typically tailored toward local needs, and the results are thus more applicable to the local population. On the other hand, international research collaborations have also been fostered through connections made via POGO, where surgeons brainstorm ideas working toward a paradigm shift in pediatric orthopedic pathologies.
Given the global nature of the 2024 Combined EPOSNA Meeting, with POSNA and the European Paediatric Orthopaedic Society (EPOS) coming together, an important portion of the POGO Virtual Symposium was dedicated to previous POGO Scholars who have excelled in academic research in their home practice as part of our long-term effort of the “POGO Scholars Initiative” in research.
An invitation to submit an abstract to the EPOSNA 2024 POGO Virtual Symposium was sent to a total of 34 past POGO Scholars, and 5 POGO Scholars were selected to present at the Symposium after the abstracts were reviewed by the POGO Research Subcommittee. The final presentation is available on the POSNAcademy website [5]. These abstracts are available in the August 2024 issue of JPOSNA®.
The POGO Scholars conducted meaningful research that is specific to their local clinical needs. It is not uncommon for our international colleagues to see pathologies that are less common in North America. The clinical approach may differ for similar pathologies because of the culture or resources available in the particular practice environment [6]. This has led to innovations in pediatric orthopedic surgery outside of North America [7], [8]. The POGO Research Subcommittee has been relentlessly promoting international mutual learning amongst orthopedic surgeons worldwide and identifying ways to facilitate academic research that furthers global pediatric orthopedic care [2], [3], [9], [10].
The major challenges for POGO Scholars to excel in research are similar to those surgeons face in North America, as previously identified and published by the POGO Research Subcommittee [11]. These include insufficient funding, training in research, and lack of resources for study execution (logistics, time, and support). Further, there is a lower citation of international pediatric orthopedic publications in indexed orthopedic journals; this is particularly disproportionate given the relatively larger patient population compared to that in North America [12], [13]. To mitigate these challenges and facilitate the fruition of impactful international research, the POGO Committee thus proposed a number of strategies, including (1) enabling better access to POSNA resources such as membership and research grants, (2) building an online platform matching research mentors-mentees, (3) expanding international research collaborations to research consortia, and (4) sharing equitable credits and recognizing the contribution of international surgeons [11].
The POSNA POGO Committee has had a long, strong relationship with international orthopedic surgeons. Innovative research endeavors may originate from diverse regions outside of North America; POSNA and its membership acknowledge and support these efforts to further develop the practice of pediatric orthopedics worldwide. The same pathologies may be studied and managed in a way that is distinct from that in North America, thus nurturing further opportunities for future paradigm shifts in pediatric orthopedic care. The recent EPOSNA combined meeting allowed us to showcase the research led by former POGO scholars; it also provided a venue for mutual brainstorming and bidirectional learning and collaborations as we strive together to better children’s health around the world.
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Funding
No funding was used for this project.
Author contributions
Alvin W. Su: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Michelle Mo: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing. Mihir M. Thacker: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing. Christopher Souder: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Validation, Writing – review & editing. Rameez Qudsi: Conceptualization, Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing. Corey S. Gill: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing. Amanda J. McCoy: Validation, Writing – review & editing. Karen Bovid: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Visualization, Writing – review & editing.
Declarations of competing interests
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
References
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