At the conclusion of the British Elbow & Shoulder Society (BESS) meeting in Leicester, the BESS council approached us both and asked us to join the editorial board for the journal Shoulder and Elbow. The prime purpose of our appointment was to increase the educational content of the journal. This editorial aims to acquaint the readership with an outline of our future plans and the ethos behind them.
As you will be aware, the journal has gone from strength to strength but, to date, has not been accepted for listing on PubMed. The lack of an educational section was cited as one of the deficiencies impacting upon its inclusion. Clearly, this is something that we hope to address with the advent of the new educational section. One of the great strengths of BESS is the alliance of Surgeons and Allied Health Professionals (AHPs); this is an opportunity to share best practice and to learn from experienced clinicians in both professions.
Our intention, in conjunction with Ro Kulkarni, BESS president, and Ian Trail, Editor-in-Chief, is to introduce two educational/instructional articles in each edition. The underlying principle is to present both the Surgical and AHP perspectives regarding specific topics. One article will be written by a surgeon and the second by one of our AHP colleagues. Our hope is that these two educational articles will highlight surgical and therapy related issues pertinent to the readership.
To date, we have outlined the initial two educational sections; the first relates to approaches for the assessment of rotator cuff pathology. The second will consider current clinical tests for labral pathology and the assessment of nonstructural instability. In addition, we also hope to incorporate some generic educational articles in the future covering nonclinical issues.
We both feel extremely privileged to carry out this task and look forward to a fruitful relationship with the journal. We are committed to making the new educational section a success and would welcome any comments or suggestions from the readership regarding the future of this new initiative.