Brazilian Society of foot surgery essential program for foot and ankle surgeons in training

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study is identify the characteristics of how the fellowship training program in foot and ankle is developed in the different teaching and training centers affiliated to the Brazilian Society of Foot Surgery along the country. In order to establish minimum quality criteria of foot and ankle training program, the goal of this research is to create a reference baseline that allows adequate judgment about the real capacity of any orthopedic center develop a comprehensive teaching and training program that qualify it as an official certify Brazilian foot and ankle training center. Methods: A protocol with essential information was send by e-mail to the heads of all the 31 national foot and ankle training centers officially affiliated to the Brazilian Society of Foot Surgery. The Teaching and Training board director of the Brazilian Society of Foot Surgery collected and organized all the information related to the routine basic teaching and training programs, involving: (1) theory education; (2) work activities (clinical and surgical practice); and (3) scientific papers production and publishing. Results: There were identified three major problems in this study: (1) there is a tremendous lack of uniformity in both, theory and practical training programs at different teaching centers all around the country; (2) scientific papers production and publishing is very low among the foot and ankle Brazilian training centers; (3) the basic organization and scientific documentation are both incomplete and insufficient in the vast majority of the teaching centers evaluated. Conclusion: More objectives and rigid criteria need to be established to allow improvement in the quality of training during the foot and ankle fellowship; it is also necessary to create standard training programs in order to decrease the discrepancy in qualification between the different regional foot and ankle teaching centers in Brazil.