Orthopaedic manpower - Art overview

What constitutes orthopaedic practice and how many orthopaedic surgeons are desirable for a given population has been discussed since the specialty wa s founded, The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons began addressing th is issue in January 1937, Extensive studies were done in the early 1970s wi th sponsorship from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the Ameri can College of Surgeons, the American Surgical Association, and the Divisio n of Manpower Intelligence of the Department of Health Education and Welfar e, These studies involved questionnaire surveys, Delphi panel modeling, and direct observation in a three-day time and motion study of a statistical s ample of 150 practices. At the conclusion of these studies, it was observed that orthopaedics was largely a male specialty, practitioners preferred th e surgical aspect of their practices to their office practices, that there was no type of practice that was more efficient than another, that the more orthopaedic surgeons there were in a population the more operative procedu res were being done, and the character of the practice changes with the rat io of orthopaedist to population drops below 1 to 15,000, After 30 years in volvement in health manpower issues the author concludes that there is no s ubstitute for developing a solid database and analyzing trends, that the pr edictions have been remarkably accurate and although honorable men and wome n may disagree on the interpretation of data, few will argue that there is a limit on the number of orthopaedic procedures that can be justified in th e diagnosis and treatment of a population. The essence of professionalism i s self regulation and doing first and foremost what is in the best interest of the patient and society whether there necessitates an increase or a dec rease in the number of orthopaedic surgeons being trained or practicing in a given population.