Abstract

The John N. Insall Knee Society Traveling Fellowship selects four international arthroplasty or sports fellowship-trained orthopaedic surgeons to spend one month traveling to various Knee Society members' joint replacement and knee surgery centers in North America. The fellowship aims to foster research and education and share ideas among fellows and Knee Society members. The role of such traveling fellowships on surgeon preferences has yet to be investigated.A 59-question survey encompassing patient selection, preoperative planning, intraoperative techniques, and postoperative protocols was completed by the four 2018 Insall Traveling Fellows before and immediately after traveling fellowship completion to assess anticipated practice changes (e.g., initial excitement) related to their participation in a traveling fellowship. The same survey was completed four years after traveling fellowship completion to assess the implementation of the anticipated practice changes.Survey questions were divided into two groups based on levels of evidence in the literature. Immediately after fellowship, there was a median of 6.5 (range: 3-12) anticipated changes in consensus topics and a median of 14.5 (range: 5-17) anticipated changes in controversial topics. There was no statistical difference in the excitement to change consensus or controversial topics (p = 0.921). Four years after completing a traveling fellowship, a median of 2.5 (range: 0-3) consensus topics and 4 (range: 2-6) controversial topics were implemented. There was no statistical difference in the implementation of consensus or controversial topics (p = 0.709). There was a statistically significant decline in the implementation of changes in consensus and controversial preferences compared to the initial level of excitement (p = 0.038 and 0.031, respectively).After the John N. Insall Knee Society Traveling Fellowship, there is excitement for practice change in consensus and controversial topics related to total knee arthroplasty. However, few practice changes that had initial excitement were implemented after 4-year follow-up. Ultimately the effects of time, practice inertia, and institutional friction overcome most of the anticipated changes induced by a traveling fellowship.

View details for DOI 10.1055/a-2094-5443

View details for PubMedID 37192657