New AOSpine Curriculum for MISS
Minimally invasive surgical techniques are still relatively new within the spinal field, so AOSpine created a taskforce of expert MISS surgeons from around the world to design a MISS curriculum and educational events.
The AOSpine Needs Assessment in 2017 showed minimally invasive spine surgery (MISS) to be the top educational need in all regions, therefore Bryan Ashman and the AOSEC created a new taskforce on this topic. Eight expert surgeons from all regions (Richard Assaker, Muhammed Assous, Christoph Hofstetter, JinSung Kim, Avelino Parajon, Nestor Taboada, Paul Taylor, and Chair Roger Härtl) have taken on the challenges of developing the new framework and will test the first educational events during Davos Courses 2018.
The MISS Taskforce started by creating an updated definition of MISS and defining the general skills (eg, using a microscope or endoscope) and specific MISS procedures (eg, microscopic posterior cervical foraminotomy) to focus on for education. Avelino Parajon and Muhammed Assous are the Chairs that designed two 1.5-day modules on Microdecompression and Percutaneous Fixation. These modules feature parallel sessions on procedure simulations and case discussions.
JinSung Kim reminds us that the Davos Course in December 2018 “will be the first dedicated AOSpine 1.5-day course module on endoscopic procedures”. Evaluation and feedback from the Davos Courses will be used to adjust the curriculum and programs before global rollout during 2019. AOSpine and the MISS task force will offer an extensive set of support resources, including videos, book chapters, step-by-step guides for all events.
Roger Härtl adds that the longer term goals of the group are “to deliver more structured and eventually standardized MISS events and modules worldwide, to support event Chairs, and to develop faculty.”
“We are also defining metrics to use for procedure assessment during education and clinical practice.”
More details about the MISS Taskforce, their goal, and its members can be found on our website 
. If you are a Chair for an event in 2019 that will cover the curriculum procedures and general skills, please contact Melanie Schatz (mschatz@aospine.org) so that we can support you.
Roger Härtl
FacultyFocus 3-2018
AOSpine
FacultyFocus
3-2018