The International Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology announced that it has launched a new communication and education initiative using the Internet, called SICOT World, coinciding with its Annual International Conference in Paris (being held this weekend, Aug. 30 to Sept. 2). SICOT is the acronym for the organization’s name in French, La Societe Internationale de Chirurgie Orthopedique et de Traumatologie.
"With 4,000 members representing more than 100 nations, SICOT will use the Internet to shrink the world of orthopaedics," said Rainier Kotz, MD, Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Vienna Medical School and President of SICOT.
SICOT World will provide each SICOT member with an individualized Internet portal for accessing all SICOT information and services at any time, in any place. Available through this portal will be SICOT's e-Education and e-Training and other programs.
Also supported will be the SICOT Telediagnostic project, through which specialists review x-rays and other diagnostic information provided by physicians in developing countries. SICOT World will also assist the related Orthopaedics and Traumatology Teaching Centre program for developing nations.
SICOT World is part of a larger Internet initiative that is being advanced by the Bone and Joint Decade (BJD), with support from Pharmacia Corporation. The BJD is an international effort involving more than 550 organizations to raise awareness of musculoskeletal conditions.
The effort, called the Musculoskeletal Societies eCooperative is supported by a major grant from Pharmacia. It is associated with a similar effort in the United States called the Medical Society eCooperative, involving 12 U.S. medical societies representing 100,000 members.
IBM is designing and hosting the technology infrastructure that will be used by societies participating in both eCooperatives to customize their own Internet portals for their members. Like the U.S. societies and other BJD participating organizations, SICOT will build, manage, control and own separately the services it provides.
To learn more, visit the SICOT website.