Oma muljeid EFORTi sügisesest reisistipendiumist Türgis jagab ortopeedia eriala resident dr Rostislav Zjablov.
Submitted to: Estonian Association of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgeons
Reported by: Rostislav Zjablov
Introduction: During 1-7 october 2017 I was able to participate at an EFORT Traveling Fellowship event in Turkey.
Detailed description of the fellowship: I’ve left Tallinn Airport on 1st of October at 18:30. It was my first time to fly with Turkish Airlines and I must admit that the flight was just perfect, just as the fellowship that followed it. I arrived in Istanbul just in time, took metro and tram as in the description we got from organizer of our fellowship and I was at the Eresin Topkapi Hotel by 23:45. Next morning I met some people from our educational program and our main organizer, Emre Aktuna at the breakfast. I met the rest of the participants of our fellowship while waiting the shuttle bus. I was pleased to meet colleagues from: Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Italy, Germany, France, Kosovo and Greece.
We started our educational programme at the Bezmialem University. Some introductional speeches by TOTBID President, Prof. Halit Pinar; Prof. Cengiz Sen and Prof. Ibrahim Tuncay and we were ready to start our first day live-surgery section. I went to see HTO by prof. Nurzat Elmali with couple of my new fellows. I have to admit, that surgery went perfectly and the wound was closed in about 40-45 minutes. I have to say special thanks to associative professor Kerem Bilsel, who showed us maximum hospitality by showing Bezmialem University camp, having long friendly conversation about our countries medical systems and introducing turkish medical system. His shoulder arthroscopy was also done in 40 minutes. Afterwards we had great open-air lunch at hospital cafe and good lecture/discussion session afterwards.
In the evening we went to explore the spectacular city of Istanbul by ourselves. It was just unforgettable to see Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and other sights in the colors of sunset. It was the first day evening, but we surely became friends with all residents of our fellowship.
Second day educational programme started in Istanbul University. We had to choose between 5 live surgeries in the morning session. I participated in Charcot foot surgery (ankle fusion) by prof. Onder I. Cilicoglu. Communication in the operating theatre was really good and I’ve learned a couple of „tips and tricks“ in this kind of surgery. After lunch we had lecture and discussion session. The most fascinating part of it was about distraction osteogenesis and congenital deformities correction with Ilizarov technique – very impressive results. We also had an honor to meet a president of EFORT, Prof.Onder Aydingoz. We finished our long day at the Feriye Restaurant. Seafood restaurant, sea view with all faculty and fellowship friends – just a perfect extension of our education in Istanbul.
Third day of our educational programme took place at Acibadem University. And for sure the most interesting part of the day was cadaveric course at CASE (Cenre of Advanced Simulation and Education). Same day evening we moved to Ankara by plane. We continued our educational course at Hacettepe University, where we had a really good live surgery sessions (Pelvic osteotomy in DDH and THA in DDH). After lunch we had lectures and discussion about sport injuries. We spent the evening at the downtown cafe with all fellowship friends.
The 6th of October was our last educational day in Turkey. We visited Gulhane Medical School of Saglik Bilimeri University. We visited METUM (Medical Desing and Manufacturing Centre), had an opportunity to discover the possibilities of custom-made implants. Prof. Cemil Yildiz kindly organised our visit to Ataturk Mausoleum and we all enjoyed our trip to turkish history. We spent long night out with my new friends from 8 different european countries. Some of us had
departure already in the early morning of 7th of October. Our farewell was really emotional.
Conclusion:
Looking back to the days I spent in Turkey I have only good memories. The Fellowship was well organized in terms of an interesting scientific program, opportunity to observe live surgery and obtain practical advice, as well as a pleasant social program. I had a real pleasure to take part in this kind of fellowship. I would like to thank EFORT, TOTBID and ETOS for such opportunity. My special thanks to Emre Aktuna from TOTBID, who was our guide and the best friend for all these days.