Aebi, Max

Arlet, Vincent

Pfeiffer, Michael

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EDITORIAL2009: The year of innovations in the European Spine JournalMax Aebi Æ Vincent Arlet Æ Michael PfeifferPublished online: 26 February 2009 Springer-Verlag 20092009—The year of innovations in the European SpineJournal: we present in this Editorial the first of three majorinnovations, which will enrich the European Spine Journalin 2009.1. The European Spine Journal Grand Rounds, or theCase Method of Learning and Teaching.One of the missions of the European Spine Journal,besides publishing results of original research andadvancing the knowledge in spine sciences is teaching.As the official publication medium of EuroSpine—theSpine Society of Europe, we wish to have a fundamentalrole in the education of our spine community.Teaching in the form of print media distributedthroughout the medical community is classically done inthe form of book chapters, however, that is not suitable forour journal and also not in the current increasing ‘‘inter-active’’ medical environment.The teaching according to the ‘‘case method’’ wasintroduced a century ago in 1908 in the curriculum of theprestigious Harvard Business School by the School firstDean Edwin F. Gay. In 1921, the first case study ‘‘theGeneral Shoe Company’’ written by assistant Dean ClintonBiddie was published. This has been a success story and isone of the trademarks of this university that now publishesmore than 350 cases a year. This puts the student in a veryconcrete situation with a real life scenario where a complexsituation is analyzed, where different possible courses ofaction are analyzed and their consequences are anticipated.In the Academic and Medical environment around theworld, surgical Grand Rounds have been taken place overseveral centuries. They have long been one of the principaleducational activities of our surgical residents at teachinghospitals. Initially, such Grand Rounds were at the bedsidewith discussion of the case with the most eminent spe-cialist, and then they took place in the ‘‘hospitalamphitheaters’’ where a specific case or topic of discussionwas discussed. Usually a resident, a fellow or a youngattending will present a case that represented a diagnosticor treatment challenge. Following such presentation, asummary of the background data and evidence-basedliterature would ensue. Different scenarios of treatmentwould then be discussed. Then finally, the outcome oftreatment would be presented. Such Grand Rounds with‘‘live cases’’ have been proven to have a very positiveimpact on the education and on changing the practicepattern of the attending audience. However, in today’sworld where information cannot be restricted to one insti-tution, but must be spread worldwide with the click of themouse, the concept of Grand Rounds had to be shared withthe whole medical community.The European Spine Journal Editorial Board thereforedecided in their last meeting to implement this new conceptof ‘‘European Spine Journal Grand Rounds’’ that would bebased on two concepts: our hospital Grand Rounds tradi-tion and the case method of teaching and learning.M. Aebi (&)MEM Research Center for Orthopaedic Surgery,Institute for Evaluative Research in Orthopaedic Surgery,University of Berne, Stauffacherstrasse 78,3014 Bern, Switzerlande-mail: max.aebi@MEMcenter.unibe.chURL: http://www.MEMcenter.unibe.chV. ArletDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Virginia,Charlottesville, VA 22908-0159, USAM. PfeifferDepartment of Orthopaedics, HELIOS Rosmann Klinik,79206 Breisach, Germany123Eur Spine J (2009) 18:291–292DOI 10.1007/s00586-009-0920-1In this issue, we shall present our first ‘‘European SpineJournal Grand Rounds’’. This case written by our youngChinese colleague Dr Liang Jiang on a challenging uppercervical chordoma best illustrates our Grand Rounds con-cept. Throughout the case, we are faced with the challengesof a very difficult tumor to be treated, the different thera-peutic options and then we are shown the outcome ofsurgery. The discussion written by an expert in the field,Professor Stefano Boriani, sheds further insight to thechallenges of such tumors along with his extensiveexperience.The European Spine Journal Grand Rounds section isnow open to all the scientific medical community and wehave added a specific section called ‘‘Grand Rounds’’ inour online manuscript submission system. We hope thatwith such European Spine Journal Grand Rounds we shallincrease our readership interest and will fulfill our funda-mental mission that is Teaching our Spine Community.292 Eur Spine J (2009) 18:291–292123

2009: The year of innovations in the European Spine Journal

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2009: The year of innovations in the European Spine Journal

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