Biennium report 2023

INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR PROSTHETICS AND ORTHOTICS 15 Nepal Stroke Course This course was conducted on May 19 & 20, 2022. Its target audience was Nepal nationals interested in the orthotic management of stroke patients. The course was originally planned to be a combination of theory and practical, but due to some extraneous circumstances, only the theory part was covered. However, it was still a great success, exceeding all expectations. Here’s some statistics about the course: • There were 20 lectures averaging 45 minutes each, some were presented live, some recorded. • There were 15 international speakers from nine countries and five continents. Two of the speakers were Nepalese nationals. We had a good variety of speakers, ranging from P&O professionals, and medical doctors to physiotherapists, and occupational therapists. Four moderators moderated the four sessions. • 96 professionals signed in for the course, with the actual attendance figures averaging at around 60. There were medical doctors, P&O’s, physiotherapists, and a few general audience members. The course was open for Nepal nationals only. Hence, the announcement for the course was done locally by POS Nepal. • We offered a 15-question exam at the end of the course. 69 participants took the exam, with an 84% passing ratio. Certificates of completion were sent to those who passed. A second attempt is allowed for those who did not pass, to be taken within two weeks from the closure of the course. • The Course was recorded and is available on ISPOLearn. • There are continuing efforts for conducting the practical part of this course. We are hoping that the funding issues which hindered this will soon be solved. The CPD committee also held online webinars: These are highly specialised and concise webinars focusing on specific subjects. They are conducted over a few hours to facilitate the attendance of as many professionals as possible. In November 2022, a webinar was conducted on orthotic treatment for early rehabilitation of stroke patients, which was attended by over 500 participants. In March 2023 we introduced a unique webinar conducted in a non-traditional interactive manner in which the lecturers answered specific pre-defined questions on the physical assessment of children with Cerebral Palsy. Stroke Webinar The three-hour webinar “Why Orthotic treatment should be a first line approach for early gait rehabilitation following stroke” was held on Saturday November 19th, 2022. This webinar was a pre-requisite for a hands-on course to be held at ISPO World Congress in Mexico, April 2023. The learning objectives of the webinar were: • Perform a hypothesis driven exam in an individual post stroke and apply current evidence for use of an AFO into the shared clinical decision making. • Discuss the evidence for the use of AFO to improve function following an acute stroke. • Orthotic management and biomechanics of orthoses in acute stroke management The programme can be found here.