The first SPINE20 Summit was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2020. Drs Paulo Pereira and Ralf Kothe Co-Chaired an education symposium that aimed to provide a platform for discussion on the importance of continuing education for health professionals in an interdisciplinary context globally and about its impact on spine-related health of populations.
Five eminent faculty were invited to present their thoughts on a diverse range of topics related to the need for education of healthcare care professionals.
An education recommendation were created as part of the 12 SPINE20 Recommendations published from the SPINE20 Riyadh Summit.
During 2021, Michael Piccirillo successfully lobbied the SPINE20 Steering and Executive Committees to consider the value and need to form an SPINE20 Education Committee. The Executive Committee approved the idea and nominated Dr Jörg Franke and Michael Piccirillo to be Co-Chairpersons of the first SPINE20 Education Committee.
Jörg and Michael presented a preliminary outline of the SPINE20 Education Committee (EdCom) the challenges and possible future activities at the SPINE20 Rome Summit.
Following the Rome Summit 2020 –
Dr Margareta Nordin was invited to became the first official member of the new EdCom
And armed with words of two great pioneers…
Jörg, Michael, and Margareta started the process to invite a diverse team of talented experts to join the SPINE20 EdCom with the aim to prove that standardized, quality controlled , and universally accessible spine education will be the critical driver to changing behaviors, mobilizing resources and improving outcomes for patients suffering with spinal disorders.
There are obviously enormous challenges to attaining such an “education” utopia – the ability to change the minds and attitudes of diverse array of stakeholders each with their own beliefs, agendas and priorities.
The way to reduce this resistance and persuade different stakeholders to take notice and invest into spine care education is to present relevant data that proves that universal access to “best-in-class” educational practices makes common-sense and is most economical solution to better manage spinal disorders and lower the spine burden on societies.