My fellowship at International Musculoskeletal Research Institute, Adelaide, Australia.

I was selected for the ISKSAA-Ganga 2015 IMRI fellowship by Prof. Jegan Krishnan and Dr. Pushpinder Bajaj. Myself along with Dr. Neelan Patil and Dr. Santosh Kumar underwent the fellowship training in the month of April 2016 between 04-04-2016 and 29-04-2016.

The fellowship was well co-ordinated and organized by Mr. Daniel Cullen and Mr. Nicholas Kerrison. A fully furnished accommodation was provided at Belair, located in the beautiful foothills of Adelaide along with partial financial funding for expenses during the stay. The fellowship was well planned and organized so as to have adequate exposure within the limited time. We visited four hospitals – Repatriation General Hospital, Flinder’s Private Hospital, Flinder’s Memorial Hospital and Ashford Hospital in rotation as per the schedule where we observed and assisted in selected interesting surgeries. At these hospitals we had good exposure to their patient care protocols and also their theatre set up. During the fellowship period, I was exposed to 22 cases of knee arthroscopy, 10 cases of shoulder arthroscopy, 3 cases of ankle arthroscopy, 16 primary TKR, 9 primary THR, 4 reverse shoulder arthroplasty, 4 revision TKR, 3 revision THR and 14 other miscellaneous cases. We had detailed discussion about each case on their management, planning, rehabilitation, surgical technique and tips with the operating surgeon who were kind and patient enough to explain us. The surgeons who guided us included – Prof. Jegan Krishnan, Dr. Mario Penta, Dr. Liptak, Dr. Chiris Wilson, Dr. Mark Inglis, Dr. Luke Johnson, Dr. Jason Ward, Dr. Shannon Sim, Dr. Meng Ling, Dr. Christopher Brown, Dr. Rudie Jaarsma and Prof. Baine.

Research was an integral part of our fellowship where we spent considerable time in designing our Systematic reviews at Blackwood Hospital along with our research co-ordinator Miss. Annika and Prof. Jegan Krishnan. We also attended the Academic meeting and pre-post operative case discussion at Flinders Medical Centre. We had also attended a cadaveric workshop on upperlimb arthroscopy at the Flinders Research Centre where we had also hands on training in usage of suture anchors.

We also enjoyed the weekends during the course. We got to see a football tournament at Adelaide Oval, planned a trip to Kangaroo island and visit many places in and around Adelaide in our free time. The fellowship ended with a grand farewell dinner along with distribution of fellowship completion certificates.

Overall the fellowship was very valuable which not only exposed me to the less known areas of Arthroplasty and Arthroscopy, it also refined my knowledge and skill in these areas for the betterment of patient care. I personally thank Prof. Jegan Krishnan who is a great teacher for his kind interest in guiding and taking care of us throughout our stay in Adelaide. I am indebted to ISKSAA, IMRI and Ganga for providing me this wonderful oppurtunity. I promise to follow the teachings and pass it on to my fellow colleagues in future.

Dr. Srikanth Kanchana Pala
Consultant in Limb Reconstruction & Sports Medicine
People Tree Hospitals, Bangalore, India.

Some pictures taken: