POSNA is the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America. It is a wonderful organization of orthopaedic surgeons who care for children with orthopaedic birth, acquired, and traumatic injuries. It was founded around 1970 and has grown over the last 40 years. I recently became a member of POSNA and attended my first meeting in Toronto this month- I thoroughly enjoyed it. Peters Waters of Boston- recent President of POSNA- has, among others I would think, tried to make POSNA the home of different super subspecialty groups like pediatric hand surgeons and scoliosis surgeons and pediatric foot surgeons.
It is an interesting idea as there are a small number of us across the country who make the pediatric upper extremity our area of specialty. While we have our own meetings (historically based on a group of Shriners Hospital surgeons but now a wider group), POSNA has emphasized the upper extremity and created a specialty day on upper extremity topics. This is a new concept especially for someone like me who has traditionally thought of myself as a hand and upper extremity surgeon first (who happens to take care of a lot of kids). I am a more active member of the ASSH (American Society for Surgery of the Hand); we certainly run courses and lecture on the pediatric upper extremity at ASSH meeting also.
Anyway, I enjoyed the meeting because of the opportunity to meet new people and experience a new format for a large meeting. I was able to moderate a general session with upper extremity scientific papers and also run a “specialty day” session with Don Bae (Peter Water’s partner in Boston at the Childrens’ Hospital). Good presentations on trauma and birth anomalies of the upper extremity.