Current Issues

The COA tries to keep our finger on the pulse and brief members regularly on issues impacting the field, advocacy initiatives and collaborations with other organizations.

Wait Times on Access to Orthopaedic Care

Many Canadians wait too long for access to musculoskeletal care. The COA strives to promote access to timely, appropriate orthopaedic care, and therefore continues to meet with government representatives to advocate for the adoption of innovative models of care.

Position Statement on Access to Orthopaedic Care

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) & EDUCATE Training programs for fracture clinics

The COA, the Centre for Evidence-Based Orthopaedics at McMaster University, and a team of clinician-researchers from across Canada and the United States have partnered to raise awareness about IPV victimization and provide health care professionals who see patients in the fracture clinic with education on how to identify and respond to IPV.

  • 1 in 3 women presenting to fracture clinics have experienced Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) at some point in their lives.
  • 45% of women who are killed by their intimate partner have attended a hospital for treatment of injuries related to IPV within the past 2 years
  • Every 6 days, a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate partner.
Information Sheet

Unemployed & Underemployed Orthopaedic Surgeons

Despite long wait times for patients to receive musculoskeletal care, and an aging population which will further strain the health care system, there is an unacceptably high rate of unemployment among orthopaedic graduates.

This poses a serious threat to the quality of patient care and to surgeons’ personal and professional wellbeing. The ever-increasing number of graduates unable to find employment in Canada are faced with chronic locum experiences and serial fellowships, and many are turning to job opportunities abroad.

COA Employment Data

We’ve taken actions to address the unemployment crisis.

Review the June 2018 COA Bulletin article for a summary of actions the COA has taken to address the unemployment crisis.

View Bulletin

Your feedback is important

If you have a concern that you think the COA should be
following or reporting on, please feel free to contact us.