POSNA-POGO Scholars Research Initiative: Capacity and Needs

Background: The POSNA Pediatric Orthopaedic Global Outreach (POGO) Committee was established with its core mission of advancing children’s musculoskeletal care around the world, with recent expansion of its scope toward furthering scientific research. POSNA sponsors international surgeons (POGO Scholars) to visit North America as part of the mutual outreach effort. Research results from North America may not be generalizable to other regions, where surgeons may see pathologies that are unique to the area. The purpose of the study was to identify the challenges and needs of the POGO Scholars when pursuing scientific research. Methods: An online survey composed of nine questions was disseminated via email to all POGO Scholars from the years 2007-2020. The survey was anonymous, but the Scholars could voluntarily disclose their names and countries of practice. Descriptive statistics were performed. Results: Thirty-four out of 76 identified Scholars responded to the survey (44.7% response rate), encompassing five continents and at least 15 countries worldwide. The major barriers to performing research were lack