Foundation for Gastrointestinal Surgery

 

 

1. The Foundation for Gastroenterological Surgery is a not-for-profit organization(1) that aims to provide practical education to young surgeons in training. Each year, the foundation organizes an internationally renowned course where abdominal surgical techniques are taught with lectures and skills workshops.

 

2. Since its inauguration in 1989, the Foundation for Gastroenterological Surgery has been seated at the Research Institute of the AO-Foundation in Davos, Switzerland, which is an institution accredited and controlled by the Swiss government.

 

3. In June 2009, the Foundation for Gastroenterological Surgery has become affiliated to the Academia Raetica(2). This academy acts as an umbrella organisation for several highly qualified research institutes and public hospitals within the Canton of Grisons, Switzerland. The academy supports and coaches postgraduate education and fosters interdisciplinary research and networking within the associated institutions. The academy may promote doctorates.

 

4. Members of the Board of Directors, the Course Faculty, and the Instructors group respectively, are independent and active surgeons who have leadership functions in different European hospitals(3). These surgeons contribute to the annual course with their presence and experience and do not receive any honorarium for their work.

 

5. The annual practical course is held in the Davos Convention Centre. Davos is known to be the highest located congress town in Europe and repeatedly hosts famous international congresses. The population of the Davos community is the owner of the Convention Centre. Therefore, the Convention Centre business is run in a not-for-profit manner and is able to offer a very low rental fee to the Foundation for Gastroentero- logical Surgery. Hotels and other housing facilities in Davos are offering quite low rates compared with other congress cities in Switzerland.

 

6. The committee organizing the course (e.g. the Faculty and Board of Directors) has freedom in designing the scientific program and the practical exercises. The committee does not have any commitments to the industry partners(4) at the course.

 

7. The course faculty is promoting surgical skills training, surgical research and academic development. In this respect, several peer-reviewed manuscripts, written by members of the faculty have been published in the medical literature so far(5).

 

8. The annual course provides a fully scheduled and structured education throughout the whole seven days. Besides practical exercises(6), theoretical lectures and interactive case- based discussions are provided.

 

9. All finances of the course are freely available to the sponsoring companies. Accounts, balances and projected budgets are transparently discussed with the industry partners. Financial statements are reviewed and approved by a trust company and all records of the course organization are freely available on request.

 

 

 

(1)Registered under the name: "Stiftung für Gastroenterologische Chirurgie, Davos, GR 1198" at the Commercial Registry of the Canton Grison in Chur, Switzerland
(2)For more details see: www.academiaraetica.ch
(3)These leading surgeons, actually participating in the course, come from Austria, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
(4)These partners may act themselves as competing companies.
(5)See for example: Rosenthal R. et al. J Laparoendosc Adv Surg 2007; 17: p407; Rosenthal R. et al. Patient Safety Surg 2008; 2:16
(6)The instruction during the surgical skills workshops is held either in groups or individually

 

 

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