BOFAS Principles Courses:

These courses are aimed at Higher Surgical Trainees in Trauma and Orthopaedics / ST3 onwards and are designed to teach the core of Foot and Ankle surgery in an informal and interactive environment. 

The emphasis is on clinical examination cases, discussion groups and typical day-to-day clinic scenarios. Although not an exam preparation course, content is taught to the standard expected in the FRCS(Tr & Orth) exam; that of a day-one non-specialist orthopaedic consultant. 

Typically the courses cover topics including:

• Clinical examination of the foot and ankle
• Forefoot disorders including rheumatoid arthrits
• Acquired flatfoot
• Hindfoot and ankle osteoarthritis
• Neuromuscular disorders
• Ankle arthroscopy & instability
• Heel pain and tendoachilles disorders
• Diabetic foot and Charcot arthropathy
• Orthotics
• Lisfranc fractures
• Ankle fractures
• Pilon and hindfoot injuries

Prior to the course, delegates will be asked to book a day of private study leave and to view 8 hours of on-line lectures and complete a Principles 21 Learning Log.  On the course, there will be a series of short lectures to consolidate knowledge as well as patient clinical examination sessions, case-based discussions and group vivas. Delegates are broken up into groups depending on training year so that sessions can be tailored to stage. 

Dates:

The BOFAS principles course usually runs 3 times per year and have restarted as of July 2021.

If possible, volunteer patients will be invited to the course for clinical examination practice and/or there will be simulated cases on a variety of pathologies covering the syllabus. 

Costs:

2 day course costs £300
3 day course, includes cadaveric lab, costs £500

Cancellation

Cancellation up to 8 weeks before the first day of the course forfeits 10% of course fee paid.  

Cancellation 8 weeks or less pior to the first day of the course 100% of course fee. (subject to discretion by BOFAS council)

Failure to attend the course forfeits 100% of course fee.

Upcoming courses:

Details of upcoming courses can be found below. All courses will be advertised on BOFAS Twitter account.

Course registration will open a few months before the course date - please watch the latest news and events for details. 

Go to the Education tab and then choose Course-registration.

Please email enquiries to: events@bofas.org.uk

Feedback:

At BOFAS we take delegate feedback very seriously and use it to constantly refine and improve the course.

Examples of feedback from recent courses:

• I just wanted to write to say a big thank you to you, Mr Kakwani and the rest of the faculty for running such a a brilliant course. I had been on it as an ST3 and it was so good that I decided to go on it again this year in preparation for my Part 2 exams (even if it’s not officially advertised as an exam course), and indeed it did not disappoint.The faculty was brilliant, all very good teachers and were very patient. The range of patients and clinical cases seen were excellent. I think the structure and timings of the course were spot on - it was good to have lectures AM and practical sessions PM - I wouldn’t change a thing about the course structure! The faculty to candidate ratio was also perfect, especially with the cadaveric session.
• I would still say it’s one of the best courses I’ve been on - I’ve told a lot of my colleagues about it in the past, and will continue to do so! Big thanks to all of you again. I’m sure I’ll see you at more BOFAS events in the future. (2019)
• Great course, thank you, will be recommending to colleagues. (Newcastle, 2016)
• A chance to learn from many experts (consultants). Learning on real patients with a real problems. Course content and great organisation. (Newcastle 2016)
• I am an ST5 trainee, I have been on many many courses and this is by some margin the best course I have ever been on, partly because I find Foot and Ankle complicated and difficult to grasp and this has been an intensive opportunity to work hard on my understanding. The opportunity to do so many supervised examinations of patients and have to convincingly demonstrate their pathology is invaluable to me. I particularly enjoyed the way that the patients were grouped together into disease types so that you had the chance to see the way a disease can present in subtly different ways e.g. hallux valgus. I had a number of epiphany moments were I suddenly understood things that had eluded me for some time. I also feel my examination skills got quite a bit better, although still room for improvement. I commend you to encourage you colleagues in other speciality societies to think if there would be an appetite to develop a similar course for their own specialities, particularly the more complex ones such as paeds, hands or spines. (Newcastle, 2016)

• Best orthopaedic course I’ve been on - essential for anyone on or about to start F&A rotation in my opinion
• Really well organised course. Splitting delegates up into their training grades was really helpful. 
• Excellent course. I would recommend to all junior registrars. I felt really helpful and confident in dealing with foot and ankle cases.  Well organised and structured with great faculty and good patient selection as well.  Words are not enough. Keep the good work guys
• Wonderful course - engaging and compelling faculty. Very well organised 
• Superb course, perfectly pitched for FRCS Thank you 

Principles Course, Bromley, 2023