Presidential address 1998. In search of daylight

Practising medicine in Canada has become increasingly bureaucratic, confrontational and stressful. The Canadian Orthopaedic Association must take a far more proactive role in the development of orthopedic surgeons as professionals and in the political environment in which they practise. Living in a "knowledge-rich workplace" orthopedic surgeons must support continuous professional development and provide leadership and incentive to maintain competence in their profession. The "baby boomers" are coming. Their numbers will have a profound effect on the practice of orthopedic surgery, not 20 or 30 years from now but within the next 10 years. Therefore it is imperative that orthopedic surgeons assess and accept the impact that the "boomers" will have on surgeons, hospital beds and operating-room time. Orthopedic surgeons and the Canadian Orthopaedic Association are challenged by a new role as vendors of information in a new "information age" economy, whose fundamental sources of wealth are knowledge and communication.