What exactly does ARCOS stand for?
ARCOS is the acronym for “Association of Residency Coordinators in Orthopaedic Surgery”. It is a nationally recognized membership organization for residency and fellowship coordinators and is endorsed by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
Could you give some background about how ARCOS got started?
The idea of forming a specialty group for orthopaedic surgery residency coordinators was discussed for a number of years before it was actually attempted and developed into ARCOS. It was officially established in New Orleans, Louisiana in February 2002 by a gathering of volunteer residency coordinators representing a variety of orthopaedic surgery programs. The initiative for ARCOS was encouraged and supported by Frederick N. Meyer, MD, Professor and Chairman of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama.
How do you determine the city in which ARCOS meetings are held each year?
ARCOS meets in conjunction with the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and will always meet during the week of the AAOS meeting in the same city.
Why can’t ARCOS give us earlier notification of the meeting hotel?
As you probably know, there are a tremendous number of groups who hold meetings in conjunction with the AAOS. Groups who are endorsed by the AAOS (such as ARCOS) are required to make a formal request to the AAOS for meeting space. Once the request is reviewed, the AAOS assigns the hotel deemed most suitable to meet each groups’ needs. Each year, the meeting hotel information is posted on the ARCOS website (www.arcosonline.org) as soon as it becomes available.
Why can’t ARCOS reserve a block of rooms at the meeting hotel just for ARCOS meeting attendees?
ARCOS approached the AAOS meeting planners with this request. Because there are so many groups who make this same appeal for reserved accommodations, it is not feasible for dedicated blocks of rooms to be set aside for any group: in other words, the AAOS basically supports room reservations on a first-come, first-served basis.