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This Policy is designed to provide participants at neurosurgical meetings, educational courses, or conferences with a safe, collegial experience devoid of incidents of harassment or insensitivity.
The neurosurgical community is composed of persons from all parts of the world, with varied cultures and belief systems. To accommodate all members of this community, the American Academy of Neurological Surgery, American Association of Neurological Surgeons, American Board of Neurological Surgery, Congress of Neurological Surgeons, and Society of Neurological Surgeons joined together to create a code of ethical behavior that promotes professional growth and the free exchange of ideas in an environment free from harassment. Representatives of these neurosurgical organizations formed the One Neurosurgery Summit Taskforce on Professionalism and Harassment. Their task was to develop “unified standards for professional behavior that should apply at all events sanctioned by one of the organizations.” The Policy is the Taskforce’s response.
The Professionalism and Harassment Model is accompanied by an article, “Developing a professionalism and harassment policy for organized neurosurgery” (https://thejns.org/doi/abs/10.3171/2021.1.JNS218000), by Ellen L. Air, MD, PhD, and colleagues, which provides background for the creation of the One Neurosurgery Summit and the development of the Professionalism and Harassment Model Policy. The article offers a gateway to the Policy, which can freely be accessed online via the article or directly at https://thejns.org/doi/suppl/10.3171/2021.1.JNS218000.
The Professionalism and Harassment Model Policy clearly defines prohibitive behavior as including, but not limited to, insensitive or offensive language or behavior; denigrating comments based on age, gender, sexual orientation, color of skin, ethnic origin, or religion; and harassment, threatening behavior, or assault.
The Policy sets forth expectations of host organizations to ensure the code of ethical behavior is followed and to provide a procedure for investigating and dealing with complaints. It also requires the participating organizations to adopt their own codes of ethics that will be consistent with the Professionalism and Harassment Model Policy.
When asked about the Policy, Dr. Ellen Air stated, “Under the leadership of the Taskforce on Professionalism and Harassment, organized neurosurgery has established that the expectations for professional behavior do not end at the door of one’s home institution. We hope this will serve as a model for other medical and surgical specialties.”
Background Article: Air EL, Orrico KO, Benzil DL, Scarrow AM, Bean JR, Mazzola CA, Liau LM, Rutka JT, Muraszko KM. Developing a professionalism and harassment policy for organized neurosurgery. Journal of Neurosurgery, published ahead of print March 23, 2021. DOI: 10.3171/2021.1.JNS218000. Available from https://thejns.org/doi/abs/10.3171/2021.1.JNS218000.
Disclosures: none.
Policy Statement: One Neurosurgery Summit1 Professionalism and Harassment Model Policy. https://thejns.org/doi/suppl/10.3171/2021.1.JNS218000.
By agreement between the editors-in-chief, the background article and policy statement are being published today by Neurosurgery (https://academic.oup.com/neurosurgery/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/neuros/nyab051) as well as by the Journal of Neurosurgery.
The policy statement has also been published at aans.org, americanacademyns.org, abns.org, sns.org, and cns.org.
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1 Members of the One Neurosurgery Summit group include the American Academy of Neurological Surgery, American Association of Neurological Surgeons, American Board of Neurological Surgery, Congress of Neurological Surgeons, and Society of Neurological Surgeons.
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For additional information, please contact Ms. Jo Ann M. Eliason, Communications Manager, Journal of Neurosurgery Publishing Group, One Morton Drive, Suite 200, Charlottesville, VA 22903. Email: [email protected]; Phone: 434-982-1209.
For 77 years, the Journal of Neurosurgery has been recognized by neurosurgeons and other medical specialists the world over for its authoritative clinical articles, cutting-edge laboratory research papers, renowned case reports, expert technical notes, and more. Each article is rigorously peer reviewed. The Journal of Neurosurgery is one of six journals published by the JNS Publishing Group, the scholarly journal division of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. Other peer-reviewed journals published by the JNS Publishing Group include Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics, Journal of Neurosurgery: Case Lessons, Neurosurgical Focus, and Neurosurgical Focus: Video. All six journals can be accessed at www.thejns.org.
Founded in 1931 as the Harvey Cushing Society, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) is a scientific and educational association with more than 10,000 members worldwide. The AANS is dedicated to advancing the specialty of neurological surgery in order to provide the highest quality of neurosurgical care to the public. All active members of the AANS are certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (Neurosurgery) of Canada, or the Mexican Council of Neurological Surgery, AC. Neurological surgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of disorders that affect the entire nervous system including the brain, spinal column, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. For more information, visit www.AANS.org.
