Abstract
Background: Musculoskeletal disorders are common medical problems encountered by physicians and affected 126.6 million Americans in 2012. Musculoskeletal education has inadequate in United States medical schools.
 Objective: To determine the musculoskeletal competency of third year medical students.
 Methods: A cross-sectional 25-question nationally validated musculoskeletal competency exam was given to the third year medical students. A survey was given to second and third year medical students to assess students’ level of interest in musculoskeletal medicine and their feedback regarding the curriculum.
 Results: The mean score of the competency exam was 69.0%. There was 48/107 (44.9%) students’ who reached the minimum passing score of 70%. Free-response feedback from both classes featured themes of more hands-on learning, a longer clinical block, and more small-group learning sessions.
 Conclusions: Third year medical students scored relatively well on the exam. Student feedback suggests the 2-week musculoskeletal block is useful and relevant to their future careers.
Highlights
In the last two decades, medical schools throughout the United States have repeatedly shown deficiencies in musculoskeletal education
The high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders underscores the need for adequate education in order to diagnose and treat patients in a timely manner
Exam Results Scores According to Perceived Importance of Musculoskeletal Medicine
Summary
In the last two decades, medical schools throughout the United States have repeatedly shown deficiencies in musculoskeletal education. In 1998, Friedman and Bernstein published a validated measure of clinical musculoskeletal knowledge in which 82% of first-year residents failed at their own institution (Freedman & Bernstein, 1998). Since 1998 several institutions have shown to be deficient according to this metric, both in the United States (Day, Yeh, Franko, Ramirez, & Krupat, 2007; Freedman & Bernstein, 1998; Freedman & Bernstein, 2002; Matzkin, Smith, Freccero, & Richardson, 2005) and internationally (Al-Nammari et al, 2015; Menon & Patro, 2009; Queally et al, 2008). Musculoskeletal education has been inadequate in United States medical schools
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