Model Orthopaedic Surgical Skills Curriculum for Fourth Year Medical Students

Musculoskeletal education in medical schools throughout the United States is inconsistent. Furthermore, formal surgical skill training in medical school is often lacking. Consequently, orthopaedic surgery residents in the United States are faced with a unique challenge as they transition from medical student to house officer in comparison to their peers pursuing more generalized specialties. In response, we designed and successfully implemented an innovative month long elective at Wake Forest University School of Medicine for fourth year medical students who were in the process of applying to ortho paedic surgery residency programs. This course provides medical students with an introduction to the basic skills and common surgical approaches that are commonly utilized early in orthopaedic surgery residency and beyond. While longi tudinal data are needed, we believe this novel month long elective will allow the transition from medical student to house officer to be a smoother and more seamless process. Wooster BM, Carstensen SE, Johnson JE, Stubbs AJ. Model Orthopaedic Surgical Skills Curriculum for Fourth Year Medical Students. The Duke Orthop J 2015;5(1):15. All other authors report no declarations of interest.