Student opinions on orthopedic residency selection, education, and work hours

Other articles have been written about resident selection, musculoskeletal education, work hours, and call coverage, but none has described orthopedic applicants' opinions on these issues. We conducted a study to gain insight into applicants' attitudes about issues relevant to the specialty. We distributed a survey to 53 applicants interviewing for an orthopedic residency. The survey used both a multiple-choice format and a Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree or least important) to 5 (strongly agree or most important). Respondents rated the adequacy of musculoskeletal education in medical school a mean standard deviation (SD) of 2.00 (0.8) on the Likert scale. Ranking the factors most valuable to an orthopedic surgery application, they rated United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 board examination scores a mean (SD) of 4.26 (0.9). In addition, of the 53 respondents, 46 (87%) anticipated working as a resident more than 80 hours per week, and 36 (68%) anticipated working as an attending 60 to 70 hours per week or less. Respondents also agreed that they should receive compensation for call coverage. Therefore, students agreed that medical school education is insufficient, rated USMLE scores the most important application factor, anticipated working more than 80 hours per week, and agreed that call coverage should be compensated.