National Trends in Orthopaedic Surgery Resident Adult Case Logs

Our purpose was to assess United States data to determine if there were changes in the number of adult cases that graduating orthopaedic surgery resident logged.

We assessed the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education data from 2010 to 2016 to identify the number of cases that were reported by graduating orthopaedic surgery residents through the United States. Specifically, we analyzed the mean total number of adult cases per graduating resident. We substratified the data based on the subspecialty to include total number of cases performed in: (1) upper extremity; (2) lower extremity; (3) spine; (4) oncology; and (5) trauma.

All data collection was performed at the Seton Hall School of Health and Medical Sciences.

All United States orthopaedic surgery residents were considered participants RESULTS: During the study period, the total number of cases performed by each resident had decreased from 1791 to 1311 (p = 0.0001). There was only an increase in the number of pelvis/hip cases (p = 0.0001). Among upper extremity cases, there was a decrease in each subtype of cases (p = 0.0001). There was a decrease in the number of femur/knee, leg/ankle, and foot/toes cases per resident (p = 0.0001). Furthermore, there was a decrease in the number of spine and trauma cases performed (p = 0.0001). There was no difference in the number of oncology cases performed (p = 0.47).

We noted a decrease in the number of cases logged by graduating residents over the past 6 academic years. This provides a great deal of insight into the need for residencies to ensure that the appropriate Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education bench marks are met. Future studies should analyze how cases may be increased.