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Assessing the Comfort of General Surgery Residents With Various Extremity Splints at Multiple Time Points Before and
Jeffrey Doelling1, John T Schwartz1, Matthew Hatter1
1Orthopedic Surgery, Valley Consortium for Medical Education, Modesto, USA.
Cureus
|July 6, 2026
Summary
A brief splinting curriculum enhanced general surgery residents' comfort in identifying and applying extremity splints. This improvement was significant and sustained six weeks post-training.
Area of Science:
- Orthopedic Surgery
- Medical Education
Background:
- Non-orthopedic trainees, including general surgery residents, are involved in early trauma care.
- These trainees may perform initial fracture stabilization, highlighting a need for splinting proficiency.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate if a structured splinting curriculum improves general surgery residents' confidence.
- To assess comfort levels in identifying and applying common extremity splints.
Main Methods:
- Seventeen general surgery residents participated in a structured educational session.
- Comfort levels were measured using a five-point Likert scale pre-course, immediately post-course, and six weeks post-course.
- Data were analyzed using the Friedman test with Wilcoxon signed-rank post-hoc comparisons.
Main Results:
- Median comfort scores significantly increased from pre-course (2) to post-course (4) and were sustained at six weeks (4).
- All splinting comfort scores showed significant improvement across time points (p < 0.001).
- Improvements were significant from pre-course to both immediate post-course and six weeks (p ≤ 0.016).
Conclusions:
- A brief splinting curriculum effectively enhances general surgery residents' comfort with splint identification and application.
- The observed improvements in comfort were sustained six weeks after the educational intervention.
