The purpose of this study was to follow up a cohort of South African doctors who had previously failed a validated musculoskeletal assessment tool, to examine the effect of a two-month Orthopaedic internship rotation on musculoskeletal competency. A validated competency examination in orthopaedic medicine was used as the assessment tool. Topics included fractures and dislocations, arthritis, basic anatomy and emergencies that require immediate referral to an orthopaedic surgeon. The questionnaire consists of twenty-five short-answer questions. A validated answer key and scoring system were used to mark the questionnaire. In a previous study, we found that 91 per cent of South African doctors in our study group, at the start of their internship, failed to demonstrate basic competency on the examination. We concluded that medical school preparation in orthopaedic medicine in South Africa is inadequate. We reapplied the examination at the end of 2011 to a study group of seventy-six first and second-year interns, to assess whether a two-month orthopaedic rotation during internship had a significant effect on musculoskeletal competency.Purpose
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