National Needs Assessment of Emergency Medicine Residencies for Musculoskeletal Knowledge

Introduction Musculoskeletal (MSK) complaints and injuries account for a large percentage of presenting chief complaints to the emergency department in the United States (US). Despite the prevalence and economic impact on the US healthcare system, there is a documented deficiency in MSK education at all training and practicing levels in the US medical system. The purpose of this needs assessment is to better determine the state of MSK education in Emergency Medicine residency programs. Methods An online needs assessment form was sent to Emergency Medicine program directors in the US. Summary statistics were performed followed by an exploratory analysis. Results Data from 43 of 272 Emergency Medicine program directors that responded to this needs assessment were analyzed. Respondents ranked the importance of MSK education in Emergency Medicine on a Likert scale of 1-5 (very unimportant to very important) at a mean of 4.2. Additionally, 97.6% of respondents believe that their MSK curriculum could be improved. Seventy-nine percent of respondents were somewhat likely or highly likely to use a standardized method or tool to assess MSK knowledge. Of the top three barriers to MSK education implementation, 94.9% cited time, 56.4% cited interdepartmental relations, and 46.2% cited funding. Conclusion MSK knowledge is taught and assessed in highly variable methods across Emergency Medicine residency programs. Although efforts are being made to address the known deficiency in MSK knowledge, further research is needed to perform a larger needs assessment, study innovative MSK education modalities, and develop a standardized MSK assessment for Emergency Medicine residency training.