Third Year
Introduction
In this section we discuss performing well on your clerkships as it relates to pursuing orthopedics, as well as resources to supplement your clerkship material with orthopedic study. What about the discussion on preparing for ortho rotations and Step 2? All of these activities are best understood by looking at the second half of third year continuing right through fourth year, so we cover those topics in our fourth year section.
Clerkships
Orthopedic surgery program directors look at the body of your third-year rotations in two primary ways: number of honors and evaluation comments. Honoring multiple clerkships helps you stand out from other applicants. It shows that you are a hard worker outside of just the best specialty. Programs directors like to read the comments on your third-year evaluations. How did you interact with the team when no one was watching? Can you perform tasks well on your medicine rotation even if you want to go into surgery? How did you interact with residents and other students? Program directors use these comments to gain insight into what kind of student you are outside of your CV. Although you can’t directly control how your evaluator provides commentary, it is in your best interest to present your best self on every clerkship. Special emphasis is placed on your surgery and medicine clerkships.
It is important to become an empathetic, efficient, anticipatory medical student that can effectively build rapport with patients, physicians, and staff alike. Work on your skills collecting a patient history and physical exam. Equally valuable is ironing out your study plan for each clerkship, ensuring that you are scoring well on your shelf exams and retaining information to allow for long-term success in board exams.
OrthoAccess
OrthoAccess is a wonderful comprehensive resource that is great for 3rd and 4th-year medical students. This site offers lecture series on ortho bread and butter pathologies, providing a note-taking Powerpoint, lectures, Anki decks, case series, as well as ancillary physical exam resources. A great starting point to build your ortho knowledge base.
Preparation for 3rd year Ortho Clerkship (if you’re able to do one)
Suturing and tying
Short videos on suturing and tying techniques
Intro to the OR
10 Surgical Instruments to Know for your Ortho Rotation - Nailed It Ortho Article
A basic list of 10 instruments you’re likely to encounter on your orthopedics rotation. It’s not exhaustive, but hopefully it will make the learning process a bit less overwhelming.
Exam techniques
Hoppenfeld’s Physical Examination of the Spine and Extremities
This is also one of the few priced resources we recommend. Connects anatomy to physical examination, but does not cover advanced maneuvers and no information on management
Series of online videos created by sports medicine physicians who reviews MSK physical examination maneuvers for the medical student or primary care provider
High-yield physical exam skills and maneuvers by MSK system
Radiology
Labeled MRI images for all joints
Self-guided tutorial of orthopaedic trauma radiograph assessment developed for medical students
Landmark Papers
We curated a list of 27 landmark papers, the results of which changed how orthopedics is practiced. When should you use these? If you will be starting on a particular service, say trauma or joints, read the relevant papers. If an attending is asking you to read up on a topic, check here first for a pertinent paper. If you are taking call and will be rounding with the team later, read a paper that helps in the treatment of that case.
How should you use these? Familiarize yourself with the papers and understand what makes them "landmark”: How have they changed orthopaedic practice? For example, read TLICS study and take from that study how to calculate a TLICS score to understand the operative indications of thoracolumbar burst fractures.