Liana Tedesco, MD | Amiethab Aiyer, MD, FAAOS, FAOA
May 6, 2024
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How to study during residency seems a little redundant since we’re all studying all the time. Whether you’re reading up on consults, doing practice questions for the OITE, or prepping for a case, there are opportunities to study at every return. Here are some quick tips on how to maximize your studying during residency.
Know the basics.
The most important thing to understand as an orthopedic surgeon is anatomy. Before you can understand any pathology, it is critical to understand the anatomy. Utilize every opportunity to study anatomy, especially early. This is the fundamental knowledge you need to grow during residency.
How do you study anatomy? If your program has cadaver labs, take every opportunity to review at this time. Bring your favorite anatomy, textbook or app to the lab with you, and find all the important structures you would need to know. Many companies will put on labs for residents to understand their implants or products. Once that portion of the lab is complete, take this opportunity to review approaches to hip, knee, wrist, elbow, or whatever this may be designed to explore.
Read read read
Who hasn’t gotten this evaluation after a rotation, “keep reading!”? I’m sure no one is raising their hand. Reading is the best way to build your fund of knowledge in orthopedics. Whether you are the consult resident or the chief on service should always be doing something to learn more about a fracture, a pathology, a surgical technique. When you pre-op cases for the week, do your best to read one primary article: the pathology or treatment.
Once you get the basics down, now it’s time to read some reviews. JAAOS has an amazing collection of review articles which review everything from basic anatomy, not operative management, operative management, and postoperative rehab protocol. You will need to read these articles more than once to fully absorb the information, but the earlier you start reading them, the more you can build overtime. I do get more senior and residency, and use these articles to guide higher learning. See which primary literature is Cited and read those articles as well.
It should be noted, however, that When we say read, we don’t just mean reading textbooks or articles, though these are important and excellent resources. We also recommend watching videos or lectures on whatever topic you might need to study that day. There are so many different formats to learn orthopedics, it’s up to you to figure out what medium is best for your learning style.
Questions
We have all heard senior residents say that questions are the best way to study and there is good reason for that. The more you do during residency, the more frequently you study, the better you will understand concepts and the better prepared you will be for the exams. Doing questions in between cases or on your commute in the morning is a great way to stay on top of it. Set a non-negotiable 30 minutes to do questions every day and you will be thankful you did when it comes time to take the OITE and Part 1. It doesn’t have to be 100 questions a day, it can just be 10 on the topic of the rotation. The earlier you get used to the questions, the earlier you can learn how to prepare for the boards. The OITE is a test meant to gauge where your fund of knowledge is. It’s also important to remember there are many experimental questions on. That being said, the OITE is a good way to prepare for part one of the boards.
A little bit every day goes a long way during training. You don’t have the time to sit down for hours and study like you had in medical school. No matter what your medical school study habits were, they will have to change during residency. Mostly, it’s important to find time in between cases and administrative work to study.
DISCLOSURES: Dr. Tedesco This individual reported nothing to disclose. Dr. Aiyer American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society: Board or committee member, Delee & Drez Orthopaedic Sports Medicine (Elsevier): Publishing royalties, financial or material support, Medline: Paid consultant, Medshape: Paid consultant, Miller’s Review of Orthopaedics (Elsevier): Publishing royalties, financial or material support.
Read the AAOS Code of Conduct for Discussion Group Terms, Conditions and Disclaimers HERE.
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