title: Musculoskeletal system assessment in an emergency room.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Musculoskeletal conditions have an enormous and growing impact worldwide. In spite of that, some clinicians are not confident in their own musculoskeletal examination skills. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in an emergency room, and the frequency of musculoskeletal physical examination description on those cases.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross-sectional study. We performed a systematic analysis of medical files at the emergency room of the University Hospital of the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil, from April 24th to 30th, 2009.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We analyzed 392 files, where 41.5% of patients were male and mean age was 38.7 ± 17.2 years-old. Sixty nine out of 392 patients (17.6%) presented with a musculoskeletal complaint. The most common musculoskeletal complaint was low back pain (33/69). Only 49.2% of patients with a musculoskeletal chief complaint had a specific physical examination registered on the files. Patients with musculoskeletal complaints had lower registrations of abdominal examination (46% versus 62%, P = 0.01) and vital signs (46% versus 66%, P = 0.002), but a higher frequency of musculoskeletal examination registration (49% versus 0.6%, P = 0.00).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study confirms other observations worldwide. Musculoskeletal complaints are frequent in a emergency room setting and in spite of that it is suggested that musculoskeletal symptoms are poorly evaluated, which is probably related to an insufficient musculoskeletal education. It is essential that medical schools place more emphasis on these conditions so that young physicians will be more prepared to deal with these common diseases.
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Department, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil. fi alhoson@gmail.com
authors.forename: Sonia Cristina de Magalhães Souza
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Fialho
authors.forename: Gláucio Ricardo Werner
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: de Castro
authors.forename: Adriana Fontes
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Zimmermann
authors.forename: Giovana Gomes
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.forename: Fabrício Souza
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Neves
authors.forename: Ivânio Alves
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: Guilherme Loureiro
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Fialho
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence