title: Use of structured musculoskeletal examination routines in undergraduate medical education and postgraduate clinical practice - a UK survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Structured examination routines have been developed as educational resources for musculoskeletal clinical skills teaching, including Gait-Arms-Legs-Spine (GALS), Regional Examination of the Musculoskeletal System (REMS) and paediatric GALS (pGALS). In this study, we aimed to assess the awareness and use of these examination routines in undergraduate medical teaching in UK medical schools and UK postgraduate clinical practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  Electronic questionnaires were distributed to adult and paediatric musculoskeletal teaching leads at UK medical schools and current UK doctors in training.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Responses were received from 67 tutors representing teaching at 22/33 [67 %] of all UK medical schools, and 70 trainee doctors across a range of postgraduate training specialities. There was widespread adoption, at responding medical schools, of the adult examination routines within musculoskeletal teaching (GALS: 14/16 [88 %]; REMS: 12/16 [75 %]) and assessment (GALS: 13/16 [81 %]; REMS: 12/16 [75 %]). More trainees were aware of GALS (64/70 [91 %]) than REMS (14/67 [21 %]). Of the 39 trainees who used GALS in their clinical practice, 35/39 [90 %] reported that it had improved their confidence in musculoskeletal examination. Of the 17/22 responding medical schools that included paediatric musculoskeletal examination within their curricula, 15/17 [88 %] used the pGALS approach and this was included within student assessment at 4 medical schools.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We demonstrate the widespread adoption of these examination routines in undergraduate education and significant uptake in postgraduate clinical practice. Further study is required to understand their impact upon clinical performance.
authors.affiliation: Musculoskeletal Research Group, NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre, Newcastle University and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, NE2 4HH, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. k.f.baker@ncl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Kenneth F
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6735-2911
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.affiliation: Musculoskeletal Research Group, NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre, Newcastle University and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, NE2 4HH, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.|Great North Children's Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: Sharmila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jandial
authors.affiliation: Musculoskeletal Research Group, NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre, Newcastle University and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, NE2 4HH, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Musculoskeletal Research Group, NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre, Newcastle University and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, NE2 4HH, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.affiliation: Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: Musculoskeletal Research Group, NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre, Newcastle University and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, NE2 4HH, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.|Great North Children's Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: Helen E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Foster
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010808:Physical Examination; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: Clinical practice; Examination; GALS; Medical education; Musculoskeletal; Postgraduate; Questionnaire; REMS; Undergraduate; pGALS