An evaluation of medical school education in musculoskeletal medicine at the University of the West Indies, Barbados

At the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill campus, the Freedman and Be rnstein musculoskeletal competency examination was administered to 22 medic al students during the last month of their final year. Eighty-two percent ( 82%) of the students failed to score above the passing score of 73.1 %. Nin eteen of the twenty-two students had taken an orthopaedic elective or rotat ion during their final two years. The questions were also categorized as An atomy,, Trauma and General Orthopaedics. All students failed to score above the passing score in Anatomy Sixty-four per cent (64%) failed in Trauma an d 45% failed in General Orthopaedics. This study, suggests that inadequacie s in medical school preparation do exist at this campus of the University, of the West Indies and the findings mirror those at medical schools in the United States of America.