Musculoskeletal Medicine Education and Training

Musculoskeletal medicine education and training encompasses the structured delivery of foundational science, clinical skills and diagnostic reasoning required to assess and manage conditions affecting bones, joints and soft tissues. Traditional programmes have relied on didactic lectures, cadaveric anatomy sessions and clerkship rotations under specialist supervision. In response to documented gaps in graduate competence, curricula increasingly adopt competency-based frameworks that integrate early patient contact, interprofessional learning and standardised screening tools. Innovative pedagogies span small‐group tutorials, peer-led workshops, simulation-based training and digital platforms to enhance the acquisition of examination manoeuvres, clinical reasoning and management planning. Assessment strategies have evolved from solely knowledge-based tests to performance-oriented evaluations such as Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) and workplace-based assessments, supplemented by structured feedback to support reflective learning and long-term retention. Mobile applications and virtual simulations now offer flexible, student-centred resources that ensure consistency across varied clinical environments. Collaborative teaching involving rheumatologists, orthopaedic surgeons, physiotherapists and primary care physicians fosters an interprofessional approach reflective of multidisciplinary care models. Ongoing efforts focus on optimising curriculum design, leveraging technology to bridge gaps in hands-on experience and establishing robust metrics to measure competency outcomes, with the ultimate aim of preparing healthcare professionals to address the global burden of musculoskeletal disorders effectively.

Research from Nature Portfolio

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Musculoskeletal Medicine Education and Training publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in musculoskeletal medicine education and training across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE): A performance-based assessment in which learners rotate through stations to demonstrate clinical skills on simulated or real patients under standardised conditions.

Hypothesis-Driven Physical Examination (HDPE): An approach in which clinicians anticipate specific examination findings based on a working diagnosis and select targeted manoeuvres to confirm or refute hypotheses.

Mini Clinical Evaluation Exercise (mini-CEX): A workplace-based assessment tool involving direct observation of a learner’s clinical encounter, followed by structured feedback on skills such as history taking, examination and clinical reasoning.

References

1. Addressing musculoskeletal curricular inadequacies within undergraduate medical education. BMC Medical Education (2024).
2. Rapid Design of a Student-Centred App for Musculoskeletal Clinical Skills: An Example of a Theoretically Informed Approach to Developing Apps for Learning. Perspectives on Medical Education (2024).
3. Using peer role-playing to improve students’ clinical skills for musculoskeletal physical examinations. BMC Medical Education (2021).