• Kanatheepan Shanmuganathan, Kaifeng Liang, Vikramman Vignaraja, Richard Galloway, and Charmilie Chandrakumar.
• Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Broomfield Hospital, Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
• Brit J Hosp Med. 2023 Feb 2; 84 (2): 1121-12.

Background/AimsThe workload of orthopaedic trainees is rapidly increasing at the expense of training. Trainees are expected to assimilate large quantities of information efficiently. This prospective cohort study explores the learning styles, resource preferences and educational needs of aspiring orthopaedic trainees.MethodA 21-item questionnaire was distributed to delegates of an orthopaedic teaching series. Data were obtained pertaining to demographics, visual, aural, read/write and kinaesthetic learning styles, study materials used and teaching exposure.ResultsParticipants had a strong preference for visual (48.0%) and kinaesthetic (43.0%) learning modalities. Most participants prepared for written exams using online question banks (85.9%), clinical exams using question banks (37.5%) and discussion with colleagues (27.3%), and surgical procedures intraoperatively (43.8%). Only 12.4% of participants felt the teaching they received was consistently adapted to their visual, aural, read/write or kinaesthetic learning preference.ConclusionsThe surgical landscape is rapidly changing. It is vital that trainers take into consideration how budding orthopaedic surgeons learn and make the relevant accommodations, to ensure optimal learning.

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