Orthopaedic teaching: the practicing family doctor's perspective.

Two hundred and two family doctors in practice responded to a survey that identified orthopaedics as a surgical specialty in which they would have benefited from more training. Forty percent felt unprepared to apply casts or manage fractures. Learning objectives were either not used or used ineffectively, according to the majority of respondents. Fifty percent reported that indicating a career interest in family medicine resulted in a negative bias toward them during surgery clerkship. The results indicate the need for an increased allocation of curricular time to orthopaedics and an augmented emphasis on outpatient experiences.