The orthopaedic angle on angles: the accuracy of health care professionals in assessing angular displacement

摘要

Assessment of the orthopaedic patient from both a clinical and radiological perspective frequently requires estimation of angular displacements. Accurate angle assessment is also required in the management of patients in terms of planning procedures. In our two-stage study, we found the ability of 28 orthopaedic surgeons to identify angles correctly to be significantly better than the general public and comparable to that of other health care professionals. The absolute accuracy, however, was poor with an average accuracy of only 45.5% in correctly identifying eight angles commonly used in orthopaedic practice. The ability of health care professionals in plotting the same eight angles was also determined and was again significantly better than the general public. Non-surgical health care professionals were accurate to 5?and surgeons to 4?compared with 7?in the general public. Correlation of measurements between individuals was poor, being less than 57% in the orthopaedic group. We submit that while health care professionals are better able to determine angles than the general public, there is still an inaccuracy in this ability, and the relative inaccuracy is poorly reproduced. The use of instrumentation is to be recommended in clinical practice to accurately assess angular displacement.# 1