Editorial: Getting the Most from What You Read in Orthopaedic Journals.

M any orthopaedic surgeons tell me they are uneasy about reading scientific journals. This is perhaps not surprising; the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education requires that orthopaedic residents do research, but it has no specific requirements for journal clubs or critical-reading programs for trainees [1]. Training programs allocate resources accordingly, and the result is that some practitioners find reading scientific papers a real challenge. No one is born a good reader of science; this skill improves with practice, and it can be taught and learned. A few principles can help, including a screening approach to help busy clinicians decide which articles to read in depth, a few key questions one can ‘‘ask’’ of a study’s methods sections, and available critical-reading tools that can take an interested reader even further.