Summary
Introduction
Two systems exist for describing fingers and phalanges: Naming and Numbering. This
can cause confusion for clinicians. We compared the two systems to see if one was
better understood.
Methods
Thirty-eight clinicians were asked a questionnaire to identify 11 terms on hand outline
drawings.
Results
Naming was better understood than Numbering both overall (McNemar's test, p=0.000026) and with just abbreviations (p=0.0017) or full terms (p=0.000074). Radial/ulnar was superior to medial/lateral for laterality (p=0.046). Within the Naming system, the full terms were less ambiguous than abbreviations
(p=0.000012).
Our study suggests that Naming is better understood than Numbering and that full terms
are preferable to abbreviations. To describe laterality, radial and ulnar are less
ambiguous that medial and lateral.
Keywords
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References
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International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand. Terminology for hand surgery, 1st ed. London, 1970. p. 2, 6 and 31–33.
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- Nomenclature in the journal of hand surgery.J Hand Surg (British and European Volume). 2004; 29B: 85-86
Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 15, 2006
Accepted:
January 29,
2006
Received:
January 5,
2006
Footnotes
☆Competing interests: All authors declare that there are no competing interests.
☆Ethical approval: Ethical approval was not required for this study as no patients were involved.
☆Presentation: This work was presented as a poster at the Winter Meeting of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, London, 30 November to 2 December 2005.
☆Funding: There was no funding for this study.
Identification
Copyright
© 2006 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
