BACKGROUND: Clinical research has been part of the orthopedic residents' training program over the past 27 years of the Department of Orthopedics, Philippine General Hospital. The purpose of the present study was to determine the levels of evidence in the researches done by orthopedic residents in training from January 1983 to December 2010.

METHODS: The authors reviewed all completed research performed by the department's orthopedic residents in training from January 1983 to December 31, 2010. The exclusion criteria for the study were as follows: review articles, research articles whose full texts were not available and those research articles in which consultants were primary authors. The research articles were scored according to the level of evidence proposed by the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (American Volume), and were categorized according to decade: 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. 

RESULTS: A total of 24 research articles were retrieved and reviewed. There were no Level I studies performed in the department by the residents since 1983. There was a significant increase in the number of Level II and Level III studies from the 1980s to the 2000s (p=0.0001). The Hand Section had the highest number of Level II studies 8.6% (3 out of 35) while the Adult Section had the highest number of Level III studies at 21% (11 out of 53). The Pediatric Section had the highest number of Level IV studies at 91% (30 out of 33).

CONCLUSION: The level of evidence in research conducted by the orthopedic residents in training of the Department of Orthopedics, Philippine General Hospital has improved significantly in the past 27 years.