Introduction: Art has played a pivotal role in the understanding and teaching of human anatomy for centuries, and the use of drawing as a teaching tool had been well documented. With the global modernization of medical education, the teaching of anatomy has diminished. We present a model of teaching anatomy through drawing, and assess its efficacy in improving students' retention of anatomical knowledge. Methods: We designed a series of four anatomy drawing workshops (upper limb, lower limb, thorax, and head & neck) for students studying medicine, dentistry, and allied science degrees. Students were only allowed to attend one of the four workshops. Workshops were delivered by medically-qualified anatomy demonstrators using a combination of "whiteboard drawing demonstrations" and "cadaveric demonstrations and drawings." A pre-and post-anatomy test consisting of 12 multiple choice questions (MCQs) and quantitative self-score questionnaires on "confidence in drawing anatomy" and "anatomical knowledge" were completed. Qualitative questionnaires on "reasons for attendance," "skills learnt," and "what improvements could be made" were also completed. Results: A total of 49 students attended the drawing workshops, the majority studied medicine (58.3%). Twenty-seven pre-and post-anatomy MCQ tests were completed, and demonstrated a significant mean improvement of 1.11 points (p = 0.001). "Confidence in drawing anatomy" and "Knowledge of anatomy" significantly improved by 43.2% and 41.4% (p = 0.001), respectively. Only 13% of students used drawing as their "main learning tool." The most commonly reported barrier in using drawing as a revision tool was "time constraints." Qualitative feedback was excellent. Students suggested that these workshops should be integrated into the core anatomy curriculum. Conclusion: Learning anatomy through drawing, is not only more engaging and fun, encourages students to visualize and better understand anatomical planes, thus, allowing them to retain anatomical knowledge easier. The two-part nature of our sessions enabled students to apply and translate the more conceptual knowledge from the "whiteboard drawing demonstration" onto the more "real-life" structures in the "prosection and cadaveric demonstration." With the decline in anatomy teaching throughout universities, most prominently dissection, drawing may offer an alternative and economical way of training students to learn anatomy.
Mesenteric cysts are rare, benign gastrointestinal cystic lesions, which are often non-troublesome and present as an incidental radiological finding. However, surgery is often performed in the acute setting to remove lesions that are symptomatic. This report highlights the case of a large, symptomatic mesenteric cyst managed successfully with initial conservative measures followed by planned elective surgery. A 44-year-old female presented with a four-day history of generalised abdominal pain associated with distension, fever, diarrhoea and vomiting. Computer tomography revealed a large (21.7 cm × 11.8 cm × 14 cm) mesenteric cyst within the left abdomen cavity. She was admitted and treated conservatively with intravenous fluids and antibiotics for four days, which lead to complete symptom resolution. Follow-up at intervals of one and three months revealed no return of symptoms. An elective laparotomy and excision of the mesenteric cyst was then scheduled and performed safely at nine months after the initial presentation. Compared to acute surgery, acute conservative management followed by planned elective resection of a symptomatic mesenteric cyst may prove safer. The withholding of an immediate operation may potentially avoid unnecessary operative risk and should be considered in patients without obstructive and peritonitic symptoms. Our case demonstrated the safe use of initial conservative management followed by planned elective surgery of a mesenteric cyst found in the acute setting, which was symptomatic but was not obstructive or causing peritonitic symptoms.
The way in which we learn anatomy has changed exponentially over the decades and students now have access to lecture notes, textbooks, computer-assisted programmes, and a wide variety of internet based information. This study explored which resources were the most (and least) useful for a group of first year, undergraduate, medical students, with minimal prior content exposure (aged 18 and 19 years old, n = 76), over an 18 month period. Anatomy websites were found to be the most useful (30%), followed by tutorials (20%) and lectures (19%). A total of 13% found the university computer-assisted learning (CAL) platform least useful. We subsequently enhanced our ‘urogenital’ CAL anatomy module, with inclusion of new and updated images, videos and tutorials, as well as, digital and printed 3D-models. A post-intervention survey (n = 81) showed an increase from 12% to 27% for CAL as being most useful, and a decrease from 13% to 3% as being least useful. Our results provided a snapshot of students’ preferences in studying anatomy, and highlighted the importance of digital platforms and the need for evaluating our own learning resources. We must be mindful that there is an increasing tendency for students to rely on the Internet for information, which may expose them to unfiltered and unreliable content. We conclude that educators must be aware of the spectrum of learning resources used by students, to ensure that our own Institutional eLearning platforms are optimised to meet the diverse needs of learners.
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