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Background: This study assesses the scope for using technology to supplement the undergraduate anatomy curriculum at medical school. Methods: A narrative literature review explored the current landscape of anatomy learning. Medical student usage and preferences of technological interventions for anatomy learning were then explored through a cross-sectional survey. Results: The literature review revealed the current teaching strategies for anatomy learning, exploring recent multimedia innovations. The survey demonstrated that technology usage was ubiquitous among medical students with 98% of medical students owning smartphones. Medical education apps were used by 64.3% of medical students, with 61.9% of these apps covering anatomy, and 60.4% of students preferring traditional cadaveric teaching to other technological interventions. Conclusion: Novel technological innovations present the opportunity to deliver accessible and standardised teaching of anatomy to medical students. Many students already use smartphone applications as part of their anatomy learning. Uptake of smartphones and other devices provides opportunities to reach larger target audiences. However, traditional cadaveric teaching remains the learning resource of choice for medical students, and technological interventions are best designed as adjuncts or supplements to cadaveric teaching.

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Background: Orthopaedic surgery is underrepresented in the United Kingdom medical school curriculum, with an average of less than 3 weeks of exposure over the five-year degree. This study evaluates the effectiveness of high-fidelity virtual reality (VR) and physical model simulation in teaching undergraduate orthopaedic concepts. Methods: A modified randomised crossover trial was used. Forty-nine students were randomly allocated to two groups, with thirty-three finishing the six-week follow-up assessment. All undergraduate medical students were eligible for inclusion. Both groups were given introductory lectures, before completing a pre-test with questions on the principles of fracture fixation and osteotomy. Each group then received a lecture on these topics with the same content, but one was delivered with VR and the other with physical models. Both groups completed the post-course assessments. Knowledge was assessed by way of questionnaire immediately before, immediately after, and six-weeks after. Results: In the VR group, participants improved their post-training score by 192.1% (U=32; p<0.00001). In the physical models group, participants improved their post-training scores by 163.1% (U=8.5; p<0.00001). Overall, there was no statistically significant difference in the total means of post-training test scores between the VR and the physical models study groups (U=260.5; p=0.4354). Conclusion: Both VR and physical models represent valuable educational adjuncts for the undergraduate medical curriculum. Both have demonstrated improvements in immediate and long-term knowledge retention of key orthopaedic concepts.

Objectives Vascular surgery is in increasing demand due to the higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease in the general population. Meanwhile, applications to join the speciality have been in decline in the last few years. St George’s Surgical Society held a one-day conference to expose undergraduates to the speciality in the hope that this will inspire more undergraduates to pursue it as a career. Methods The conference consisted of introductory lectures delivered by a consultant vascular surgeon, followed by practical skills workshops simulating aortic anastomosis on porcine aortas. Pre-course and post-course questionnaires assessed positive and negative perceptions of vascular surgery, knowledge of and self-reported confidence in practical surgical skills and utility of the course in their decision to potentially pursue a career in vascular surgery. Results There was a significant increase of 27% ( p = 0.03) in the positive perception that vascular surgery includes a diverse range of procedures and subspecialties. Attendees reported a 27% significant increase ( p = 0.02) in the perception that vascular surgery had a wide array of opportunity for academic/research work. Finally, there was an 18% decrease ( p = 0.03) in the negative perception that vascular surgery is somehow female-unfriendly or discriminatory against females. There was also a significant rise in both interest (33%) and understanding (73%) of vascular surgery. Conclusions A one-day conference can significantly impact students’ perception especially when there is a lack of exposure within the undergraduate curriculum. This course helped to increase positive perception and dispute negative misconceptions about the speciality. The simulation workshops held at this conference increased students’ confidence and awareness of relevant surgical skills. This conference provided a unique experience that positively impacted and inspired students and thus served as an important supplement to core medical curriculum.

Background Sphygmomanometers which are used to assess a patient’s haemodynamic status in the healthcare setting come into direct contact with patients’ skin. However, there has been no study conducted in the UK to establish if the blood pressure cuffs (BPCs) carry a risk of transmitting infection between subjects. Further, there is no standardised protocol advocating the importance of sterilisation of the surface of BPC which implies that BPCs are not considered to be a significant risk as fomites or that they pose no pathogenic risk for nosocomial infections. The current study was carried out to evaluate the potential pathogenic hazard of BPCs in a district general hospital setting. Methods Prospectively, the presence of bacterial organisms on all the 120 BPCs in 14 medical wards and outpatient clinics in a district general hospital in London in February 2013 were assessed.Swabs were taken from the inner aspect of the cuffs in order to evaluate the presence of bacterial species in direct contact with the patient’s skin. Samples were cultured using standard microbiological techniques in the Microbiology Department. Results Bacterial organisms were found in 85% (102) of the 120 BPCs assessed. The highest rates of contamination were found in the Outpatients department (90%), though post-hoc analyses of these differences in contamination rates were not statistically significant. There were differences in the most common bacterial species isolated between the samples obtained from the outpatient clinics and the wards with coagulase negative staphylococcus and diphtheroids being the most prevalent species in the wards and outpatient clinics respectively. All BPC samples showed 100% bacterial contamination in the Coronary Care unit (n = 9 BPCs) and 2 Outpatient Departments (7 BPCs). Further, we found that 5.8% of BPCs had 3 types of bacteria contaminating the BPC, 35% had 2 types and 44.2% only had a single type isolate. Conslusion There is a significant risk of infection every time a patient’s blood pressure measured, as the majority of BPCs serve as a reservoir for different bacterial organisms. These findings highlight the necessity for the implementation of new protocols to remove this risk.

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