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INTRODUCTION There is a significant gap in the existing literature as to the long‐term retention or sufficiency of anatomical knowledge learned in physical therapy school. The purpose of this investigation is to explore the perceptions of the sufficiency and relevancy of the anatomy education received in physical therapy school, with a specific focus on its sufficiency and relevancy for clinical practice among early, mid, and late‐career physical therapists. Similar studies have been conducted among medical doctors and medical students (Ahmed et al., 2010; Rowland et al., 2011), but to our knowledge, there have been no studies surveying physical therapists in the United States focused on post‐graduate outcomes. METHODS This survey was approved by the Moravian University IRB, #20‐0061. The survey was distributed via email through multiple clinical networks in the greater Mid‐Atlantic region, through the American Physical Therapy Association Pennsylvania chapter (APTA‐PA) and through the American Council of Academic Physical Therapy (ACAPT) Educational Research division. The survey included demographic questions, questions regarding how the survey respondents learned anatomy in physical therapy school, and a series of Likert scale questions to investigate their opinions about the sufficiency and relevancy of their anatomy education. Participants who were teaching or previously taught anatomy were not asked to participate in the study. Descriptive statistics were performed on the demographic variables and frequencies were calculated to determine the methods of anatomy education and Likert scale responses. One‐way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was performed to compare the Likert scale responses from the groupings of survey participants. Participants were classified by their year of licensure: early‐career (2015‐2021), mid‐career (2005‐2014), and late‐career (2004 and earlier). RESULTS Eighty‐seven percent of respondents participated in dissection in their anatomy courses and 62.4% studied from prosected materials. Surface anatomy/palpation was included in 76.3% of anatomy courses. Less than 7% of respondents utilized newer methods such as a virtual cadaver table, augmented reality headsets, clay modeling, and body painting. There were no significant differences in Likert scale responses among early, mid and late‐career physical therapists. Respondents all agreed that dissection helps to develop practical clinical skills, is superior to prosection, and that the use of cadavers for anatomy education is essential (4.37, 4.13, and 4.32 on a 5‐point Likert scale, respectively). CONCLUSION Physical therapists’ perceptions should be a key component in the development of standard learning objectives for physical therapy (PT) anatomy education. In this investigation, length of time in practice did not influence the opinions on the sufficiency or relevancy of anatomy education. Dissection continues to be included in most physical therapy anatomy courses and perceived to be essential for learning. We intend to further this resea...

INTRODUC TI ON Lectures as a traditional form of academic instructionLectures are an old and very traditional form of imparting information to an audience. Originally derived from the Latin word lēctūra for reading, it was developed during the Middle Ages as the main form of teaching at early European universities. [1][2][3] The academic lecture is grounded in the ancient art of oratory, a skill that was highly prized in antiquity. As one of its main merits, the lecture format of teaching allows for the efficient transfer of information to a large audience without the use of advanced technology. From its beginnings as a modality of instruction, lectures have often been supplemented with demonstrations, and even today successful lecturers will often not rely on the spoken word alone, but also project images, as well as include props and animated demonstrations to make the educational content more engaging and memorable. [4][5][6][7] An early example for an enriched lecture modality is the anatomical theater which combined a lecture-style presentation with the dissection of cadavers for anatomical instruction. 8,9 Among other early lecture-supporting technologies was the use of chalk and blackboards adding a visual component to the verbal presentation, a technology that is still used today in some fields of education, for example, for mathematic instruction. 10 Starting around 1950, the use of projected 35 mm slides

In the field of anatomy education, the debate over the superiority of learning with or without human donors is decades long and ongoing. Arguments for or against the use of human donors in anatomy education varies for different healthcare disciplines. Anatomy education in physical therapy programs has been particularly resistant to the trend away from use of human donors. In this personal view, I present my history of anatomy education and how my perspectives on teaching and learning anatomy have changed dramatically throughout my teaching experiences. The purpose of this article is to support instructors who are creating anatomy courses without donors, inspire those teaching with donors to incorporate other methods of instruction and evaluation, to challenge educators to examine their own biases surrounding anatomy education and provide recommendations for developing an anatomy course without human donors. Included in this article is the perspective of a practicing physical therapist who learned through human dissection and has assisted me in the development and management of the human anatomy course in our physical therapy curriculum.

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