The evolution in undergraduate medical school curricula has significantly impacted anatomy education. This study investigated the perceived role of clinical anatomy and evaluated perceptions of medical students' ability to apply anatomical knowledge in the clinic. The aim of this study was to develop a framework to enhance anatomical educational initiatives. Unlike previous work, multiple stakeholders (clinicians, medical students, and academic anatomists) in anatomy education were evaluated. Participants completed an eleven-point Likert scale survey written by the investigators. Responses from both clinical educators and medical students at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and College of Medicine suggest that medical students are perceived as ill-prepared to transfer anatomy to the clinic. Although some areas of patient management differ in relevancy to anatomical education, there are areas of clinical care which were uniformly ranked as relying heavily on anatomical knowledge (imaging and diagnostic studies, physical examination, and arrival at correct diagnosis) by a variety of clinical specialists. Our results suggest a need for advanced anatomy courses to be taught coincidental with medical students' clinical education. Development of these courses would optimally rely on input from both clinicians and academic anatomists, as both cohorts rated clinical anatomy similarly (P ≥ 0.05). Additionally, we hypothesize that preclinical students' application of anatomy would be enhanced if clinical context was derived from areas of clinical care which rely heavily on anatomy, whereas courses designed for advanced medical students will benefit from anatomical context focused on specialty specific aspects of clinical care identified in this study.
Background:The doctor-patient relationship has been eroded by many factors. Would e-mail enhance communication and address some of the barriers inherent to our medical practices?Methods: Of our study population, 4 physicians offered e-mail communication to participating patients and 4 did not. Both patients and physicians completed questionnaires regarding satisfaction, perceived quality, convenience, and promptness of the communication.Results: Patient satisfaction significantly increased in the e-mail group compared with the control group in the areas of convenience (P < .0001) and the amount of time spent contacting their physician (P < .0001). Physician satisfaction in the e-mail group increased regarding convenience, amount of time spent on messages, and volume of messages. The response time was longer with e-mail. When asked if patients should be able to e-mail their physicians, most patients in the e-mail group and all but 2 of the physicians in the non-e-mail group responded "yes."Conclusion: E-mail communication was found to be a more convenient form of communication. Satisfaction by both patients and physicians improved in the e-mail group. The volume of messages and the time spent answering messages for the e-mail group physicians was not increased. E-mail has the potential to improve the doctor-patient relationship as a result of better communication.
Mistreatment based on specialty choice is a distinct and common phenomenon perpetuated by faculty, residents, and peers. More research is needed to explore the potential hidden curriculum drivers of these findings and to develop interventions specifically targeting this type of mistreatment.
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