A three‐year prospective longitudinal cohort study of medical students' attitudes toward anatomy teaching and their career aspirations

Abstract

Today's medical students are faced with numerous learning needs. Continuously developing curricula have reduced time for basic science subjects such as anatomy. This study aimed to determine the students' views on the relevance of anatomy teaching, anatomical knowledge, and the effect these have on their career choices. A Likert scale questionnaire was distributed to second year medical students [response rate 91% (n = 292/320)]. The same questionnaire was subsequently distributed to the cohort three years later when they were final year students [response rate 37% (n = 146/392)]. Students in both the cohorts of study agreed strongly that clinically correlated anatomical teaching was relevant to clinical practice (92% and 86% of second and final year respondents, respectively) and helped them during their clinical placements (73% and 92%, respectively). Only 28% of the second year and 31% of the final year students agreed that their anatomy teaching prepared them to interpret clinical images (P = 0.269). Only 14% of the final year students felt confident in their knowledge of anatomy. Of the final year students, 30% felt that they had enough opportunity to scrub in the operating room. Nearly half of those students who would consider surgery as a career (19%) think that they will eventually become surgeons (11%). This data suggests that modern anatomy curriculum should focus on clinical correlations and clinical image interpretation. Students would value more opportunities to participate in surgeries. Vertical integration of anatomy teaching throughout the full medical course may be useful.

Introduction of vertical integration and case‐based learning in anatomy for undergraduate physical therapy and occupational therapy students

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Anatomy as the backbone of an integrated first year medical curriculum: Design and implementation

“…Anatomy education has long been recognized to be important for all areas of medicine (Sugand et al, 2010) and can influence a student's career choice (Bhangu et al, 2010). However, the amount of anatomy teaching included in medical curriculums has declined over the years (Drake et al, 2009), and there is disagreement about how much anatomy is sufficient in a curriculum (Bergman et al, 2008).…”

Undergraduate Anatomy Teaching: Are we Failing a Generation of Future Surgeons?

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