Clinical embryology teaching: is it relevant anymore?

Abstract

Embryology teaching appears to be a valuable part of the medical curriculum. Embryology teaching was valued when taught in the clinical environment in later years of the medical programme. Students, clinicians and medical educators should be proactive in finding clinical learning opportunities for embryology teaching.

Clinically oriented system-based embryology; a significant course in clinical practice

“…Scott, et al . reported that embryology learning is of substantial importance in diagnosing and differentiating diseases according to the relative symptoms [4]. Our study demonstrates that embryology is most effective in finding a better approach to cure the disease and less effective on diagnosis from symptoms.…”

“…This fact brings up the challenge of how to present the course in medical schools [2]. To better correlate the basic sciences and clinical practice, studies suggest advance organizers, teaching through a clinical scenario, and students’ preparation before the theoretical course [3, 4]. In planning a medical curriculum, it is necessary to contain courses which are of value for training future physicians; embryology is one of those necessary courses assisting under-trained physicians to understand how our body becomes a human being, perceive birth defects and teratology as common topics which a physician encounters, and provide a logical basis for understanding the overall organization of the human body [5].…”

EMBRYOLOGY TEACHING: AN OFTEN-NEGLECTED PART OF THE MEDICAL CURRICULUM. Enseñanza de la Embriología: Una parte del Curriculum médico habitualmente relegada

“… the formation of somites reminds segmented body structure (segmentation) of some invertebrates and vertebrates  the hematopoietic function of the liver and spleen during the intrauterine development reminds the function of these organs in those animals (fish and amphibian larvae) that have no bone marrow yet At this point, I would like to remind the words of a giant of Czech embryology, Professor Jaroslav Slipka, MD, DSc. (1926-2013: "Every tissue or organ has their own history. History has two faces -ontogenesis and phylogenesis.…”

“…If embryology is taught only in the lower years of medical studies, students often poorly understand and underestimate the clinical importance of this scientific field. It is, therefore, desirable to add to the curriculum also lectures on "clinically oriented embryology" in later years of the medical program (Scott et al, 2013;Hamilton and Carachi, 2014). Based on my opinion, very useful and highquality recommendations for a core syllabus for the embryology teaching were published by Fakoya et al (2017).…”

Enseignement Magistral Interactif De L’embryologie: Apport Pedagogique De La Fœtopathologie.

“…C'était dans cette perspective que j'ai voulu instituer un enseignement magistral interactif de l'embryologie, étant impliquée dans l'enseignement de cette discipline fondamentale qui demeure incontournable pour comprendre les pathologies malformatives et qui se retrouve noyée dans un programme de médecine très dense 4 . Il a été démontré que l'utilisation d'iconographies foetopathologiques ou de scénarios cliniques dans l'enseignement de l'embryologie aide les étudiants à comprendre les nouveaux concepts fondamentaux en embryologie et les intégrer dans un processus de raisonnement clinique 5,6,7 . Par ailleurs, cette approche permet d'établir des interfaces entre cette discipline fondamentale et les disciplines cliniques, augmentant la pertinence et l'intérêt de l'enseignement, et par conséquent la motivation des étudiants.…”