History of teaching anatomy in India: From ancient to modern times

Jacob, Tony George

doi:10.1002/ase.1359

Cited by 16 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(74 reference statements)

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“…In India, the role of dissection in the anatomy course has remained indispensable and occupies a major portion of anatomy practical education despite the introduction of virtual anatomy learning methods (Rath and Garg, ; Rajkumari and Singh, ; Arora and Sharma, ; Jacob, ; Ghosh, ). However, the importance of anatomy dissection in promoting professionalism has been significantly overlooked.…”

Section: Discusssionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A preliminary survey of professionalism teaching practices in anatomy education among Indian Medical Colleges

Karunakaran

Thirumalaikolundusubramanian

Nalinakumari

2017

Anatomical Sciences Ed

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Professionalism and ethics have gained widespread recognition as competencies to be fulfilled, taught, and assessed within medical education. The role of the anatomy course in developed nations has evolved over time and now encompasses multiple domains, including knowledge, skills, and the inculcation of professionalism and ethics. The Medical Council of India recently recommended the integration of professionalism teaching in undergraduate medical curricula. The authors investigated whether the initial orientation lectures and instructions given by faculty at the outset of undergraduate medical anatomy courses throughout India served a "hidden curriculum" regarding professionalism practices, and whether these orientation messages could serve as an early exposure to medical professionalism and ethics for medical students. An online survey was carried out among 102 anatomy faculty members across India requesting details about specific professionalism protocols and instructions regarding behavior in the dissection hall that are routinely given to preclinical students, as well as the importance that they placed on professional behavior. It was found that most faculty members regularly instruct students regarding expected behavior during the anatomy course, including dissection practices. These instructions stress attributes of professionalism like humanism, accountability, and honesty. However, there needs to be a more concentrated effort by educators to prohibit such unprofessional practices like dissection hall photography, and better information is required regarding biomedical waste disposal. Despite the absence of clear guidelines for professionalism teaching in medical education in India, the existing framework of anatomy education provides an opportunity to introduce the concept of professionalism to the first-year medical student. This opportunity may provide an early foundation for designing a professionalism-integrated curriculum. Anat Sci Educ 10: 433-443. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.

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Section: Discusssionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A preliminary survey of professionalism teaching practices in anatomy education among Indian Medical Colleges

Karunakaran

Thirumalaikolundusubramanian

Nalinakumari

2017

Anatomical Sciences Ed

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“…Time allocated to anatomy education for medical students has suffered a steady decline around the world, including not only within the United States (Drake et al, ; Sugand et al, ) and Europe (Grković et al, ; Moxham et al, ; Nutt et al, ; Pais et al, 2013; Moxham et al, ), but also Africa (Boon et al, ; Kinfu, ), India (Holla et al, ; Jacob, ), and Australia (Craig et al, ; Herle and Saxena, ). This has also been observed in recent years at Nova Medical School in Lisbon (Portugal).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Outcomes and satisfaction of two optional cadaveric dissection courses: A 3‐year prospective study

Pais

Casal

Mascarenhas-Lemos

et al. 2016

Anatomical Sciences Ed

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Teaching time dedicated to anatomy education has been reduced at many medical schools around the world, including Nova Medical School in Lisbon, Portugal. In order to minimize the effects of this reduction, the authors introduced two optional, semester-long cadaveric dissection courses for the first two years of the medical school curriculum. These courses were named Regional Anatomy I (RAI) and Regional Anatomy II (RAII). In RAI, students focus on dissecting the thorax, abdomen, pelvis, and perineum. In RAII, the focus shifts to the head, neck, back, and upper and lower limbs. This study prospectively analyzes students' academic achievement and perceptions within the context of these two, newly-introduced, cadaveric dissection courses. Students' satisfaction was assessed anonymously through a questionnaire that included items regarding students' perception of the usefulness of the courses for undergraduate teaching, as well as with regards to future professional activity. For each of the three academic years studied, the final score (1 to 20) in General Anatomy (GA), RAI, and RAII was on average 14.26 ± 1.89; 16.94 ± 1.02; 17.49 ± 1.01, respectively. The mean results were lower in GA than RAI or RAII (P < 0.001). Furthermore, students who undertook these courses ranked them highly with regards to consolidating their knowledge of anatomy, preparing for other undergraduate courses, and training for future clinical practice. These survey data, combined with data on participating students' academic achievement, lend strong support to the adoption of similar courses as complementary and compulsory disciplines in a modern medical curriculum. Anat Sci Educ 10: 127-136. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.

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“…Whereas, the side against such a move cited the failure of such an attempt in the 1970s and how with expanding medical knowledge the physician, as the leader of the medical team, should be better equipped, not only with pre-clinical and clinical knowledge, but also with areas such as ethics, medical technology, and research methodologies (Goldfarb and Morrison, 2013). I feel that these trends would also affect the medical education system in India, where following the international trends the pre-clinical course, including anatomy, was drastically reduced from 18 months to 12 months (Jacob, 2013). The three-year medical curriculum in the United States, which would produce physicians on a fast-track mode, would be attractive to Indian policy makers due to the acute shortage of doctors in the public health system, in order to achieve Universal Health Coverage by 2022 (Singh, 2013).…”

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confidence: 95%