National survey on anatomical sciences in medical education

Abstract

The drivers for curricular change in medical education such as the addition of innovative approaches to teaching, inclusion of technology and adoption of different assessment methods are gaining momentum. In an effort to understand how these changes are impacting and being implemented in gross anatomy, microscopic anatomy, neuroanatomy/neuroscience, and embryology courses, surveys were sent out to course directors/discipline leaders at allopathic Medical Schools in the United States during the 2016-2017 academic year. Participants in the study were asked to comment on course hours, student experiences in the classroom and laboratory, amount of faculty participation, the use of peers as teachers in both the classroom and laboratory, methods used for student assessment and identification of best practices. Compared to data published from a similar survey in 2014, a number of changes were identified: (1) classroom hours in gross anatomy increased by 24% and by 29% in neuroanatomy/neuroscience; (2) laboratory hours in gross anatomy decreased by 16%, by 33% in microscopic anatomy, and by 38% in neuroanatomy/neuroscience; (3) use of virtual microscopy in microscopic anatomy teaching increased by 129%; and (4) the number of respondents reporting their discipline as part of a partially or fully integrated curriculum increased by greater than 100% for all four disciplines. Anat Sci Educ 11: 7-14. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.

Active Learning of the Floor of Mouth Anatomy with Ultrasound

“…By engaging the students and making them responsible for their own learning, similar activities would fulfill key elements of active learning described by Miller and Metz (). Though anatomy courses are in a unique position to provide active learning experiences through dissection, the number of laboratory hours in medical school gross anatomy courses has decreased significantly since 2014 (McBride and Drake, ). Thus, course directors seeking ways to increase active learning opportunities could consider introducing similar ultrasound based activities.…”

Musculoskeletal Anatomy Knowledge Retention in the Macquarie University Chiropractic Program: A Cross‐Sectional Study

“…In most programs, the overall number of hours dedicated to formal anatomy education has decreased gradually with a shift toward modernizing its delivery by increasing active and self‐directed learning (McKeown et al, ; Turney, ; Sugand et al, ; Drake, ; Drake et al, ). Many programs have shifted from didactic, rote learning, and memorization approaches (Louw et al, ) to now integrated clinical application in anatomy learning and increased revision of anatomy in clinical subjects (Drake, ; Parmar and Rathinam, ; Malau‐Aduli et al, ; McBride and Drake, , ). Vertical or spiral integration is aimed at increasing the students’ depth of knowledge and understanding of anatomy.…”

“…This is leading many educators to review their anatomy teaching methodologies, and the level to which it is integrated with clinical subjects within their program (Drake, ; Parmar and Rathinam, ; Malau‐Aduli et al, ; McBride and Drake, ; Doomernik et al, ; Losco et al, ). However, the introduction of teaching innovations and integration of anatomy within medical curricula has not been uniform or simultaneous across different institutions (McBride and Drake, ).…”

“…This is leading many educators to review their anatomy teaching methodologies, and the level to which it is integrated with clinical subjects within their program (Drake, 2007;Parmar and Rathinam, 2011;Malau-Aduli et al, 2013;McBride and Drake, 2016;Doomernik et al, 2017;Losco et al, 2017). However, the introduction of teaching innovations and integration of anatomy within medical curricula has not been uniform or simultaneous across different institutions (McBride and Drake, 2018). Initial exposure to material followed by repetition, reinforcement, and retrieval of knowledge as it becomes clinically relevant throughout the educational program has been shown to lead to better retention in follow-up postlearning examinations (Feigin et al, 2002;Feigin et al, 2007;Parmar and Rathinam, 2011;Jurjus et al, 2016).…”

An evidence‐based approach to learning clinical anatomy: A guide for medical students, educators, and administrators

“…Thus, in the constructive alignment approach, the action taken by the student, not their ability to restate information, implies learning (Newton and Martin, ). The traditional learning activity of dissecting a human body that is still used in many medical schools today (McBride and Drake, ) is an example of a constructive alignment approach because in the anatomy laboratory, students dissect structures and then demonstrate them to faculty and their classmates.…”