New focus on anatomy for surgical trainees

Abstract

The demise of anatomy teaching in the undergraduate medical curriculum has inevitably reduced the general level of applied anatomical knowledge displayed by junior doctors. Initiatives such as the European Working Time Directive have exacerbated the problem by reducing trainees' opportunities to acquire appropriate anatomical knowledge and clinical skills through workplace training. Medical Schools and postgraduate Colleges and Schools of Surgery must work together to design and deliver quality-assured courses in core and non-core anatomy, that cross the undergraduate/postgraduate interface. All medical students should learn a core syllabus of anatomy, agreed by a panel of clinicians and anatomists but delivered according to the pedagogic style favoured by individual Medical Schools. This core will define the anatomy, that all F1 doctors should know, particularly the anatomy associated with clinical procedures: it will be assessed across all years of the undergraduate medical programme. Medical Schools should also offer modules in non-core surgical and/or radiological anatomy, some of which may be designed and delivered in partnership with Colleges of Surgery and Radiology: these modules would be particularly attractive to students contemplating a career in surgery or interventional radiology, but would not be offered exclusively to this cohort. At present, the inadequate anatomical knowledge of Foundation doctors must be addressed by ensuring that early postgraduate training programmes include explicit, formal teaching in anatomy, for example, the Core Surgical Anatomy course currently being piloted at the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Cadaver Dissection Is Obsolete in Medical Training! A Misinterpreted Notion

“…Thus, the teaching of anatomy by unskilled teachers has created a vicious cycle of producing more anatomy teachers and clinicians who are, however, less equipped with dissection and procedural skills [8, 16, 42, 87, 89]. To compensate for these deficiencies, diploma, bachelors, and masters courses in anatomy and/or basic sciences with CD have been recommended and introduced [59, 90]. Such programs have certainly helped in producing better anatomy teachers who can train medical students to be competent enough to cope with the needs of general medical practice and surgery training [91, 92].…”

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

“…Today's medical student has many learning needs, with a wider and more varied curriculum than used to be the case. Anatomy teaching has often been considered to be a victim of these changes, due to perception of lack of relevance, with others including pathology and pharmacology (McKeown et al, 2003;Hin-duja et al, 2005;Azer and Eizenberg, 2007;Chambers and Emlyn-Jones, 2009;Drake et al, 2009;Memon, 2009;Standring, 2009).…”

A human dissection training program at Indiana University School of Medicine‐Northwest

“…Applicants and participants represent diverse ethnic, educational, and professional backgrounds. The IUSM-NW minicourse increases participants' anatomical knowledge and clinically related experience, a desire expressed by students, faculty, and clinicians (Cottam, 1999;Hinduja et al, 2005;Moxham and Plaisant, 2007;Standring, 2009). Program participants who themselves teach anatomy have commented that the course makes them more effective by introducing them to new dissection skills and radiographic, anatomic, and clinical knowledge.…”

“…One consequence of such changes is that, while the majority of residency program directors feel that gross anatomy is either extremely important or very important to the mastery of their discipline, 57% of directors have expressed the sentiment that their residents needed a refresher course in gross anatomy (Cottam, 1999). Standring (2009) has identified a reduced level of applied anatomical knowledge on display by junior doctors. Medical students have requested more contact hours with faculty trained in teaching clinically relevant anatomy, but the actual trend has been a continual decline in time devoted to laboratory dissection (Hinduja et al, 2005;Moxham and Plaisant, 2007;Drake et al, 2009).…”