Prosection or Dissection: Which is Best for Teaching the Anatomy of the Hand and Foot?

Abstract

Due to the current trend of decreasing contact hours and less emphasis being given to the basic science courses in the pre-clinical years of medical education, it is essential that new approaches to teaching gross anatomy are investigated to ensure medical students are being adequately exposed to anatomical content. This study retrospectively analyzed practical examination data from four medical gross anatomy classes (N = 569) to ascertain which pedagogical approach, student participation in the dissection process, or interaction with prosected specimens is best for teaching the anatomy of the hand and foot. Data analysis involved the use of propensity score matching, a nonparametric preprocessing statistical approach which ensures accurate representation of the true treatment effect by balancing cohorts prior to statistical analysis. Statistical analysis indicated that those students who were exposed to the anatomy of the hand through interactions with prosected specimens performed 5.6% better (P= 0.012) while for the foot, students who interacted with prosections performed 13.0% better (P< 0.001). Although limited, data from this study suggest that utilizing prosections of the hand and foot seems to be a more advantageous pedagogical approach for teaching these regions than requiring students to dissect them.

Perceived Benefits of Anatomy Coursework Prior to Medical and Dental School

“…Laboratory sessions were primarily cadaveric dissection‐based sessions, though some modules were conducted using prosected specimens (hand, foot, and pelvis) for time efficiency (Williams et al, ). Students were organized into tables of 6–8 students by the course director prior to the start of the semester, and then each table was further divided into two groups (A and B) of 3–4 students each.…”

“…This research is of particular note in light of the ever changing and potential reduction in medical course hours across the curriculum. Over the last 110 years, anatomy course hours have been reduced from an average of 800 to 129 hours (Williams et al, ). The current average of 129 hours represents a significant decrease in the last five years as well, which accompanied a trend toward integration of gross anatomy content into the medical curriculum along with clinically focused material (McBride and Drake, ).…”

Changes in the learning styles and approaches of students following incorporation of drawing during cadaveric dissection

“…In addition, identification of the learning preferences of students ensures the effective utilization of educational resources (Estai & Bunt, 2016; Vizeshfar & Torabizadeh, 2018). This underscores the necessity to augment the education of students by complementing their learning styles (Williams, Thompson, Notebaert, & Sinning, 2019) and approaches (Hernández‐Torrano et al, 2017; Pelaccia & Viau, 2017). This would enable educators to optimally deliver educational material, since students typically seek a collaborative learning arrangement with their educators (Alsaid & Bertrand, 2016; Grogan & Ferguson, 2018).…”

“…The SAA is a curriculum bound approach with emphasis on rote memorization (Murphy et al, 2014) with the intention of merely completing the task (Moir, Yielder, Sanson, & Chen, 2018). Therefore, it is has been reported to result in poor academic performance (Estai & Bunt, 2016; Williams et al, 2019).…”

Assessing the Impact of Clinically Themed Dissection-based Projects on Anatomy Knowledge in the Veterinary Pre-clinical Curriculum

“…1,2,[4][5][6][7][8] The knowledge of anatomy is classically gained by performing cadaveric dissections in the early years of the veterinary curriculum. 6,[9][10][11][12][13] However in recent years due to ethical, financial, time and infrastructure issues, the value of cadaveric dissections in anatomy teaching is increasingly questioned. [10][11][12][14][15][16][17] Despite the evidence that a cadaveric dissection-based approach offers superior understanding of clinically-relevant anatomy and surgical techniques, the depth and duration of teaching anatomical content is in decline.…”