Relevance of learning anatomy to clinical practice: Perceptive of medical students, interns, and clinicians

Abstract

Introduction Anatomy is considered as the cornerstone of medical education and its teaching methodologies are undergoing metamorphosis. Anatomy education is often debated as over teaching of body facts and undertaught clinical facts by modern and traditional anatomy mentors respectively. Equilibrium between this episteme of anatomy education could be achieved after considering the perceptions of anatomy stakeholders. The present study was an initiative of the same. Methodology A quantitative survey was administered among 60 medical students (4th semester), 60 interns, and 30 clinicians (both medical and surgical fields). The completed questionnaires were analyzed and the results were tabulated. Results Though anatomy education is suffocating due to reduction in teaching hours, all the study groups have strongly agreed that cadaver contact is crucial for better understanding of the human body. The perception regarding the importance of anatomy education in clinical practice was statistically significant (p = 0.04) among the study groups. The insight of role of anatomy education in enabling lifelong self-directed learning and inculcating professional skills and ethics of medicine showed significant p value (p = 0.00 and 0.01). Discussion The present study has echoed the perception of anatomy stakeholders. Studies emphasize that revamping of anatomy curricula is needed for the time and that can be made with the inputs from the academic anatomists and clinicians. Clinicians expressed the lag between anatomy teaching and clinical practice. Medical students felt that anatomy education kindled them to develop inquiry-based learning, helped to master radiological images, and improved their teamwork and communication skills.

A SICE (Società Italiana di Chirurgia Endoscopica e Nuove Tecnologie) observational prospective multicenter study on anatomical variants of the superior mesenteric artery: intraoperative analysis during laparoscopic right hemicolectomy—CoDIG 2 database (ColonDx Italian Group)

“…In fact, differences in anatomical knowledge for surgical proficiency can lead to differences in opinions about the vessels. For this reason, SICE has a new ongoing study in which the researchers aim to reduce this bias [ 36 , 37 ]: The surgeon photographed the vessels during intraoperative dissection and sent the photos to three consultants to check the correctness of the identification. The radiologist extracted the CT photogram and sent the images to three consultants to check the correctness of the identification.…”

Is inadequate anatomical knowledge on the part of physicians hazardous for successful clinical practice?

“…To meet the objective of study, an experiment has been planned to seek opinion of 386 undergraduate students (UGs) and 6 interns, 105 postgraduate medical students (PGs), 10 Post-PG Super-specialty students (P PGs), 31 Non-Clinical Faculties (NCFs) and 60 Clinical Faculties (CFs) in UP University of Medical Sciences Saifai Etawah UP India, regarding the demand, necessity, importance, usefulness and applicability of human Anatomy in clinical practice. So, during Aug.-Nov. 2020, a questionnaire consisting of 15 questions was designed to cover the application and need of Anatomy in clinical practice as analyzed by authors and illustrated by [3,4,26,33] Bearhs, Standring, Bergman et al, Priyadarshini et al, etc., consisting of the diagnosis and analysis of treatment of disease in clinical practice by physicians through medicinal treatment. Such as, "Do the variations in anatomical macro/microstructures require to analyze the functions, activities and configuration of organs and systems?"…”

“…In the study of Priyadharshini et al [26], "the 4th semester students, interns, and clinicians perceived Anatomy to be highly relevant to their day-to-day practice. Clinicians in our survey perceived the role of anatomy in the clinic as important, particularly during the physical examination, interpreting radiological images, and communication with colleagues.…”

“…Clinicians in our survey perceived the role of anatomy in the clinic as important, particularly during the physical examination, interpreting radiological images, and communication with colleagues. Physicians become less aware of the foundational knowledge required for their clinical reasoning skills [26]." In addition to this, the relevance of Anatomy in clinical practice has been highlighted in detail in a very good editorial, recently, by Duparc et al [12] Apart from this, there are many grey areas in Anatomy which are directly related to clinical practice together with the clinical grey areas completely dependent on Anatomy are to be discovered by standalone and/or collaborative research to strengthen the medicinal practice.…”

“…In addition to this, the relevance of Anatomy in clinical practice has been highlighted in detail in a very good editorial, recently, by Duparc et al [12] Apart from this, there are many grey areas in Anatomy which are directly related to clinical practice together with the clinical grey areas completely dependent on Anatomy are to be discovered by standalone and/or collaborative research to strengthen the medicinal practice. The everexpanding array of newer diagnostic methodologies, including the innovations in the way the body can be visualized (e.g., computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging scans), require a specific level of anatomical knowledge [26]. In an earlier study, Barlow [2] commented that endoscopic and laparoscopic procedures demand a clinically oriented Anatomy.…”