Technological resources for teaching and learning about human anatomy in the medical course: Systematic review of literature

Abstract

The consolidation of technology as an alternative strategy to cadaveric dissection for teaching anatomy in medical courses was accelerated by the recent Covid‐19 pandemic, which caused the need for social distance policies and the closure of laboratories and classrooms. Consequently, new technologies were created, and those already been developed started to be better explored. However, information about many of these instruments and resources is not available to anatomy teachers. This systematic review presents the technological means for teaching and learning about human anatomy developed and applied in medical courses in the last ten years, besides the infrastructure necessary to use them. Studies in English, Portuguese, and Spanish were searched in MEDLINE, Scopus, ERIC, LILACS, and SciELO databases, initially resulting in a total of 875 identified articles, from which 102 were included in the analysis. They were classified according to the type of technology used: three‐dimensional (3D) printing (n = 22), extended reality (n = 49), digital tools (n = 23), and other technological resources (n = 8). It was made a detailed description of technologies, including the stage of the medical curriculum in which it was applied, the infrastructure utilized, and which contents were covered. The analysis shows that between all technologies, those related to the internet and 3D printing are the most applicable, both in student learning and the financial cost necessary for its structural implementation.

A comparative analysis of lecturers' satisfaction with Anatomage and Pirogov virtual dissection tables during clinical and topographic anatomy courses in Russian universities

“…Dissection of cadavers has remained the “gold standard” in teaching anatomy at medical universities for decades 1‐3 ; however, today there is a lack of anthropomorphic models for both graduate and postgraduate students which has led anatomy educators to turn to new teaching modalities 4‐7 . In addition, the growing curricular volume of medical universities and reduction of hours dedicated to anatomy courses often requires less time‐consuming teaching methods than dissection 8,9 .…”

“…Dissection of cadavers has remained the "gold standard" in teaching anatomy at medical universities for decades [1][2][3] ; however, today there is a lack of anthropomorphic models for both graduate and postgraduate students which has led anatomy educators to turn to new teaching modalities. [4][5][6][7] In addition, the growing curricular volume of medical universities and reduction of hours dedicated to anatomy courses often requires less time-consuming teaching methods than dissection. 8,9 In parallel, computer-assisted learning (CAL) technologies, such as virtual reality (VR), [10][11][12][13] and augmented reality (AR), 14 three-dimensional (3D) models, [15][16][17] and interactive anatomical atlases [18][19][20] have rapidly advanced and grown in popularity.…”

Introducing medical students to radiological anatomy: The importance of experiential learning during the Covid‐19 pandemic lockdowns

“…We read, with great interest, the review article recently published in the Anatomical Sciences Education by Santos et al ( 2022 ), who explored and synthesized the technological resources used to teach anatomy. Recent randomized studies have demonstrated the significant importance of new innovations in anatomy courses as they can increase student satisfaction, involvement, and knowledge acquisition (Guze, 2015 ; Gloy et al, 2022 ).…”

Technological resources in anatomy education: Are there any which are worth the effort more than others?

“…To the Editor, Anatomical Sciences Education It was our pleasure to read the interesting systematic review by Santos et al 1 about the use of technological resources in medical anatomy education. It was concluded that there was a neutral or beneficial result in the use of technology associated with traditional anatomy teaching modalities.…”

“…We would like to note that differentiation of the outcomes which concern cadaveric dissection is necessary. As it was pointed out by Santos et al, 1 traditional anatomy education is based on cadaveric dissection.…”