Art macabre: is anatomy necessary?

SURGICAL INCLINATION AND ANATOMY TEACHING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND

BACKGROUND

Medical graduate interest in surgery has declined and medical students are less capable in anatomy than they once were. Declining interest in surgery is because of factors, including growing number of women entering medical school. There has been less emphasis in teaching anatomy at various medical schools in recent years. The aim of this study is to quantify surgical inclination in Auckland medical students to assess whether gender differences exist in surgical inclination and determine confidence in anatomy knowledge and resources used by Auckland medical students.

METHOD

Survey design was cross-sectional and included 25-point questionnaire using Likert scale response ranking and tick box replies. Two hundred and eighteen surveys were emailed to functioning addresses of fourth and fifth year students at University of Auckland, School of Medicine, New Zealand.

RESULTS

Response rate was 71.6%. Twenty per cent of students were found to be surgically inclined (95% confidence interval, 0.15-0.26). The proportion of surgically inclined men was significantly higher than women (P < 0.05). Thirty-three per cent of all respondents (95% confidence interval, 0.26-0.41) felt their knowledge of anatomy was adequate to practice medicine safely. Textbooks and atlases were most commonly used to learn anatomy (P < 0.05). Radiology was the least commonly used method to learn anatomy (P < 0.05). Eighty-seven per cent (95% confidence interval, 0.81-0.92) of respondents agreed that revisiting dissection during surgical attachments would be helpful.

CONCLUSION

Men are significantly more likely to be surgically inclined than women at the University of Auckland. A significantly greater proportion of students felt that their knowledge of gross anatomy was inadequate for safe medical practice. Students use traditional methods to learn anatomy more commonly than radiological methods. The majority of students surveyed would like to revisit cadaver dissection during clinical attachments in surgery.

Anatomical dissection: why are we cutting it out? Dissection in undergraduate teaching

Anatomy teaching and, more specifically, the use of dissection in undergraduate anatomy teaching is undergoing a sea change in Australian medical schools. Until as recently as the 1970s, all medical students in Australia underwent an extensive course in dissection, taking up as much as 700 hours of curriculum time. Today, dissection is compulsory in only a minority of anatomy departments. There has been much discussion about the use of dissection in anatomy teaching, and both sides of the argument have considerable merit. Less widely discussed have been the other benefits of anatomical dissection, such as the development of surgical skills, an appreciation of whole-body pathology, and the teaching of ethical and moral issues that are central to the development of the professional doctor. Dissection still has an important role to play in undergraduate medical education.