Students' performance in teaching neuroanatomy using traditional and technology-based methods

Comparison of the study performance of dental students in different subfields of neuroanatomy at the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and evaluation of the neuroanatomy course in the fourth preclinical semester

INTRODUCTION

The dentist's main working area is the head and neck region, which is innervated by the cranial nerves. On a daily basis, dentists must administer local anaesthesia to ensure pain-free treatment and differentiate between dental pain and neuropathies to avoid mistreatment. Therefore, neuroanatomical training, especially on the cranial nerves, is of immense importance for clinical practice. In order to adopt the curriculum, it is essential to constantly evaluate the quality of the training and to investigate whether there is a correlation between the students' performance and the relevance of the subfields to their work.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

To address this issue, the results of MC exams in the neuroanatomy course for dental students at Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin from winter semester 2014/2015 to winter semester 2019/2020 were analysed. Each question was assigned to a specific subfield of neuroanatomy. We then compared cranial nerves and cranial nerve nuclei (clinically relevant) with the remaining subfields (clinically less/not relevant) to investigate whether students performed better in anatomy subfields that are more aligned with the clinical practice of a dentist. We also conducted an anonymous survey (n=201) of the dental students.

RESULTS

From winter semester 2014/2015 to winter semester 2019/2020, students performed significantly (***, p< 0.001) better on the clinically relevant questions of the MC examination than on the less/not clinically relevant questions. However, when looking at each of the eleven semesters separately, only three semesters actually performed significantly better on the clinically relevant questions. Our survey also showed that students perceived the subfield of cranial nerves and cranial nerve nuclei to be the most relevant and studied it more intensively out of their own interest.

DISCUSSION

The study showed that students perceived the subfield of cranial nerves and cranial nerve nuclei to be the most relevant. However, there was no direct correlation between student performance and clinically relevant questions. Using student performance alone as an indicator of relevance is not optimal, as factors such as motivation to learn can have a significant impact.

CONCLUSION

Greater clinical relevance influences what students learn more intensively out of their own interest, but does not influence the results of the MC examination in favour of the subspecialty. Based on the available evidence, it is recommended that the structure of the neuroanatomy course be reconsidered.

Changes in oral pathology teaching methods during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on student performance (oral pathology teaching changes during the COVID-19 pandemic)

Abstract Background/purpose

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has influenced the dental education in Osaka Dental University. The purpose of this study was to summarize the impact of COVID-19 on student performance and the current more appropriate teaching methods by comparing the changes in various oral pathology exam results before and after COVID-19.

Materials and methods

The experimental and control groups consisted of second year students in the department of dentistry at our university for the years 2019 (136 people) and 2020 (125 people). The impact of different teaching methods on student performance was compared by calculating the mean scores and percentage of failures on various exams and whether or not class credits were earned between the two years. A t test was used to determine statistical significance.

Results

The mean scores on the mini-tests were lower in 2020 than in 2019, while the average score of the intermediate exam and the number of students receiving class credits were higher. The mean scores on the practical and unit exams were not statistically significant between the years, but the failure rate on both exams was higher in 2019 than in 2020.

Conclusion

COVID-19 had impacts on student performance. A comparison of the mean scores on the exams revealed that the use of microscopy, oral questions, and online animations contributed to improved performance on different exams. Therefore, to promote students' understanding and retention of memorized knowledge of oral pathology, the use of microscopes will be resumed whenever possible, as well as continuation with oral questions and online animations.

The Application of 3D Anatomy for Teaching Veterinary Clinical Neurology

Neuroanatomy is always a challenging topic for veterinary students. It is widely accepted that understanding the anatomy of the central nervous system (CNS) is essential to explain many of the pathological processes that affect the brain. Although its study has varied over time to achieve this goal, in human and veterinary medicine it is difficult to find a teaching method that associates normal anatomy with pathological alterations of the brain. For the first time, we have created an educational tool that combines neuroanatomy and neuropathology, using different magnetic resonance (MR) images as a basis and EspINA software as analyzer, to obtain segmented structures and 3D reconstructions of the dog brain. We demonstrate that this combination is an optimal tool to help anatomists to understand the encephalon, and additionally to help clinicians to recognize illness including a multitude of neurological problems. In addition, we have tried to see whether photogrammetry, which is a common technique in other sciences, for example geology, could be useful to teach veterinary neuroanatomy. Although we still need further investigations, we have been able to generate 3D reconstructions of the whole brain, with very promising results to date.