Time Spent in Practicing Dissection Correlated with Improvement in Anatomical Knowledge of Students: Experimental Study in an Integrated Learning Program

Perceptions of Students and Teachers Regarding the Impact of Cadaver-Less Online Anatomy Education on Quality of Learning, Skills Development, Professional Identity Formation, and Economics in Medical Students

Anatomy is one of the most important basic sciences in medical education and is the foundation for doctors to develop clinical skills. In the last few years, anatomy teaching has been transformed from hands-on practice into online modalities. In this study, we aimed to determine the perceptions of students and teachers about learning anatomy without using cadavers (cadaver-less) from a knowledge, technological, and humanistic perspective. The research was carried out in the Faculty of Medicine at Hasanuddin University, located in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, over a period from June to August 2021. A focus group discussion was extended to all medical students in their first year of study following their completion of online anatomy lessons. Furthermore, educators responsible for instructing anatomy in the initial year were sent an invitation to participate in a one-on-one interview with the principal investigator. In general, the results of the study complied with what has been known from the literature about the quality of online learning and its advantages and disadvantages. However, our discussions with students and interviews with teachers revealed that anatomy education without the use of cadavers is perceived as undesirable as it negatively impacts the identity formation of the future physician. It also takes away the opportunity for students to develop empathy for humanity.

Is cadaveric dissection essential in medical education? A qualitative survey comparing pre-and post-COVID-19 anatomy courses

CONTEXT

With the surge of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19]), the modality of teaching anatomy has shifted from in-person cadaveric dissection to virtual lessons for incoming first-year medical students. As a result, we aim to assess the impact that this curriculum change has on student perspectives.

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to understand the relative effect of a virtual anatomy course implemented during the pandemic (2019-2020) on the confidence, skills, and perspectives of first-year medical students compared to medical students who had traditional in-person anatomy at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine (Rowan SOM) in Stratford, New Jersey.

METHODS

The authors developed a 14-question survey to target gross anatomy students of the Classes of 2023 and 2024 at Rowan SOM. The Class of 2024 had a virtual anatomy lab compared to the Class of 2023, who had an in-person anatomy lab in their first year of medical school. The responses were analyzed to understand the difference between a hands-on cadaver lab and a virtual anatomy lab utilizing SPSS.

RESULTS

The survey was administered to approximately 400 people, from which we received 149 responses (37.3%). Among all responses, 36.2% (n=54) belonged to the Class of 2023 who encountered hands-on cadaver experience, whereas 63.8% (n=95) belonged to the Class of 2024 who gained virtual anatomy lab experience. An independent t-test statistical analysis was utilized. Under the confidence domain, when students were asked about the understanding of trauma after their respective anatomy labs, 64.0% of the Class of 2023 (n=50) showed significantly higher confidence with p<0.001, compared to 15.4% for the Class of 2024 (n=78). Under the skills domain, the Class of 2023 (n=50) felt more comfortable with ultrasound (64.0%), identifying all of the pertinent anatomical structures and their respective locations on imaging (72.0%), and identifying the pathology (90.0%) with respective p values of <0.001, <0.001, and 0.004. Only 36.9% of Class of 2024 respondents shared similar comfort with ultrasound (n=84), 30.9% identifying pertinent anatomical structures (n=84) and 65.4% in identifying pathology (n=84). Under the attitude domain, the Class of 2023 (n=50) had more respect toward the human body with their hands-on cadaver experience (88.0%) than the Class of 2024 (n=89, 33.3%).

CONCLUSIONS

Based on current results, it can be established that medical students who had in-person cadaveric dissection had a favorable attitude toward their anatomy course compared to students who had virtual anatomy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Correlation Between Enrollment of Students in Mentoring Program and Their Academic Achievements: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction Mentoring is a process in which a mentor guides his mentee to achieve specific academic goals and an array of objectives. We conducted this study to detect the correlation between the active participation of the students in the mentoring program and their academic achievements.  Methods This is a comparative cross-sectional study. The data were collected through an online questionnaire. One hundred participants were enrolled randomly in the study. The data included the number of meetings between the mentor and students and their cumulative grade point average (CGPA). Results The response rate was 83.3% (100 students). Fifty percent (n = 50) of the respondents had never met with their mentors while the other 50% (n = 50) had met with their mentors at least once in a semester. For this group, overall, positive response rates regarding the value and effectiveness of the mentoring program exceeded 78%. The correlation between participation in the mentoring program and the academic achievements of students was calculated (R² was 0.007, p-value = 0.757). Conclusions This study demonstrated a non-significant correlation between the degree of involvement in the mentoring program and students' overall academic achievements as students from both sections. Those who were enrolled in the program, and those students who were not, still achieved high scores.