Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on anatomy education of medical and dental students of Pakistan; a reality check

Purpose

Virtual anatomy education was the only way that supported the learning process of the students during the forced lockdown time of COVID-19 pandemic. The intention of the current study was to apprehend the expected challenges experienced by the medical and dental students during their cyber anatomy classes.

Methods

This study was carried on 300 1st and 2nd year medical and dental students who joined their respective college in January 2020, and consented to participate in the study. A multiple choice questionnaire regarding their stance about these online classes was formed and student’s feedback was taken.

Results

Most (80%) of the students longed for their traditional anatomy learning i.e., dissection courses, didactic lectures, interaction and motivation from their mentors and peer. The students blamed the learning without live dissections, models and microscopic slides for their lack of confidence. More than 80% students blamed inappropriate gadgets, absence of high-band internet connections, as possible barriers in their digital learning. Lack of self-motivation was considered by 66% students.

Conclusions

This situation of anatomy education while lockdown was not intentional and should not be taken as the silver bullet solution for a subject like anatomy. Although students had to face a lot of challenges but this shift to online mode went swiftly at the time of health crisis. This digital learning may extend for an indefinite period, the students’ feedback will be helpful in bringing appropriate and timely modifications in digital anatomy education.

The Anatomy Course During COVID-19: The Impact of Cadaver-Based Learning on the Initiation of Reflection on Death

BACKGROUND

During the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person cadaveric dissection laboratories for teaching anatomy were omitted by many schools around the world. While knowledge domains can be easily evaluated via remote exams, non-traditional discipline-independent skills such as those encouraged through reflection on the topic of death are often overlooked. This study investigated how different anatomy course formats played a role in initiating students' reflections on death during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHOD

In fall 2020, 217 medical, dental, premedical, and health sciences students from 13 international universities discussed differences in their anatomy courses online. Formats of anatomy courses ranged from dissection-based, prosection-based, hybrid (combination of dissection and prosection) to no laboratory exposure at all. Students' responses to the question, "Did/does your anatomy course initiate your thinking about life's passing?" were collected, and they self-reported themes that were present in their reflections on death using a multiple-choice prompt. Statistical analyses to detect differences between students with and without exposure to cadavers were performed using the chi-squared test.

RESULTS

When comparing students who had exposure to human anatomical specimens to those who had no exposure, the majority of students with exposure thought that the course did initiate thoughts about life's passing, compared to students without exposure (P < 0.05). Reflection themes were consistent across groups.

DISCUSSION

These findings indicate that anatomy dissection courses are important for the initiation of students' feelings about the topic of death. Omission of cadaveric dissection- or prosection-based laboratories will decrease the likelihood that students initiate reflection on this topic and gain important transferable skills.

The influence of dissection on clinical anatomical knowledge for surgical needs

Purpose

Due to the ongoing discussion of the usefulness of dissection on human bodies in medical curricula, we investigated the influence of anatomical knowledge collected in the dissection course and requested for modules of visceral surgery.

Methods

Students attending the dissection course of topographic anatomy had to answer a questionnaire of 22 questions with focus on anatomical knowledge required for visceral surgical modules. Failure was defined as 13 or fewer correct answers, success categorized as high, good or moderate. The same questionnaire was handed out to 245 students prior to the module on visceral surgery. Students provided information on which regions they had dissected during the course or prior to the module. The results were compared to the result of a written Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) exam of the module visceral surgery (n = 160 students) with an unannounced primary focus on anatomy.

Results

Students who dissected the truncal regions of the human body succeeded in answering the questionnaire with high success. Students dissecting regions of the Head/Neck or Limbs had a high failure rate, and none of them reached the “high” success level. In the MCQ exam, students dissecting truncal regions had a high success rate, while those who had not dissected or who dissected the Head/Neck or Limbs had a high failure rate.

Conclusion

Dissections support and improve the required knowledge for surgical modules. For the visceral surgical module, students dissecting the region prior to the module greatly benefited. Therefore, entire human body dissection assumes to be preferable.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00276-021-02802-w.

Anatomy education of medical and dental students during COVID-19 pandemic: a reality check

Purpose

During this forced down-time of COVID-19 pandemic, shift to virtual anatomy education is the solitary solution to support the learning of students. The purpose of this study was to understand the visible and invisible potential challenges being faced by the 1st year medical and dental students while attending digital anatomy classes.

Methods

The present study was conducted on 81st year medical and dental students who were admitted to their respective college in August 2019 and were willing to participate in the study. A multiple choice close-ended questionnaire regarding their opinion on virtual classes was designed and feedback was taken from the students.

Results

Majority (65%) of the students agreed that they missed their traditional anatomy learning i.e., dissection courses, face to face lectures and interaction with mentors. The students strongly felt the lack of confidence and difficulty in the topics completed without dissections, models, microscopic slides and other modalities. 83% felt lack of proper gadgets, high-band width and strong internet connections, a potential barrier in their digital learning. Lack of self-motivation was felt by 69% students.

Conclusions

The current situation of anatomy education is not intentional, and is not the long term silver bullet solution for a visual subject like anatomy. Though learners face a lot of challenges, however, a shift to online must be supported at this time of health crisis. As the digital learning may go for indefinite period, the feedback of students may be helpful for relevant and timely modifications in digital anatomy education.

Massa adiposa ligamenti falciformis or anterior abdominal fat pad - Its dimension and relation to body weight

The anterior abdominal fat pad is associated with the falciform ligament in the upper middle/right abdomen and is frequently seen there in diagnostic imaging. It varies greatly in size and has often been described as an incidental finding in adults and has hitherto rarely been regarded as being illness-relevant. The aim of this study has been to assess whether the dimension of the corpus adiposum may be associated with body mass index. Ultrasound findings of 26 patients from birth until adolescence were analyzed for this purpose. In addition, an example from a recent dissection course has been included. The structure is constantly found with its smallest dimension in newborns, with a slight increase in infancy. The average dimensions were 7.6 by 3.5 by 0.7cm. The cubic volume correlated with age, weight and body mass index, whereas the latter association was strongest. Our data suggest that routinely determined dimension of falciform fat may be a surrogate parameter of relative body weight in childhood.

Development of a seminar on medical professionalism accompanying the dissection course

INTRODUCTION

Medical professionalism is an increasingly important issue in medical education. The dissection course represents a profound experience for undergraduate medical students, which may be suitable to address competencies such as self-reflection and professional behavior.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Based on a needs assessment, a seminar on medical professionalism was developed to parallel the dissection course. The conceptual framework for the teaching intervention is experiential learning. Specific learning goals and an interview guideline were formulated. After a pilot run, peer-teaching was introduced.

RESULTS

Over three terms (winter 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15), an average of 129 students voluntarily participated in the seminar, corresponding to 40% of the student cohort. The evaluation (n=38) shows a majority of students agreeing that the seminar offers support with this extraordinary situation in general and also that the seminar helps them to become first impressions on how to cope with death and dying in their later professional life as a doctor, and, that it also provides them the means to reflect upon their own coping mechanisms.

CONCLUSION

Although not yet implemented as an obligatory course, the seminar is appreciated and positively evaluated. Medical professionalism is an implicit aspect of the dissection course. To emphasize its importance, a teaching intervention to explicitly discuss this topic is advisable.

"Mors auxilium vitae"--causes of death of body donors in an Austrian anatomical department

BACKGROUND

Anatomical dissection is, despite several critical annotations, a highly valuable component of under- and postgraduate medical education and research. Our current causes-of-death statistics on our body donors is aimed to find out to which extent they are representative of the Austrian population.

METHODS

We evaluated the causes of death stated in their death certificates of a total of 3399 people who donated their bodies to our department in the course of the last 25 years (1988-2013). The categorisation is based on the official ICD-10-WHO classification.

RESULTS

Our data show a prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in about half of the donors (42%) examined; no gender difference could be revealed in cardiovascular diseases. Tumours were responsible for about 20% of deaths, lead by lung cancer; cancers showed a slight male excess. All other deaths were caused by diseases of the respiratory system, the digestive organs, the genitourinary system, the nervous system, alimentary and metabolic disorders, infections and blood diseases, psychiatric disorders, external and other causes in descending order. Compared to the official Austrian and German statistics, there are only minor deviations.

CONCLUSION

Our data clearly show that body donors, at least in our department, depict a representative sample of Austrian population in terms of their causes of death. Therefore anatomical dissection provides appropriate insight into the morbidity of the increasing major target population of medicine, the elders. Limitations in the acceptance by age, excluding either young or old donors, which appear to exist in other anatomical departments, will limit this representativeness. Being aware of these facts, the anatomical dissection course cannot only provide anatomical learning experiences but can also provide an introduction to the basics of epidemiology. Therefore, a topographical dissection course remains an indispensable method for both undergraduate and postgraduate training as well as for research.