Students' Perception and Attitude on Methods of Anatomy Teaching in a Medical College of West Bengal, India

Consolidation Carnival: A Case-Based Approach to Reviewing Musculoskeletal Anatomy in an Undergraduate Medical Curriculum

Introduction

Recent changes in undergraduate medical curricula have resulted in time constraints that are particularly challenging, especially when students must learn large blocks of musculoskeletal anatomy content. Consequently, students have resorted to rote memorization to cope, which counteracts our established collaborative self-directed learning model.

Methods

For a 6-week musculoskeletal anatomy course, two structured case-based review sessions are described, each following the completion of two five-hour lab sessions, two on the upper extremities and two on the lower extremities. These largely self-directed review sessions consisted of 6 students rotating through 7 to 8 stations every 10 minutes where clinical cases with follow-up questions were projected on large screens. The students were expected to work collaboratively to solve the cases utilizing the prosected specimens provided and discuss the accompanying answers at the end of each case.

Results

Ninety-four per cent of the students who participated in this study agreed that the case-based review sessions provided a helpful overview of musculoskeletal anatomy content. Student performance on the open-ended, case-based musculoskeletal examination questions showed no significant difference in performance on shoulder, hand, hip, thigh, and leg questions. There was, however, a statistically significant decrease in the students' scores on a forearm question in 2021 compared to 2019.

Conclusion

This paper describes our integrated, collaborative musculoskeletal course, including case-based review sessions, which was positively received by students as having value in reviewing the musculoskeletal content though it was not found to improve examination performance.

Medical Students' Opinions of Anatomy Teaching Resources and Their Role in Achieving Learning Outcomes

Several teaching resources are used to enhance the learning of anatomy. The purpose of this study was to examine the preference of medical students on the use of various resources to learn anatomy and their link to 12 learning outcomes. A selected response item questionnaire was administered that asked students to rank six laboratory teaching resources from most to least preferred, and rate how useful these six resources were towards achieving 12 learning outcomes. These learning outcomes covered many of the learning domains such as demonstrating an understanding of anatomy, visualizing structures, appreciating clinical correlations, and understanding anatomical variations. Medical students ranked cadaveric prosections paired with an active learning clinical tutorial as the highest rank and most useful resource for learning anatomy, followed by dissection videos, electronic resources, and printed material, followed by plastinated specimens and plastic models. Overall, cadaveric prosections were also rated as the most helpful teaching resource in achieving various learning outcomes. In conclusion, anatomy teachers should provide prosections coupled with clinical tutorials as well as electronic resources as students prefer these and think they help them learn anatomy. Future studies will investigate the impact of using these resources on students' performance.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-021-01436-2.

An Analytical Comparison of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding HIV/AIDS Among Medical and Non-Medical Students in Iran

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Young people are the main group at risk of HIV/AIDS due to factors such as curiosity, peer pressure, lack of knowledge and skills, unsafe sexual behaviors, and drug abuse. The present study was conducted to compare the knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding HIV/AIDS among medical and non-medical students in Iran.

METHODS

This cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study was conducted on a population consisting of the students of Shahid Beheshti University (SBU) and Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (SBMU). A total of 303 students were randomly selected from the two universities. Data were collected using a researcher-made HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitude, and practice questionnaire. Data were then analyzed using the independent t-test, Mann-Whitney's U-test, the ANOVA, and the Kruskal-Wallis test in SPSS-18. P<0.05 was set as the level of significance for all the tests.

FINDINGS

The frequencies of marital status, education, smoking, alcohol and psychotropic substance use, employment status, and source of information differed significantly between the medical and non-medical students. There was a significant difference between the two groups regarding knowledge (P<0.001) and practice (P=0.019) regarding HIV/AIDS. Meanwhile, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of their attitude toward HIV/AIDS (P=0.503). The results of the ANOVA revealed a significant correlation between marital status and practice (P=0.022), education and attitude (P=0.004), and smoking and knowledge (P=0.008) among the medical students. Meanwhile, there was no significant difference between the demographic variables and knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding HIV/AIDS among the non-medical students (P>0.005).

CONCLUSION

The present findings showed that designing and developing appropriate educational programs, offered through group media, scientific seminars, courses, lectures, and group discussions, can be effective in enhancing the students' knowledge and changing their attitudes and should be incorporated into healthcare programs.