New Settings in Anatomy and Surgery Teaching During the Covid-19 Pandemic

The future of anatomy teaching post-pandemic: An academic viewpoint

The COVID-19 pandemic caused major disruption to anatomical teaching worldwide with both lectures and practicals being moved online. Throughout this period anatomists were able to find new and innovative ways to teach and to aid student learning via a variety of delivery modes. This study aimed to interview anatomists who were involved in teaching undergraduate medical students at UK universities to document the changes that occurred and to understand academic perceptions of pandemic delivery to comprehend how anatomy education may change in the long term. Results suggest that academics are likely to continue to deliver anatomical lectures online post-pandemic akin to a flipped classroom approach, although caution was noted regarding 'at-risk' student groups. No academics wished to see continued delivery of practical classes online, however, resources designed or invested in during the pandemic will be integrated into practical classes or pre-class preparation allowing for a more complete student experience. No clear picture emerged as to the preferred way staff and students will communicate in the current post-pandemic hybrid working environment and beyond. This will likely only be resolved when a new pattern of home working evolves in UK institutions. This report is the first to detail the academic vision of anatomy teaching in a post-pandemic world and will be useful to those adapting to these changes and for those pedagogical researchers targeting where anatomical education research should focus moving forward.

Googling "Anatomy dissection": Pre-pandemic, pandemic, and current scenario

OBJECTIVES

The present study was proposed to assess if the online search behavior for Anatomy dissection was affected by actual dissection being performed in the labs. The interest in dissection was ascertained and compared between pre-pandemic, pandemic, and current times.

METHODS

Online web search behavior for key terms related to "Anatomy dissection" was noticed worldwide using Google Trends Tool. Relative search volume (RSV) was downloaded for these keywords worldwide using all categories, and web search settings during a period from January 1, 2018, to July 31, 2022.

RESULTS

There was almost a similar google trend for the first three months in years 2018 and 2020, with a slightly lower RSV in March and a noticeable RSV decrease from April onwards in 2020. During the pre-pandemic period, the peak for RSV in the month of May was noticed. These peaks were missing in 2020 and 2021. In May 2022, RSV again increased. The top five countries with the highest search hit for "Anatomy Dissection" web were the Philippines, the United States, Canada, Australia, and India.

CONCLUSIONS

There was lower search trend for "Anatomy dissection" during the pandemic period as compared to pre-pandemic period. The search trends may be associated with the closure of dissection labs and it may be concluded that Anatomy learners search for this term more often, if they are actually performing the dissections. The future integrated multi-country data and analysis from different set-ups about their ways of dissection and labs before and after the pandemic may further clarify.

Promoting more future-ready anatomy education after the Covid-19 pandemic: A scoping review

The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic caused an abrupt transition from face-to-face to online anatomy teaching, learning, and assessment. Although online education has ensured the continuity of anatomy education during the pandemic, its implementation has been challenging, and its effectiveness has been questioned. Therefore, literature pertinent to online anatomy education during the pandemic is crucial to explain Covid-19's disruptions to this field. Accordingly, this scoping review explored changes, disruptions, and gaps in anatomy teaching and assessment during Covid-19 using an enhanced version of Arksey and O'Malley's six-stage protocol. Five online databases were searched for articles that described changes and disruptions in anatomy education. Three independent researchers were involved in titles, abstracts, and full texts screening, while another four researchers were independently involved in data extraction, charting, and synthesis. This review revealed six themes: immediate strategic plans and actions, teaching and learning changes, online assessment practice, students' and educators' receptivity and adaptability, online learning and assessment effects, and future directions. It also revealed four gaps: non-future-ready curricula, learning obstacles, administrative and teaching challenges, and online education ethical issues. The results were reported in tabular and narrative forms, following the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR guidelines). Understanding the evolution and gaps in anatomy education during the Covid-19 pandemic will help anatomists design future-ready, adaptable curricula.

Remote learning during Covid-19 lockdown: A study on anatomy and histology education for pharmacy students in Jordan

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed almost all aspects of education. The anatomy and histology courses for pharmacy students focus heavily on the face-to-face communication of theory and practical knowledge, and due to the pandemic, only theory content was delivered in an online format. This brought up many concerns about pharmacy student preparedness. This work explores the effectiveness and student perspective of remote teaching of the theoretical anatomy and histology course in Jordanian universities from the perspective of pharmacy students. The objectives are to determine the strengths, challenges, and the effectiveness of remote delivery on student learning. An online-based validated questionnaire was distributed to students majoring in Pharmacy and enrolled in the course during the second semester of 2019-2020 at 11 universities in Jordan. A total of 442 students participated in the study. Results showed that there were significant differences in perceptions of the social media platforms used in distance learning and remote delivery of the course. Most participants had positive perceptions of the educational process and studying via distance learning. There were many strengths noted including time flexibility and several challenges such as the lack of face-to-face interaction with instructors, inadequate internet connectivity, and technical issues. In conclusion, online-taught anatomy and histology course during the Covid-19 lockdown in Jordan was a success as perceived by students, but the course still possessed challenges need to be overcome in the future.

One year of anatomy teaching and learning in the outbreak: Has the Covid-19 pandemic marked the end of a century-old practice? A systematic review

At the end of 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic spread caused restrictions in business and social spheres. Higher education was also severely affected: universities and medical schools moved online to distance learning and laboratory facilities closed. Questions arise about the long-term effects of this pandemic on anatomical education. In this systematic review, the authors investigated whether or not anatomical educators were able to deliver anatomical knowledge during this pandemic. They also discuss the challenges that anatomical education has faced over the last year. The search strategy was conducted between July 2020 and July 2021. Two hundred and one records were identified, and a total of 79 studies were finally included. How best to deliver anatomy to students remains a moot point. In the last years, the advent of new technologies has raised the question of the possible overcoming of dissection as the main instrument in anatomical education. The Covid-19 pandemic further sharpened the debate. Remote learning enhanced the use of technologies other than cadaveric dissection to teach anatomy. Moreover, from the analyzed records it appears that both from students' perspective as well as teachers' there is a clear tear between those who endorse dissection and those who believe it could be easily overcome or at least integrated by virtual reality and online learning. The authors strongly believe that the best anatomy teaching practice requires the careful adaptation of resources and methods. Nevertheless, they support cadaveric dissection and hope that it will not be replaced entirely as a result of this pandemic.

Google trends in "anatomy": pre-pandemic versus during COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose

The purpose of the present study was to assess the online search behavior for the keyword “anatomy” worldwide and to compare the pre-pandemic and during COVID-19 pandemic scenario for the same.

Methods

Google trends tool was used for the assessment of the search behavior for the term “anatomy”. The data, i.e. relative search volume (RSV) were downloaded for this term using the all categories, web search and only YouTube settings during a period from 1.1.2019 to 3.31.2021 from www.trends.google.com. The geographic trends for this search query were plotted across the world.

Results

Seasonal peaks were observed for the search term “anatomy” during the first 3 months of the year and in months of September, October and November in 2019. Similar seasonal peaks were observed for the year 2020 except that there was sudden decrease in RSV for term “anatomy” in the month of March. Though trend for the rest of the year was same, but there was general lower RSV in 2020. The country with highest search hit was United States followed by Canada, Ireland, Australia and Philippines.

Conclusion

The search trend for pre-pandemic and pandemic period was similar with overall lower RSV during 2020, where it noticeably decreased during the initial phase of lockdown, i.e. in the month of March. As the whole world is still in the COVID-19 pandemic era, the future studies may report the google trends once the pandemic is over and may compare the post-pandemic trend for the same.