A Guide to the Anatomy of the Anterior Abdominal Wall: Examining the Impact of Virtual Dissection on the Learner's Experience

Abstract

Introduction As technology continuously improves, there is an increasing demand for higher quality educational resources. The internet has decreased barriers of accessing quality educational resources for students of all backgrounds. In medical education, the costs of obtaining and maintaining cadavers for the understanding of the human body can be a major expense. Furthermore, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in minimizing in-person learning, the demand for quality anatomy resources is at an all-time high. Objectives This project aimed to create a quality and informative dissection of the anterior abdominal wall for learners, and to investigate the impact of virtual learning as a supplementary resource. Methods A complete and skilled dissection of the anterior abdominal wall was recorded. In addition, specific anatomical features were explained during the recording. The footage was then edited via Camtasia, a video editing software, where visual features, audio features, a comprehensive quiz, and the video's introductory and outgoing effects were prepared. The final production was uploaded to YouTube and prepared for medical students at the University of British Columbia, as well as the online community. A survey was linked at the end of the video, which was open for anyone who watched the production. Results People from across the world watched and provided feedback on this dissection. While a majority of feedback received came from respondents in North America, some comments were received from viewers in Brazil, India and China. 94.7% of respondents were actively completing or had completed an MD Degree and 5.3% of participants were actively completing or had completed an MBBS program. 84.2% of participants used this resource to prepare for their anatomy labs and dissections, 63.2% used this video to prepare for their anatomy lectures, and 68.4% of people used this to prepare for their examinations. Overall, 21.1% of respondents agreed and 78.9% of respondents strongly agreed that this online resource assisted them in fulfilling their purposes of watching this video. Conclusion Responses from the online survey indicate that using gross anatomy dissection videos helped improve the learning experience of anatomy and more resources should be created to fill this demand. Video Link: https://youtu.be/_Cl1djsxQlY