Abstract
This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Teaching and learning of anatomy for medical students have been extensively studied. However, we believe that a 'gold-standard' of an anatomy teaching and learning model is difficult to establish as every educational institution faces unique. For the past ten years at the University of Notre Dame Australia, School of Medicine Sydney, the anatomy faculty has implemented evidence-based teaching strategies adopted from medical schools around the world and supported by timely student feedback to deliver cost-effective and sustainable anatomy learning. Student evaluations of this program have been positive and associated with improved summative anatomy results. This article describes ten principles pursued by our faculty, which we hope will help others in restructuring or enhancing their anatomy teaching and learning program.
Highlights
The value of anatomy knowledge as a cornerstone of clinical practice has been highlighted in numerous publications with many useful teaching innovations designed for improved student learning (Louw, Eizenberg, and Carmichael, 2009; Yammine, 2014; Losco et al, 2017; Vertemati et al, 2018; Singh et al, 2019; Zill, 2020; Baker, 2021)
This article outlines ten principles utilised at the University of Notre Dame Australia, School of Medicine, Sydney (UNDA SOMS) to enhance the teaching and learning experience of anatomy (Table 1)
Delivering an anatomy course that is clinically relevant for medical students is complex
Summary
The value of anatomy knowledge as a cornerstone of clinical practice has been highlighted in numerous publications with many useful teaching innovations designed for improved student learning (Louw, Eizenberg, and Carmichael, 2009; Yammine, 2014; Losco et al, 2017; Vertemati et al, 2018; Singh et al, 2019; Zill, 2020; Baker, 2021). Junior doctors have been noted to express concern about their level of anatomy knowledge (Turney, 2007; Farey et al, 2018; Tayyem et al, 2019) Such issues continue to inspire anatomy educators in their search for better anatomical teaching and learning practices. There is good evidence to suggest that teaching using integrated technology supplements didactic teaching methods but encourages self-directed learning (Estai and Bunt, 2016; Atta and Al Qahtani, 2018) This teaching must necessarily be tailored to suit the needs of the individual medical schools, driven by a combination of available resources and context-specific conditions. This article outlines ten principles utilised at the University of Notre Dame Australia, School of Medicine, Sydney (UNDA SOMS) to enhance the teaching and learning experience of anatomy (Table 1) These ten principles are based on ten years of experience in teaching anatomy to medical students. We hope that this article can positively contribute to the global community of anatomy educators as a practical, cost-effective, and sustainable resource
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