Anatomy Education Environment among Pre-Clinical Medical Students in Universiti Putra Malaysia Using Anatomy Education Environment Measurement Inventory

Siti Nurma Hanim Hadie,Halimatus Sakdiah Minhat,Razif Abas,Siti Aisyah Mohd Jalani,Muhammad Aliff Aiman Rushlan,Shyeanne Gunn Shian Yen

doi:10.21315/eimj2021.13.3.3

Siti Nurma Hanim Hadie, Halimatus Sakdiah Minhat + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.21315/eimj2021.13.3.3

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Abstract

Anatomy is the foundation of medicine. Having adequate anatomy knowledge would improve medical students’ comprehension of pathology and patient management. The evolving scenario in anatomy education has created a changing educational environment in medical schools. Since educational environment influence the students’ motivation and ability to learn, it is pertinent to measure anatomy education environment as a feedback mechanism tool for further improvement in the curriculum. This study was performed to measure pre-clinical medical students’ perception of the anatomy education environment in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) by using a validated 25-item inventory, known as the Anatomy Education Environment Measurement Inventory (AEEMI). The inventory was distributed online to 171 first- and second-year medical students to measure their perception of anatomy teachers and instructors, anatomy knowledge, their intrinsic interest and efforts in learning anatomy, anatomy learning resources and histology practical facilities. The analysis revealed that most of the items show “positive area” indicated by score of more than four. The first-year medical students showed a significantly higher perception of the anatomy education environment compared to the second-year medical students (p ≤ 0.05). However, both cohorts perceived an “area of improvement” for histology practical facilities (score of 3 to 3.99). In conclusion, the students were pleased with the anatomy education experience in UPM except for histology practical facilities that may require further improvement. The use of virtual microscopy in histology teaching would be a good alternative to overcome the problem in histology teaching in UPM, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Highlights

Anatomy is the study of human body that includes gross anatomy, histology, neuroanatomy and embryology [1]
Despite the importance of anatomy knowledge among medical students, anatomy input in medical curriculum has been in decline ever since the major medical curriculum revamp in the early 20th century [3]
All factors of the anatomy education environment in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) were positively viewed by the respondents, except the histology practical facilities, which may need further improvement, as shown by the analyses

Summary

Introduction

Anatomy is the study of human body that includes gross anatomy, histology, neuroanatomy and embryology [1]. The content-driven nature of anatomy subject requires significant time in the schedule of traditional curriculum for lecture delivery and cadaveric dissection. A research conducted in the Netherlands compared medical students’ anatomy skills to the expectation of stakeholders [6]. They concluded that there was a substantial difference between the acquired anatomy knowledge and skills with the public expectation, which triggered significant concern on the provision of safe clinical practice [6]. Conventional teaching methods are emphasised, anatomy education must be integrated with other medical subjects – vertically and horizontally – and adapts with the ever-changing waves of technology [7]. Traditional and modern approaches should coexist to ensure the best possible anatomy education for medical students, rather than competing for supremacy [7]. With increasing awareness among anatomy educators on the importance of experiential and collaborative learning, anatomy instruction is taught through several modalities that apply educational principles such as team-based learning and problembased learning [8–9]

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