ANATOMY RESOURCE CENTRE

Abstract

It has been seen that just delivering the lectures of anatomy followed by dissection may fail to produce a long lastingunderstanding of the subject. The students are also unable to appreciate the importance of clinical anatomy integrated within variousmedical disciplines. A medical college or university may look at restructuring the medical curriculum with an anatomy resource centrewhich can have a pivotal influence on self-directed learning. Objectives: (1) To prepare an innovative resource centre for teachers. (2). Totrain student to achieve sufficient knowledge, skill and attitude when given a problem-solving exercise. Methodology: The resourcecentre is equipped with routine cadaveric dissection. Such gross structural relationships are made more meaningful by the use of livinganatomy such as conventional radiographs, CT, MRI, ultrasound, laparoscopic, videos and surface anatomy. Simultaneous presence ofmicroscopic anatomy (histology) can help to understand cell biology and molecular medicine in great detail. It is also necessary to useplastic models to overcome the complexity of the structures such as perineum and joints. Web-based computer sites can supplement theeffort and to achieve what is called ‘self-directed assessment skill’. Once the students are aware of the normal structures, they can bechallenged with abnormal structures or tissues. An anatomy resource centre thus, can be integrated with various disciplines. However, itis felt that an efficient clinical anatomy curriculum can only lead to the success in developing an innovative anatomy resource centre forteachers and students.