Efficiency vs. Competency Development: What Interprofessional Health Professions Students Learn From, With, and About Each Other During Anatomy Dissection

Abstract

The gold standard for anatomy instruction has traditionally involved a combination of lecture‐based learning and hands‐on discovery through cadaveric dissection. However, a full dissection is time‐intensive, and recent curricular changes are challenging educators to deliver content via more time‐efficient modalities. As a result, laboratory hours are often a place where reductions in instructional time are made. This tension between time and meaningful activity is heightened as curricular innovations such as simulation, 3D visualization, and prosection are shown to reduced teaching time and increase the student: cadaver ratios. However, the dissection experience is not only important for helping students understand the structure and function of the human body. It is also instrumental in helping students develop skills and attitudes related to professionalism such as teamwork, communication, and respect for each other and their future patients, learning opportunities that are often referred to as the “hidden” curriculum (Escobar‐Poni & Poni, 2006; Warner & Rizzolo, 2006). More recently, the ability of healthcare providers to work effectively in interprofessional teams has been added to this list of skills, and dissection experiences have been designed to explicitly incorporate interprofessional experiences into anatomy lab curricula (e.g., Fernandes et al, 2015). To date, the impact of an interprofessional learning environment within the anatomy lab on learners' perceptions of teamwork has not been thoroughly examined. To explore the impact of the interprofessional learning experience, students were asked to write a short essay reflecting on what they learned from their teammates and the donors, and how that will affect the way they approach clinical care and working in professional teams. Constant comparative analysis was used to compare themes from essays written by dental students working in interprofessional teams comprised of dental, physician assistant, and radiation therapy students to those written by dental students working in teams segregated by profession. Results of the study highlight the unique contributions of an interprofessional dissection environment on the learning experience of health professions students.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.