Human Anatomy Education: Knowledge, Attitude, Perception and Challenges Encountered by Medical and Nursing Students in Two Gambian Universities

Abstract

Human Anatomy (HA) is one of the basic science courses in every medical school, and an excellent knowledge and understanding of HA is essential for medical and nursing students. Aim of this research was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, perception, and challenges in learning Human Anatomy amongst Medical and Nursing students in two Gambian universities. This study was conducted amongst Medical and Nursing students of American International University West Africa (AIUWA) and University of The Gambia (UTG). Both universities are located in The Gambia. 290 randomly selected students consented to this study. Data was obtained by administering a structured questionnaire on students’ knowledge, attitude, perception, and challenges in learning Human Anatomy. Data analysis and comparisons were done with independent samples T-test using IBM, SPSS version 23.0. Level of significance was set at p<0.05, and at a 95% confidence interval. Mean age of the respondents was 20.7±7.4 years, 74.1% were females, and 75.9% of them had a Senior Secondary School Certificate (Ordinary Level) as their highest educational qualification. Only 64.1% of the respondents rated their knowledge of HA as average or above average for their respective professions. Students’ knowledge of HA was 72%, their attitude towards learning HA was 69.8%, their perception of studying HA was 64.4%, and their challenges in learning HA was 57.3%. Comparisons showed that medical students had an insignificantly higher (p>0.05) knowledge of HA than nursing students, and AIUWA students had better knowledge of HA than UTG students (p>0.05). Nursing students had a better attitude toward learning HA than medical students (p>0.05), same as AIUWA students over UTG students (p>0.05). UTG nursing students had the best perception towards learning HA, which was significantly high compared to AIUWA nursing students (p=0.0029). The medical and nursing students in both universities faced similar challenges with UTG medical students mostly affected. Knowledge of Human Anatomy is essential in all medical fields and adequate measures must be put in place to make the learning of this course less tedious for students.