Impact of a Radiological Anatomy‐Based Intervention on Students in a Medical Gross Anatomy Course

Abstract

Human gross anatomy is an integral aspect of medical education and serves as an important transition into the medical profession. Radiological imaging modalities serve as the link between gross anatomy content and clinical practice. At Duke University School of Medicine, anatomy faculty and radiologists collaborated to introduce radiological anatomy images into our gross anatomy course with the aim of reinforcing student learning of basic science content. We then investigated the effectiveness of this intervention from several perspectives.MethodsIn order to assess the impact of the radiological intervention, we administered: 1) a 12‐question pre‐test/post‐test, 2) an evaluation of the effectiveness of radiology‐based presentations, and 3) an evaluation of the usefulness of the radiology images used. Pre‐test/post‐test questions were selected from a previously validated question bank and were mapped to levels of cognitive processing as adapted from Bloom's Taxonomy. These questions spanned the content covered in our course (thorax, abdomen, pelvis, limbs, head/neck) and the radiological modalities learners would most likely be exposed to during their clinical training (X‐ray, MR, CT). At the conclusion of the course, Likert‐type questions were used to evaluate the learners' perceptions of the usefulness and effectiveness of the radiology presentations and images.ResultsOf 119 eligible learners, a total of 55 participants (46%) volunteered to take both the pre‐test and post‐test. Results of the paired t‐test showed there was a significant difference between the pre‐test (mean = 13.2%, SD = 8.9%) and post‐test (mean = 38.6%, SD = 17.7%) mean scores (t(54) = 9.9, p < 0.0001). Learners were most successful when questions included anatomy of the thorax and abdomen and MR or CT images, and on questions that were mapped to the analyze process. Additionally, survey feedback of all learners indicated all radiology presentations were rated as “adequately effective” (mean rating of 3 on a 5 point scale), and 65% of learners rated the radiological images as useful for studying in the course.ConclusionsResults of this study suggest that the introduction of radiological images was an effective intervention and may have contributed to participants' increased knowledge of gross anatomy content. Given the success of this intervention as evidenced here, we continued to integrate radiological images into gross anatomy instruction for the 2017 cohort. More broadly, this work adds to the growing area of research that supports the integration of clinically relevant applications into basic science courses.Support or Funding InformationSupport and funding provided by the Office of Curricular Affairs and Duke Academy for Health Professions Education and Academic Development, Duke University School of Medicine.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.