Impact of Online Education on Anatomy Test Results

Abstract

Introduction Anatomy is a fundamental science essential to the practice and understanding of medicine. As the COVID-19 pandemic has put a halt to live teaching, specifically, Anatomy classes and Lab Practical examination at Baylor College Medicine (BCM), the opportunity was presented to compare test scores of students who matriculated into the Physician Assistant (PA), Doctor of Nursing Practice-Anesthesia (DNP), and Medical School (MS) programs in 2020 with those of the same programs from previous cohorts. Students who matriculated in August of 2019 and before were able to have live Anatomy lectures, live Lab Practical examinations, and live cadaver labs. Whereas those who matriculated in the year 2020 had to watch online lectures, have online Lab Practical examinations, but still have live cadaver labs with COVID-19 rules i.e., social distancing implemented. Materials & Methods Lab Practical examination scores from classes who matriculated in the years of 2016 through 2019 were compared with those who matriculated in 2020 for the PA, DNP, and MS programs. Independent Measures Two-tailed T-test and One-Way Anova Analyses were used to determine whether there were any statistically significant differences of exam scores compared within the PA, DNP, and MS programs. The DNP and PA programs must also take a cumulative multiple-choice (MC) exam at the end of each term. These scores were also compared using the same measures. Results Independent Measures T-test revealed statistical significance (p < 0.05) when comparing the MS 2017 Lab Practical scores with the 2020 MS cohort with the 2020 cohort scoring significantly lower. For the DNP program, statistical significance was found between Lab Practical test scores from every cohort when compared to the 2020 cohort with the 2020 cohort scoring significantly higher in each comparison. Only when comparing the DNP 2016 to the 2020 cohort (MC) exam results was a statistical significance found for the MC exam with the 2020 cohort scoring significantly higher. One-Way Anova Analyses revealed there were no statistically significant findings within any of the cohorts from any of the programs other than the DNP 2016/2020 cohort comparison and 2019/2020 cohort comparison which yielded statistically significant differences with the 2020 cohort scoring significantly higher in each comparison. Conclusions While the current situation of the COVID-19 Pandemic may not be permanent, it has had a profound impact on the delivery of education in the year of 2020. As the delivery of education has shifted, one should acknowledge that test results may be impacted as well. This analysis reveals that students test scores, while varying more so than previous cohorts, were not significantly impacted in every cohort comparison with the shift to online learning. Significance Online learning in Anatomy has not been attempted before at BCM and evaluating student performance was vital this year. Anatomy at BCM continues for 2 more terms, and while the exam scores do not show significant differences for one term, the long term-term influences from COVID-19 on learning Anatomy still remains to be investigated.