Implementation of Competencies for Anatomy in the First Year of Medical Training

Abstract

To assess the outcome of students that underwent the exercises to implement certain competencies at the beginning level.It is quite a challenge to develop teaching and evaluation strategies for the implementation of competencies in a traditional medical school that accepts 1200 students yearly, used to the traditional systems, and grouped in classes of 40 students each with teacher having limited experience in competence based learning.We established three experimental and three control groups. We used three different exercises for a particular theme and tested before and after; compared the results of the experimental and control groups with T Student and Chi Square. The first strategy was to use a case history of cranial fracture, skulls to study in small groups, group discussion and evaluate written communication in a composition. The second strategy was to use body painting to identify the cervical triangles and their content. The third strategy was a case history of deafness and the study of an on line presentation of the ear, group discussion and the projection of ear implant techniques. The fourth strategy was a case history of rheumatic fever, the study of heart anatomy, group discussion.Results showed a marked improvement in grades achieved on all quizzes and examinations of the experimental groups.