Incorporating Imaging into a Case‐Based First‐Year Anatomy Curriculum

Abstract

One of the challenges of implementing a case‐based medical curriculum is creating a “continuity of learning” that minimizes compartmentalization of the learning that occurs in a variety of settings and promotes students’ conception of their learning as an “integrated whole”. For anatomists at the University of North Dakota, our role in meeting that challenge has occurred in two distinct steps: 1) integrating a meaningful Year 1 human gross anatomy experience into a case/problem‐based curriculum, and 2) integrating the teaching of clinical imaging into Year 1 in a way that faithfully represents global educational objectives for the learning of clinical imaging established for all four years of the medical curriculum. Four principal factors emerged as critical for successfully accomplishing this: efficient use of less available time, implementation of an objective‐driven approach to learning anatomy, selection of cases that create a clear context for learning of anatomy, and meaningful dissection laboratory experiences. Each of these factors has also proved critical for integrating clinical imaging into the Year 1 curriculum, including an investment in state‐of‐the‐art digital technology for navigating and interpreting clinical imaging of patients. As a result, students have a clear sense that their learning is “patient‐centered” and relevant to their future practice of medicine.