Integration of Gross Anatomy, Histology, and Pathology in a Pre-matriculation Curriculum: A Triple-Discipline Approach.

Abstract

In recent years, many schools have cut back on their teaching and laboratory hours, and courses in the anatomical sciences are more integrated into the horizontal and longitudinal curriculums. Traditionally, teaching in anatomical science classes consists of lectures and laboratory sessions. Usually, gross anatomy and histology are the two main courses in pre-matriculation programs. The summer pre-matriculation program at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) was designed to better prepare students for success in their first year of medicine and dentistry. The course provided these students with an opportunity to study gross anatomy and histology ahead of time and develop their learning skills for the coming academic year. Historically, gross anatomy and histology courses have been taught separately with a different emphasis. We have designed a new approach to implement gross anatomy, histology, and pathology-all three disciplines-in a single lecture in the organ section of the histology course. This triple-discipline (triple lecture) approach allows three professors in anatomy, histology, and pathology to work together in a two-and-a-half-hour review lecture. This approach allows students to develop their critical thinking skills and better prepares them to transfer basic anatomic knowledge into their future clinical practice. Students indicated this was their first experience with the triple-discipline approach, and they remarked that it helped them integrate anatomy and histology as well as demonstrate the clinical importance of the structures and organs. This approach can be used at different stages of medical education and helps faculty and students better integrate various disciplines and is more suitable in the modern curriculum. A similar approach was used in our fourth year course in medical histology.