Retention of topographical anatomical knowledge following surgeon-facilitated whole-body dissection.

Abstract

Topographical anatomy has been taught to medical students by cadaver-based dissection for centuries. However, there is a void in the literature assessing the long-term retention of anatomical knowledge by medical students following teaching by whole-body dissection. The purpose of this paper was to assess both the acquisition and retention of topographical anatomical knowledge gained by medical students undertaking an elective whole-body dissection course. This is a retrospective review of prospectively gathered data. A total of 24 students completed the elective 8-week Anatomy by Whole Body Dissection course at the University of Sydney in 2013. Surgeons and surgical trainees acted as demonstrators and anatomical knowledge was assessed on four occasions: pre, mid, end and 8 months post-course in the form of a 20-question wet specimen tag test. There was strong evidence of a significant difference (P < 0.001) in the students' pre-course scores (median = 8 out of 20, IQR = 6) compared with their end-course scores (median = 19 out of 20, IQR = 2). Similarly, there was a highly significant difference (P < 0.001) between students' pre-course scores and the 8-month follow-up post-course test (median = 18, IQR = 3), with a median difference of 10 points. There was no significant difference (P > 0.2) between the students' end-course assessment results and the 8 months post-course assessment indicating retention of knowledge. Surgeon-facilitated anatomical teaching to medical students by whole-body dissection significantly improves topographical anatomical knowledge which is maintained in the long term.