Supplementary Regional Anatomy Teaching by Surgeons Enhances Medical Students Mastery of Anatomical Knowledge and Positively Impacts Their Choice of Future Career

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Anatomy is fundamental to the practice of medicine and surgery. Anatomy is also increasingly being taught by basic medical scientists or postclinical practice surgeons, thereby potentially detaching it from ongoing clinical realities. To evaluate whether supplementing regional anatomy teaching using surgeons enhances medical students' mastery of anatomical knowledge and how it impacts their choice of a future career. This was a descriptive study. An integrated tuition model in which basic regional anatomy was supplemented with clinical correlates taught by surgeons was devised and implemented at Jinan University Medical School. Soon after the third-year medical students finished dissecting each region (e.g., head and neck, limbs, etc.) of the human body, the surgeons from relevant specialties and sub-specialties were invited to give clinical application lectures. A self-administered questionnaire was used to evaluate all the students' perceptions of the integrated teaching model, perceived mastery of anatomical knowledge and determinants of future career choice. More than half of the students believe that regional anatomy is more closely related to surgery than systemic anatomy. Over 70% of the students have a positive attitude towards this teaching model where surgeons supplement regional anatomy with clinical correlates, and 98% of the students are in favor of integrating human body structural knowledge into clinical problems to learn anatomy. In addition, 78% of the students believe that the surgeons' participation in the teaching of regional anatomy helps them better understand human body structures and their clinical significance. However, some of their responses point towards the clinical correlate disconnection from the basic anatomy content. Furthermore, the majority of the students plan to become clinical doctors. After studying regional anatomy, the proportion of students who elected to be surgeons decreased slightly. However, the number of students who affirmatively planned to become surgeons in the future increased slightly, and 90% of these students were able to specify a chosen and preferred subspecialty of surgery. Surgeons' involvement in regional anatomy is of major benefit to students in understanding the human anatomy and its clinical significance, as well as positively impact on the decision to pursue a career in surgery.