A novel way to engage medical students in learning gross anatomy at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
Dear Sir
For medical students, a thorough working knowledge of gross anatomy is essential in providing a strong foundation for the acquisition of clinical diagnostic skills. A current trend is to reduce the number of hours in gross anatomy.
For institutions that consider cadaver dissection critical to providing exposure to real anatomical variation and facilitating the understanding of three-dimensional anatomy, this trend has had a negative impact on student performance in the gross laboratory. To help students realize more successful dissections by improving efficiency and avoiding irreversible structural damage, a learning tool, in the form of a series of short, online accessible, streaming videos has been produced, which focuses specifically on providing dissection instruction. The streaming video format also increases time-management efficiency by allowing students more rapid access to the relevant information.
Expertise from different fields was necessary to produce a product that would engage the medical student in the learning process. Creation of the videos involved meticulous effort in editing content as well as serious consideration of every element of the look of the videos. Dissectors followed detailed instructions written by the faculty that included aspects of the visual presentation. The digital recording format allowed for ease of use as well as the capture of high-quality images. The media recording time code made possible the extremely accurate transfer of information amongst project principals. Once final editing was completed, titles, transitions and effects were added. Various production elements were assessed to ensure successful playback via streaming video. Videos were uploaded to an online course site.
A subset of the completed videos was made available to students in the Gross Anatomy course. At the conclusion of the course, students were asked to complete a survey designed to assess the visual impact, functionality and accessibility of the videos. Responses regarding the quality and utility of the videos were overwhelmingly positive indicating that the videos (1) had good image quality, (2) had clear and informative dissection demonstrations, (3) were used for study and review and (4) were easy to access. The survey also established that students perceived that the use of the videos enhanced both the quality of the anatomy course and their individual performances.