Teaching and Learning of Anatomy in the 21st Century: Direction and the Strategies

ABSTRACT

It has been shown earlier that simply covering the material within anatomy objectives with didactic lectures followed by dissection may fail to produce long lasting understanding of the subject. The students are also unable to appreciate the importance of clinical anatomy integrated within various medical disciplines. A medical school may look at restructuring medical curriculum with an anatomy resource centre which can have a pivotal influence on self-directed learning. In order to prepare an innovative resource centre for teachers and teaching, care must be taken so that a student must achieve sufficient knowledge, skill and attitude when given a problem-solving exercise. Based on a theme of learning objectives, the resource centre must be equipped with plastinated cadaveric specimens (or routine cadaveric dissection/ prosection). Such gross structural relationships are made more meaningful by the use of living anatomy such as conventional radiographs, CT, MRI, ultrasound, laporoscopic videos and surface anatomy. Simultaneous presence of microscopic anatomy (histology) can help to understand cell biology and molecular medicine in great detail. Sometimes it is also necessary to use plastic models to overcome the complexity of the structures such as perineum and joints. Web-based computer sites can supplement the effort and to achieve what we often call ‘self-directed assessment skill’. Once the students are aware of the normal structures, they can be challenged with abnormal structures or tissues. An anatomy resource centre thus, can be integrated with various disciplines. However, it is felt that an efficient clinical anatomy curriculum can only lead to the success in developing an innovative anatomy resource centre for teachers and students.