Comfort levels and experiences of middle school and high school age children in anatomical donor-based anatomy outreach sessions

Abstract

Many health professions schools host anatomy outreach sessions for high school students that utilize anatomical donors. However, teaching with anatomical donors for younger learners is uncommon. This study aimed to assess the comfort levels and experiences of students who attended the anatomy sessions as part of summer programs at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Younger learners (students entering grades 7–10; n = 25) and older learners (students entering grades 11–12; n = 33) completed pre- and post-session surveys about their comfort using a 5-point Likert scale. Before the sessions, most students felt comfortable or very comfortable learning from isolated organs (μ = 2.7, SD = 1.3) or full-body donors (μ = 2.4, SD = 1.4), even though most have never been to an anatomical donor lab before. After the sessions, the comfort level significantly increased for both isolated organs (μ = 3.3, SD = 1.1; p = 0.02) and full-body donors (μ = 3.1, SD = 1.2; p = 0.004). For isolated organs, there was no significant difference in the comfort level between younger and older learners before (p = 0.50) or after (p = 0.56) the sessions. Similarly, for full-body donors, there was no significant difference in the comfort level between younger and older learners before (p = 0.95) or after (p = 0.75) the sessions. Most students expressed that the experience was unique and positive. In conclusion, most students entering grades 7–12 felt comfortable learning from isolated organs and full-body anatomical donors prior to the sessions and felt more comfortable after the sessions. With this, anatomy outreach programs that utilize anatomical donors could be expanded to include younger learners to provide more dynamic teaching experiences for students of various ages.