Factors Affecting Anatomy Learning from the Viewpoints of Medical Students at Basic Sciences Stage

Abstract

Background: Knowledgeof anatomyisthebasisof medicineandclinicalpractices. Thisstudyaimedtodeterminefactorsaffecting anatomy learning from the viewpoint of students at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. Methods: Thiscross-sectionalstudyenrolledallstudentsatbasicsciencesstageattheSchoolof MedicineatKermanshahUniversity of Medical Sciences in 2016 and 2017. A questionnaire was delivered in classrooms by the researchers with the permission of the teachers. Data was analyzed in the SPSS-16 software, employing the Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Results: Outof300questionnaires,179werereturned,71frommalestudents(39.7%)and108fromfemalestudents(60.3%);116(64.8%) inthethirdsemester,31(17.3%)inthefourth,and32(17.9%)inthephysiopathologylevel. Significantdifferenceswerefoundbetween the viewpoints of male and female students on the following variables: Use of animation, use of moulages, questions based on references,frequentquizzes,classifiedtestsduringtheterm,andtheteachers’ patience,indicatingthe‘clearexpressionof teachers’ with a mean of 4.7 ± 0.47 as the main effective factor. There were significant differences between the mean scores for ‘design of questions based on the sources’ (P < 0.05) and also between the views of physiopathology students and third-year students (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Lecture-based education without proper audio-visual aids lacks popularity among students, resulting in a waste of timeandlowlevelsof studentlearning. Mentioningtheclinicalaspectsandengagingstudentsinclinicalissuestoimprovelearning is paramount.