Anatomical Sciences Education最新文献

The development of anatomy has been marked by ethically questionable practices. This has been because the dissection of human bodies has always existed on the periphery of conventional society, necessitating a range of dubious ways of obtaining dead bodies for educational and research purposes. Chief among these has been the use of unclaimed bodies, those obtained without the consent, and on occasion, knowledge of living relatives. This raises the question of the moral status of dead bodies and the place of informed consent in the practice of anatomy. While informed consent has become mandatory in the legislations of many countries, some argue that it is a Westernized concept. The argument here is that informed consent is a crucial ethical requirement for anatomists. By the 1960s legislation in the United Kingdom and similar countries, plus increasing awareness of ethical issues, brought to the fore informed consent and the necessity of using only body donations. This trajectory was strengthened by inquiries into organ retention scandals following postmortems that highlighted the basic ethical values for dealing with the remains of the dead. Nevertheless, there has been continued use of unclaimed bodies internationally, ushering in continued efforts to understand why this is the case and reasons why some indigenous groups reject body donation. It is concluded that except where there are mitigating circumstances, anatomists continuing to rely upon a supply of unclaimed bodies are neglecting the trajectory of ethical debate over the past 40 years.

Anatomy is a foundational component of various medical and paramedical disciplines. Existing research has suggested that games or game elements can improve student interest in musculoskeletal (MSK) anatomy. This project builds on previous gamification and serious game work and incorporates new anatomy-based games into undergraduate anatomy education. Challenging structures and areas of difficulty were identified using previous years' exams. This informed the content and design of the games in this study: a modified Guess Who? and a group-based labeling exercise. Both were provided in optional study sessions available to students in an introductory undergraduate anatomy and physiology course. The data collected includes pre- and post-session questionnaires, labeling times, and midterm exam performance. Few participants reported previously incorporating games into their own MSK anatomy study time, but the majority believed that anatomy-specific games would positively improve their confidence, engagement, and motivation in the course (LIKERT scores all >4.5/5). The games improved students' self-perceived confidence (92% somewhat or strongly agree) and anatomy knowledge (100% somewhat or strongly agree), and provided opportunity for peer collaboration that is often missing in large undergraduate anatomy classes. There were, however, inconsistent effects in exam performance seen across different sections of the course (in-person vs virtual). These findings suggest that the benefits of educational games may depend on contextual factors that require further exploration. Future studies should also explore extending this approach to other challenging topics identified by students.

Histology education poses a unique challenge in anatomical sciences, particularly when teaching the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. We describe the rationale, development, and implementation of a serious game designed to enhance engagement and comprehension of GI histology through hands-on, collaborative learning. Developed for first-year graduate students in anatomical sciences, the activity integrates tactile model construction with guided discussion and a group quiz. We outline the instructional framework, session flow, and key reflections on logistical and pedagogical outcomes from the pilot implementation with 12 students. While preliminary assessments showed improved understanding and positive reception, this article focuses on the development process and broader implications for using serious games in histology education.

According to Nietzsche, "In every real [adult], a child is hidden that wants to play." In everyday life, playfulness and competition can make routine or dull tasks more engaging and can offer educators opportunities to engage a learner in a more entertaining or interactive manner. Learning anatomy in a meaningful and comprehensive manner requires an ability to memorize an enormous volume of material and then applying the foundational content to make sense of it within real-world applications. Adding game elements or gamification within a teaching and learning space requires considerations by educators on the most effective use of their time, ability, and resources, as well as a clear understanding of the purpose of gamifiying their class or laboratory. Drawing upon 25 years of experience and feedback in implementing gamification and real games for anatomy learners in class, laboratory, and review, this article provides multiple examples and reflections/criteria for when gamification within a curriculum is value-added. The author offers approaches for targeting recall, team building, learner engagement through in-class knowledge checks and review sessions, game assignments, and even critical thinking using bespoke anatomy games addressing real-world application scenarios. Examples include several simple and low-tech options, adaptations of existing games, as well as commercial or custom games, which can be implemented as competitions. The author provides reflections and implementation recommendations for these approaches, the use of reward systems as well as web resources for building, adapting, or utilizing games outright.

The pressures from a rapidly evolving technological era have brought about a widespread attention crisis in academia; hence, more non-traditional approaches like game-based pedagogies in medical education have become imperative to increase students' engagement. The Cranial chaos card game was part of an integrated laboratory session on Neuroanatomy structure for first-year medical students, introduced in 2022 and repeated in 2023 to review the sensory, motor, and autonomic functions of the cranial nerves. The students completed an anonymous electronic end-of-course evaluation to assess the ease of use, interactivity, and effectiveness of the cranial nerve game in enhancing their understanding of cranial nerve functions. A total of 202 first-year medical students participated in this study. 90.2% of the 184 respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the cranial nerve card game was easy to use, 91.8% agreed or strongly agreed that the cranial nerve card game was interactive, and 78.3% agreed or strongly agreed that the cranial nerve card game facilitated a more practical understanding of cranial nerve functions. Cranial chaos is an innovative, simple, and inexpensive teaching tool for reviewing cranial nerve functions using real-life scenarios.

The public has limited knowledge of key organs and anatomical structures. The lack of anatomical knowledge and understanding can hinder time to access healthcare, quality of care, and treatment outcomes. The current study investigated the anatomical knowledge among Namibian children by comparing 8 school grades-4 to 12, which covers children from the ages of 9 to 18 years old, with a total of 481 participants from 5 schools located across various areas of Namibia. All structures showed an increase in the correct responses with an increase of age except for the stomach. Structures within the abdomen were most poorly answered, with the spleen (8.8%), adrenals (9.8%), gallbladder (11.9%), and pancreas (12.1%). Structures were then grouped into functional systems and a multiple logistic regression model was used to ascertain knowledge level compared with grade 4 (the earliest year of education) and girls as reference. Knowledge improved significantly across multiple increasing school grades. Students demonstrated the best increase in performance in muscular, endocrine, respiratory, digestive, and nervous systems, respectively-with 2 schools outperforming the rest. Analysis of the percentage of structures correctly located by boys and girls showed that girls outscored boys on average, in 15 of the structures. This is the first study to look specifically at the anatomical knowledge of children in both a primary and secondary educational setting, and the first that considers learners in Africa. The study provides evidence into the need for improved health education and promotion and its benefits in school children and their anatomical knowledge.

The COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique opportunity to assess remote Clinical Anatomy. Conversion of the donor dissection laboratory to asynchronous videos, combined with synchronous laboratory review and lecture, provided an alternative to face-to-face (F2F) learning. Two cohorts, 2019 (n = 104) and 2020 (n = 102), of dental and physician assistant (PA) students received F2F and remote instruction, respectively. Summative assessment items and low-stakes exam scores from both cohorts were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis tests with Dunn's post hoc analysis. The Clinical Anatomy Online Survey was developed to assess student perspectives of their anatomical knowledge and was administered to the 2020 cohort. Research goals were to assess learning outcomes, survey perspectives, and determine relationships between learning outcomes and perceptions of remote clinical anatomy students. Results were triangulated using a concurrent monomethod multistrand method. The 2020 remote PA cohort scored 5.0 ± 1.6 (5.0%, p = 0.017) points higher on summative assessment items and 1.4 ± 0.43 (4.7%, p = 0.003) points higher on low-stakes exams than the 2019 PA cohort, indicating adequate cognitive gains for remote learning. Performance on summative and low-stakes exams did not differ by format for dental students. Students also reported adequate cognitive domain gains in anatomical knowledge, but many perceived a lack of psychomotor and affective domain learning as a lost opportunity.