Musculoskeletal Anatomy Education: Evaluating the Influence of Different Teaching and Learning Activities on Medical Students Perception and Academic Performance

Medical schools have traditionally used a lecture and dissection-based approach for educating students about human anatomy. There is growing interest in the adoption of alternative teaching and learning activities (TLAs) that incorporate the use of cadaveric prosection and computer-based learning into musculoskeletal (MSK) anatomy curricula. The purpose of this investigation was to examine retrospectively how different TLAs influenced student perceptions about learning, and performance on MSK anatomy examinations. Pre-clerkship students from the same medical school were compared. One group completed 15 hours of dissection-based laboratory instruction; another group completed 15 hours of prosection-based laboratory instruction. All other aspects of the curricula were the same. Information was gathered about student perceptions using a standardized survey that compared six different TLAs on eight specific learning objectives. Academic performance on examinations was compared. Ninety-three medical students (50% of first year class/34% of second year class) participated. Only 27 had taken a MSK anatomy course prior to enrolling in medicine. Both groups rated learning via medical imaging and clinical case-based scenarios highly. While each group also ranked both methods of cadaveric teaching highly, only the prosection group thought there was a significant difference. No differences in academic performance were noted between groups. Data support the inclusion of cadaveric-based teaching, medical imaging and clinical case-based scenarios as key elements of a MSK anatomy curriculum, and suggest that academic performance is not influenced by the method of cadaveric instruction. These results should help guide the selection of effective MSK anatomy TLAs within undergraduate medical programs.