A Five-Year Review of Enhanced Learning through Integration: Anatomy and Clinical Practice

Abstract

Many medical schools have undergone curricula revisions and attempted to integrate basic and clinical sciences. In 2012, our program at the University of Florida College of Medicine underwent significant curricular reform, transitioning from the standard medical curriculum to a systems-based approach. The teaching of anatomy, clinical skills, radiology, ethics, population health, human behavior, and evidence-based medicine was integrated into one class, "Introduction to Clinical Medicine", which spans 68 weeks in the pre-clerkship curriculum. As a result, there was a reduction of anatomy teaching from 166 to 120 hours. Our curriculum integration demonstrates opportunities for enhanced teaching including increasing peer learning, incorporating multidisciplinary case presentations, and allowing for a deliberate overlap and layering of anatomy education across two years of medical school. This paper describes our reflection on the effect of the curriculum change on student learning. Five years after implementation of these changes shows that our efforts also illustrate the challenges inherent to curricular integration including scheduling constraints, unclear sources of financial support, apprehension about the effect on future National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) scores, and difficulty assessing which areas a student needs to remediate within a failed integrated course. Overall, the integration of anatomy with other classes into a revised course at our College of Medicine has been well received and successful.

Direct Measurements of Root Canal Length in Primary Anterior Teeth for Educational and Clinical Purposes

“…Therefore, teaching clinical procedures substantiated by data on human dental anatomy reinforces its clinical relevance and the need for training (Hagen, Cooke, & Wright, 2017).…”

“…In addition, teaching and exploring the dental anatomy in integration with clinical procedures emphasizes the clinical relevance of basic sciences (Hagen, Cooke, & Wright, 2017) while increases the clinical competence of dental students to perform endodontic procedures.…”

Digital Technologies in the Teaching and Learning of Human Anatomy: analysis of the perceptions of Higher Education academics

“…It is of paramount importance to consider the methodological strategies that link teaching with digital technologies, since they enable "creative and varied ways of obtaining and processing information" (Foureaux et al, 2018, p.107). In addition, it is essential for teachers to choose teachers' materials appropriately, seeking strategies that aim at active learning and to provide varied educational experiences (Hagen, Cooke, Wright, & Rarey, 2017), and to consider the group of students in question , the curricular component and the activity to be performed (Lovato, Michelotti, Silva, & Loreto, 2018). In addition, three students cited the videos in their responses as resources that contribute to learning; two students mentioned the slides, which are also associated with visual aid.…”

Perceptions of dental students’ regarding anatomy learning and assessment in integrated curriculum adopted by Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University, Pakistan

“…Apart from professional need, there are certain litigious factors which make it necessary for the doctors to have knowledge of Anatomy [2] . Some of the factors that have effected the learning and teaching of anatomy worldwide are a reduction in allocated time, teaching staff and dissections [3,4] . The term integrated curriculum, described by Harden [5] , is supported by many medical education associations worldwide [6] to keep in pace with the changing needs in health sector.…”