“Anatomy and Imaging”: 10 Years of Experience with an Interdisciplinary Teaching Project in Preclinical Medical Education – From an Elective to a Curricular Course

Abstract

!Purpose: Presentation of an interdisciplinary, interactive, tutor-based preclinical teaching project called "Anatomy and Imaging". Materials and Methods: Experience report, analysis of evaluation results and selective literature review. Results: From 2001 to 2012, 618 students took the basic course (4 periods per week throughout the semester) and 316 took the advanced course (2 periods per week). We reviewed 557 (return rate 90.1 %) and 292 (92.4 %) completed evaluation forms of the basic and the advanced course. Results showed overall high satisfaction with the courses (1.33 and 1.56, respectively, on a 5-point Likert scale). The recognizability of the relevance of the course content for medical training, the promotion of the interest in medicine and the quality of the student tutors were evaluated especially positively. Conclusion: The "Anatomy and Imaging" teaching project is a successful concept for integrating medical imaging into the preclinical stage of medical education. The course was offered as part of the curriculum in 2013 for the first time. "Anatomia in mortuis" and "Anatomia in vivo" are not regarded as rivaling entities in the delivery of knowledge, but as complementary methods.

Competency-Based Teaching in Radiology – Implementation and Evaluation of Interactive Workstation-Based Learning to Apply NKLM-Based Content

“…Integrative classes in anatomy and radiology in which images are interactively analyzed are being offered as part of preclinical education at multiple medical schools in Germany [13]. For their study Schober et al used the Osirix DICOM viewer which is also available free of charge for the iPad [12]. A study from Japan used the same method to compare the body anatomy to the CT anatomy during dissection in the anatomy course [11].…”

Specializing Anatomy - Developing an Integrated Radiological Anatomy Module for the First Year Medical Students

“…A simultaneous application of dissection, radiological film material, clinical cases and the achieving of clinical skills lead to a significant improvement of the understanding of anatomy [31]. As said by Schober et al, [32], "the transmission of information into long-term memory and the rapid recall in a clinical situation depend crucially on the conditions under which the information was learned". The above said statement was confirmed by a study by Erkonen WE et al, [33] where lectures were designed to integrate diagnostic imaging with anatomical structures.…”

Who will be the Radiologists of Tomorrow? A survey of radiology during the “Practical Year” in Germany

“…An evaluation of the curriculum demonstrated the positive effect of early implementation of radiology in the coursework [4,5]. Likewise, practical training using case studies [6,7] and integrative instruction involving other subjects [5,8] particularly increase students' motivation, thus enhancing the image of radiology among students. Due to close personal contact and hands-on activity, a practicum in radiology such as a medical clerkship particularly offers an opportunity to encourage students in a subject area [9,10].…”