Anatomy as a Model Environment for Acquiring Professional Competencies in Medicine: Experiences at Harvard Medical School

Abstract

Anatomy education provides students with opportunities to learn structure and function of the human body, to acquire professional competencies such as teamwork, interpersonal skills, self‐awareness, and to reflect on and practice medical ethics. The fulfillment of this wide potential can present challenges in courses that are part of an integrated curriculum and shorter than traditional courses. This new reality, together with students' increasing concern about the stresses within medical education, led to efforts at Harvard Medical School to implement practical steps toward an optimal learning environment in anatomy. These were based on core elements of ethical anatomy education and principles of trauma‐informed care. Anatomy is conceptualized here as the “first clinical discipline,” with relational interactions between anatomical educators, medical students, and body donors/patients. Essential prerequisites for the implementation of this work were support by the medical school leadership, open partnership between engaged students and faculty, faculty coordination, and peer‐teaching. Specific interventions included pre‐course faculty development on course philosophy and invitations to students to share their thoughts on anatomy. Student responses were integrated in course introductions, combined with a pre‐dissection laboratory visit, an introductory guide, and a module on the history and ethics of anatomy. During the course, team‐building activities were scheduled, and self‐reflection encouraged, for example, through written exercises, and elective life‐body drawing. Students' responses to the interventions were overall positive, but need further evaluation. This first attempt of a systematic implementation of an optimal learning environment in anatomy led to the identification of areas in need of adjustment.

In death there is life: perceptions of the university community regarding body donation for educational purposes in the United Arab Emirates

“…It also emphasizes the value and role of a dead body in the educational journey and future professional practice of an undergraduate medical student [ 2 , 3 ]. Not only does the traditional hands-on approach of dissecting the body allow the student to simultaneously learn the gross anatomical structure while using one's physiological senses, but it also conveys medical ethics and best practices, and helps to cultivate humanistic values and core professional competencies, thereby instilling the “hidden curriculum” of life [ 4 , 5 ]. Hence, human body dissection in the discipline of anatomy has remained as the primary method of anatomy instruction for centuries and is often deemed to be a fundamental component of the pre-clinical phase in the Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) curriculum [ 3 , 6 ].…”

“Fun slipping into the doctor's role”—The relationship between sonoanatomy teaching and professional identity formation before and during the Covid‐19 pandemic

“…Here, the sonoanatomy tutor can be regarded as a role model (Bandura, 1962; Mullikin et al, 2019), particularly relevant for students with diverse educational and cultural backgrounds (Volpe et al, 2021). It is necessary to teach the teacher within these PIF dimensions to evolve critical thinking, problem‐solving, professionalism and empathy labor (Dunbar and Nichols, 2012; Hundertmark et al, 2019; McDaniel et al, 2020; Van Der Westhuizen et al, 2020). The teaching staff must sensitively accompany the undergraduate students during this vulnerable experience in a trustful way, be aware of the identity‐related dimensions, while opening the room for a reflective discourse.…”

Donor Oath: Respect to the Mortal Teacher to Learn Ethics and Humanitarian Values of Anatomy

“…Anatomy can be learned and taught in diverse ways, but the traditional teaching through dissection and disarticulated specimens is highly valuable. In spite of the availability of many kinds of teaching and learning methods in the medical field, students and faculties are more attracted towards using donors in their teaching, mainly due to their realistic nature, 3D orientation, appreciation, and handling of various structures of the human body, which could help in differentiating normal anatomy from pathological lesions [12][13][14][15][16]. Students are not inclined towards other teaching methods when compared with using donors' bodies in the anatomy laboratory.…”