Are Anatomy PhDs Nearing Extinction or Adapting to Change? United States Graduate Education Trends in the Anatomical Sciences

Wilson, Adam B.; Kaza, Niroop; Singpurwalla, Darius; Brooks, William S.

doi:10.1002/ase.2013

Cited by 14 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 34 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Cadaver laboratories are difficult to maintain (Turney, 2007;Hackmann et al, 2019). Acquiring, storing, and disposing of cadavers creates demands on already limited resources such as instructional staff, time, and money (Turney, 2007;Gummery et al, 2018;McBride and Drake, 2018;Wilson et al, 2020Wilson et al, , 2021. Time is further constrained in veterinary cadaver laboratories when multiple species are dissected to help veterinary students achieve the core competency of multispecies knowledge (NAVMEC Board of Directors, 2011;Guevar, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing Anatomical Instruction: Impact of a Virtual Canine Anatomy Program on Student Outcomes

Linton

Garrett

Ivie

et al. 2021

Anatomical Sciences Ed

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Innovative reforms in medical education will require instructional tools to support these changes and to give students more flexibility in where and how they learn. At Colorado State University, the software program Virtual Canine Anatomy (VCA) was developed to assist student learning both inside and outside the anatomical laboratory. The program includes interactive anatomical photographs of dissected canine cadavers, dissection instructions with accompanying videos and diagrams, radiographs, and three‐dimensional models. There is a need to evaluate the effectiveness of instructional tools like VCA so that decisions on pedagogical delivery can be evidence‐based. To measure the impact of VCA on student outcomes in a dissection laboratory, this study compared student attitudes, quiz scores, dissection quality and accuracy, and instructor reliance between students with and without access to VCA. Students with VCA needed less time with teaching assistants (P < 0.01), asked teaching assistants fewer questions (P = 0.04), felt that the dissection was easier (P = 0.02), and were in stronger agreement that they had access to adequate resources (P = 0.02). No differences were found in the dissection quality or accuracy, quiz scores, or attitudes regarding overall enjoyment of the activity between the two groups. This study shows that VCA increases student independence and can be used to enhance anatomical instruction.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing Anatomical Instruction: Impact of a Virtual Canine Anatomy Program on Student Outcomes

Linton

Garrett

Ivie

et al. 2021

Anatomical Sciences Ed

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, if ‘necessity is the mother of invention’, then this period has been characterized by creativity, collaboration and innovation. Anatomy instruction has faced numerous challenges during the pandemic (Gummery et al, 2018; McBride & Drake, 2018; Turney, 2007; Wilson et al, 2020), and yet anatomy faculty are known for developing cutting‐edge technologies and integrating them into novel teaching methods to improve student learning (Collins, 2008; Erickson, 2020; Linton et al, 2005; Reeves et al, 2004; Shah, 2020; Zargaran et al, 2020). The pandemic forced anatomy programs that had relied on in‐person and hands‐on cadaveric experiences to leverage existing—or create new—online and asynchronous learning tools (World Association of Veterinary Anatomists, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Virtual Animal Anatomy facilitated a successful transition to online instruction and supported student learning during the coronavirus pandemic

Martin

Arnold

Linton

et al. 2022

Anat Histol Embryol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Anatomy faculty with cadaver‐based laboratory courses were presented with a significant challenge in March 2020 to create equivalent learning experiences without cadaveric access. The undergraduate domestic animal anatomy course at the Colorado State University was halfway into a 16‐week semester when COVID‐19 lockdown orders and the transition to remote instruction began. The new course curriculum was critically evaluated using student surveys and course outcome data. Most students (92.5%) agreed that the transition to online learning was a success; however, students who valued face‐to‐face lectures prior to March were less likely to perceive the transition as a success. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of survey results suggest that the resources perceived as most helpful for the transition to online learning were not the same as those that helped facilitate animal anatomy learning. Most students (92.5%) agreed that the Virtual Animal Anatomy (VAA) helped them learn anatomy, and 82.2% indicated that the VAA was a valuable resource following the transition to online learning. Additional resources associated with transition success included course instructors, weekly quizzes, written descriptions of anatomical structures and open laboratory sessions. In contrast, those resources associated with facilitating learning included guided quizzes and asynchronous lecture recordings. These findings suggest that the VAA can support online anatomy learning when used in conjunction with other best practices for online teaching.

show abstract

“…There are various gross anatomy training certificate programs across the United States, that in effect largely rely on a modified apprenticeship model (Doss & Brooks, 2016; Richardson‐Hatcher et al, 2018). However, the formal training of anatomists is waning, and shortages of educators able to teach gross anatomy are expected (Wilson et al, 2020, 2021a). Some number of doctoral programs specifically training anatomical and medical science educators do exist (Brokaw & O'Loughlin, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of these three elements, the most limiting factor is likely faculty, followed closely by donors (Wilson et al, 2020(Wilson et al, , 2021a. Efforts have been made to train the next generation of anatomy faculty, including discipline-specific doctorates and/or certifications.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A quality improvement apprenticeship: Gross anatomy in the time of Covid‐19

Hatcher

Pearson

Platt

2022

Anatomical Sciences Ed

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In a historical sense, the study of anatomy has long been a tactile, physical, and extant art: using the hands and eyes to study the human body, often in the form of a theatrical spectacle based on cadaver dissection (de Carvalho Filho et al., 2021;Brenna, 2022).Well into the modern era, little has changed about learning anatomical sciences. Students (university students of all levels, including professional students of medicine and science) study under skilled masters (anatomy faculty) in small-group settings to learn the form of the body. Many of those students, especially doctoral students, may go on to train others in the fine art of dissection, perpetuating the well-established tradition of learning in a master/journeyman/ apprentice model.

show abstract

Are Anatomy PhDs Nearing Extinction or Adapting to Change? United States Graduate Education Trends in the Anatomical Sciences

Cited by 14 publications

References 34 publications

Enhancing Anatomical Instruction: Impact of a Virtual Canine Anatomy Program on Student Outcomes

Enhancing Anatomical Instruction: Impact of a Virtual Canine Anatomy Program on Student Outcomes

How Virtual Animal Anatomy facilitated a successful transition to online instruction and supported student learning during the coronavirus pandemic

A quality improvement apprenticeship: Gross anatomy in the time of Covid‐19

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About