Gross Anatomy Education in China during the Covid‐19 Pandemic: A National Survey

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic launched the use of online courses in Chinese medical schools during February 2020. To evaluate the state of gross anatomy education in China during the pandemic, a nationwide survey was conducted through convenience sampling by email or respondent invitations on social media. A total of 359 questionnaires were received from the respondents. The first response from a given school was included in the study to represent that school, thus, 77 questionnaires were used for analyses. Schools represented were from all provinces in mainland China as well as Hong Kong and Macao. The survey found that before the pandemic, 74.0% and 33.8% of the 77 schools conducted online theoretical and practical sessions, respectively, on gross anatomy, and 36 (46.8% of 77) had temporarily suspended practical sessions at the time the survey. Body donation programs were also affected with 26.0% and 27.3% of the 77 schools having suspended donation programs or saw a decreased number of donations. During the pandemic, 40.3% of the 77 schools kept or initiated the implementation of active learning, and online assessment was continued in 49.4% of the 77 medical schools. Another 26 (33.8%) schools initiated online assessment during the pandemic. A total of 359 answers were included for the analysis of the "teachers' perception of the online teaching experience". Nearly half (46.2%) of the 359 responded teachers were satisfied with the effectiveness of online teaching during the pandemic. A total of 36.2% of these respondents preferred to implement online teaching of theoretical sessions after the pandemic, and 89 (24.8%) teachers were keen to return to traditional face-to-face anatomy education.

Initial effects of Covid-19 pandemic on graduate anatomy education in Turkey

“…Synchronous education facilitates a limited interaction between academics and students by using polls, Q&A sessions, or active discussions. [25][26][27] While asynchronous education provides an opportunity of using and editing previously created content and effective time management. [27,28] On the other hand, synchronous education needs detailed scheduling.…”

“…[25][26][27] While asynchronous education provides an opportunity of using and editing previously created content and effective time management. [27,28] On the other hand, synchronous education needs detailed scheduling. Thus, hindering students with parental or caregiving responsibilities from attending these sessions.…”

“…[26] Online teaching has additional technical difficulties including internet quality, hardware or software problems, and online security risks such as Zoombombing. [25,27,29] Additionally, anatomy teachers had expressed that they had difficulty in grasping the student progress and learning with online education. [27] Furthermore, loss of face to face aspects of education including dissection sessions had caused a decrease in student wellbeing.…”

A Journey Like No Other: Anatomy 2020!

“…Creating additional pressure on nonclinical anatomists to develop and use new virtual approaches to continue the delivery of anatomy curricula. Anatomists also had to create action plans that enabled the gradual return to limited dissection classes or experiences when it was safe to do so (Bond and Franchi, 2020; Brassett et al, 2020; Cheng et al, 2021; Ross et al, 2020).…”

Effects of Covid‐19: The Need to Assess the Real Value of Anatomy Education

“…This is potentially further compounded by the fact that return to face‐to‐face learning activity in anatomy appears to be gradual and/or having to be conducted in smaller groups than usual. As such this requires further resourcing to take account of social distancing, additional health and safety requirements and repeated sessions/classes (Bond and Franchi, 2020; Ross et al, 2020; Cheng et al, 2021; Maloney et al, 2021).…”