Are medical students being taught anatomy in a way that best prepares them to be a physician?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Are medical students being taught anatomy in a way that best prepares them to be a physician?

AU - Meral Savran, Mona

AU - Tranum-Jensen, Jørgen

AU - Frost Clementsen, Paul

AU - Hastrup Svendsen, Jesper

AU - Holst Pedersen, Jesper

AU - Seier Poulsen, Steen

AU - Arendrup, Henrik

AU - Konge, Lars

N1 - © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

PY - 2015/7/1

Y1 - 2015/7/1

N2 - Reasoning in a clinical context is an attribute of medical expertise. Clinical reasoning in medical school can be encouraged by teaching basic science with a clinical emphasis. The aim of this study was to investigate whether anatomy is being taught in a way that facilitates the development of clinical reasoning. Two multiple-choice tests on thoracic anatomy were developed using a modified Delphi approach with groups of four clinical consultants and four teachers, respectively, expressing their opinions about knowledge relevant to thoracic anatomy. Validity was assessed by administering the tests to clinical consultants, anatomy teachers, and pre-course medical students. Post-course medical students took both tests to explore the focus of the course, i.e., whether it facilitated clinical reasoning. The pre-course students scored significantly lower than the teachers and post-course students on both tests and lower than the consultants on the consultants' test (P < 0.001 for all comparisons). The teachers significantly outperformed the consultants (P = 0.03 on the consultants' test, P < 0.001 on the teachers' test) and the medical students (P < 0.001 on both tests). The post-course students scored significantly lower on the consultants' test (P = 0.001) and significantly higher on the teachers' test (P = 0.02) than the consultants. This study demonstrates poor performances by medical students on a test containing clinically relevant anatomy, implying that the teaching they have received has not encouraged clinical reasoning.

AB - Reasoning in a clinical context is an attribute of medical expertise. Clinical reasoning in medical school can be encouraged by teaching basic science with a clinical emphasis. The aim of this study was to investigate whether anatomy is being taught in a way that facilitates the development of clinical reasoning. Two multiple-choice tests on thoracic anatomy were developed using a modified Delphi approach with groups of four clinical consultants and four teachers, respectively, expressing their opinions about knowledge relevant to thoracic anatomy. Validity was assessed by administering the tests to clinical consultants, anatomy teachers, and pre-course medical students. Post-course medical students took both tests to explore the focus of the course, i.e., whether it facilitated clinical reasoning. The pre-course students scored significantly lower than the teachers and post-course students on both tests and lower than the consultants on the consultants' test (P < 0.001 for all comparisons). The teachers significantly outperformed the consultants (P = 0.03 on the consultants' test, P < 0.001 on the teachers' test) and the medical students (P < 0.001 on both tests). The post-course students scored significantly lower on the consultants' test (P = 0.001) and significantly higher on the teachers' test (P = 0.02) than the consultants. This study demonstrates poor performances by medical students on a test containing clinically relevant anatomy, implying that the teaching they have received has not encouraged clinical reasoning.

U2 - 10.1002/ca.22557

DO - 10.1002/ca.22557

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 25973699

SN - 0897-3806

VL - 5

SP - 568

EP - 575

JO - Clinical Anatomy

JF - Clinical Anatomy

ER -