“Keeping It Fresh: The Challenge of An Old Subject (Anatomy), Middle

Aged Professors, and Young Students”

Disclaimer: We are only speaking from our own experience, and don’t presume that our experiences would apply to other courses

Old Subject :Anatomy

• Tell me, is there anything NEW in Anatomy?– Subtext=?? (you must be so bored)

• How do you manage to maintain interest in teaching it after SO very many years?– Subtext=?? (you must be so boring)

Conroy family tally

33 years of teaching (67 Conroy-years)

2008 is our 26th year here at WUSM

- will put us over the 4000 student- mark

Why do we continue to find it stimulating?

Three elements:– The discipline itself and its intrinsic importance

– The environment• Students• Administration (OMSE)• Our Department head very supportive

– Our superb colleagues• 5 of us in the course ALL THE TIME.

Despite the implication (and occasionally voiced opinion) that Anatomy is a moribund field, the

centrality of anatomical knowledge to medical education is widely

acknowledged

Postgraduate Residency Program Survey : adequacy of Gross Anatomy preparation

• Diagnostic Radiology 84% (172/204)

• General Surgery 84% (224/266)

• Emergency Medicine 83% (93/112)

• Family Practice 71% (312/440)

Clinical Anatomy 12:55-65 (1999)

How important is the knowledge of Gross Anatomy to your residency program?

How well prepared are first year residents in their knowledge of Gross Anatomy?

Anatomy Curriculum hours. Survey comparing 1991 and 1997

The average number of curriculum hours assigned to gross anatomy (national data)

1991 …………………. 190 hours

1997 …………………..165 hours

WUMS hours for Gross Anatomy 140 hours

So- the Challenges• COURSE = It’s long

– 40 lectures (10/40 are given by clinical faculty)– 3 exams (these take a lot of time…more later)– 100 lab contact hours

• FACULTY : The WAY we teach

• Aggressively interactive use of lab time: provocative,probing teaching style

• Liberal use of demonstrations in lab and lecture• MUCH direct engagement and interaction with students• Four month intense experience for students and faculty • “Three-ring circus”

• Who will be the next generation of teachers?

• Exams

Paradoxically, a feature of teaching Anatomy that might appear to make it unattractive (ie amount of time) results in faculty feeling highly connected to and invested in the course

Old Subject :Anatomy

• So, IS there anything NEW in Anatomy?– Human variation means that there’s always something new

to be learned– it takes DECADES to produce a really knowledgeable anatomist

– New visualization methods- explosion of IMAGING techniques emphasizing anatomical structures

– Cadaver is window into medical progress over the last three decades: new procedures; much new to be learned

• How do we manage to maintain interest in teaching it after so many years?

• Immediacy of satisfaction: We SEE students’ progress– THEIR AWE over seeing a human heart, brain etc…

• BEYOND ANATOMY: introducing students to the beginning of a life-long exposure to issues concerning professionalism

Most important is a sense of CONSTANT LEARNING

• students and faculty

• clinical faculty introduce new perspectives:

– 10 superb clinical lecturers– Radiology residents presenting conferences

– Surgeons come to lab

• advances in surgical techniques are seen in the dissection lab

Prostheses……….old and newthyroplasty

Stents and filters,pacemakersBiventricular pacer

IVC stent

Middle Aged Professors and Young Students

How should we be teaching?

How they learn (we think)

– Primacy of electronic media and computer-based learning methods

visual and interactive– Animations

– Weblinks and images

– Flashcards

But…..Our observations

– Despite students’ facility, familiarity, and appreciation of interactive, IT features , they explicitly comment positively on the value of face-to-face interactions (teachers at the dissecting table), lab demonstrations and socratic, interactive, visually engaging lecturing

(duct-tape, CHALK-BOARD coloring-in sessions– and even……

powerpoints?????)

*Course evaluations for other courses often voice similar opinions

Our keeping it fresh is facilitated by

and new^

Keeping it fresh???

• Pleasure in students’ progress

• Clear sense of expanding one’s own knowledge base

• Refine knowledge by learning material through different prisms (3D anatomy, developmental biology)

• Camaraderie ……….we have FUN

• But………..it IS exhausting……

Are we offering any prescriptions?

• Nothing more than our experiences, which might/might not be applicable—

– More time!!!! (sure………..)

– ****Demonstrations and interaction

• We continually reflect on the course and make year-to-year adjustments

Our course is always a work in progress

• Current focus of attention

Exams

– The amount of faculty time they take– Their value to students– The sense that there might be a better way to get at what

we need to know

• In the face of limited course time, do exams represent time taken away from learning?