Anatomical Sciences Education最新文献

Over three decades since its introduction, the Thiel embalming method remains a widely used and praised technique in anatomical education and clinical training. This study compared for the first time the Thiel original protocol (TO) and a Modified version (TM) across user groups—undergraduate medical students, student demonstrators in anatomy, postgraduate trainees, and expert anatomists—to evaluate tissue quality and educational suitability. A total of 520 participants assessed both methods based on tissue preservation, color, pliability, and achievement of learning objectives. Undergraduate medical students and demonstrators rated TO significantly higher than TM in all domains (p < 0.01), highlighting its lifelike appearance, clear anatomical definition, and superior dissection properties. Anatomists supported these findings, citing better tissue realism and structural integrity in TO specimens. Postgraduate users, mainly orthopedic surgeons, rated both methods similarly for musculoskeletal and nervous tissues, but preferred TO for the clarity of visceral organs (p < 0.01). While TM offered improvements for musculoskeletal training, users reported challenges including overly soft viscera, liquefied fat, and reduced structural clarity, making it less suitable for beginners. Both TO and TM were rated superior to formaldehyde- or ethanol-based techniques in terms of educational utility and realism. Qualitative feedback confirmed TO as better suited for undergraduate anatomy education, particularly for dissection. TM, though valuable in specialized postgraduate training, was seen as less appropriate for novice learners. The findings highlight the need to align embalming protocols with educational goals and experience levels, with TO remaining the preferred method for foundational anatomical training.

Compared to human medical sciences, digital models of animals are rare, often behind subscription services and are comparatively lacking in interactivity and accessibility features. This study explores how digital models are currently being used to teach animal anatomy, providing the data required to construct the best anatomical models possible, to best suit the needs of a diverse student community. We designed an online survey which was completed by 35 students and eight staff learning and teaching veterinary and biological sciences from six universities across the United Kingdom. The results showed students struggle most with learning topographically vast body regions, such as the nervous and endocrine systems, and the anatomy of exotic and equine species. We find that digital models are being used more frequently by those on veterinary degrees compared to the biological sciences, often to consolidate learning after anatomy practicals. However, most participants were not aware of the existing resources we asked them to rate. Participants agreed that better digital models are needed in anatomy education, which would help students prepare for their studies and future careers. The most important features of the ideal digital anatomical model were being free to use and easy to navigate, with highly detailed annotations which can be toggled on and off to test anatomical knowledge. Participants agreed that while implementation of this ideal digital model would facilitate learning, virtual dissection practicals should not replace traditional anatomy practicals due to the valuable skills gained from hands-on experience with real tissue and dissection tools.

Application of three-dimensional anatomical knowledge is essential for patient examination, diagnosis, and treatment and is crucial in the training of medical and healthcare students. Moreover, critical observation and spatial awareness are vital for learner understanding of three-dimensional anatomical structures and relationships. However, there are logistical barriers to curricular integration of teaching that explicitly targets these skills. Exploring 3D Anatomy is an open online course, collaboratively produced at two universities in the United Kingdom and South Africa, and available free of charge to institutional and non-institutional users via Canvas (Instructure Europe, London, UK). The course is designed to develop three-dimensional spatial awareness remotely, using accessible household objects and art-based learning. Exploring 3D Anatomy is underpinned by pedagogical principles including multimodal, experiential, and social learning; critical observation and visualization; and evidence-informed art-based learning approaches including Haptico-visual observation and drawing and Observe-reflect-draw-edit-repeat. A phenomenological study was implemented to investigate learner perceptions of the pedagogical, social, and practical elements of Exploring 3D Anatomy. Undergraduate medical students (n = 8) at a United Kingdom medical school participated in two focus groups. Combined themes were constructed using double-coding and interpretative phenomenological analysis. A nested set of four themes was produced, each comprising a dichotomy or spectrum of views between opposing sub-themes: Inquiry (Strategic–Exploratory); Dialogue (Knowledge–Understanding); Cognition (Compartmental–Conceptual); Experience (Novice–Advanced). This work provides insights and implications for educators seeking to provide training in important but neglected skills beyond the boundaries of formal curricula, through implementation of flexible, accessible, and remote learning and training strategies in anatomical education.

The sustainability of body donation programs is contingent not only on cultural and religious frameworks that motivate altruistic giving, but also on the institutional practices that honor donors and maintain public trust. In Sri Lanka, Theravada Buddhist principles of dana (generosity) and karuna (compassion) underpin a well-established culture of body donation. The formal memorial ceremonies have served as the conventional expression of institutional gratitude to body donors. The Faculty of Medicine (FOM) at Wayamba University of Sri Lanka (WUSL), however, faced successive and compounding adversities following its inaugural student intake in 2018—including the Easter Sunday terrorist attack (2019), the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022), and a national economic crisis (2022–2023)—that rendered formal ceremonial commemoration logistically and practically unfeasible. In response, the corresponding author implemented an alternative commemorative practice in which medical students authored gratitude notes, poems, and artistic tributes addressed to body donors. This discursive article describes that initiative, situates it within the pluralistic society of Sri Lanka, and examines its implications for humanistic medical education. Drawing on the established literature on reflective writing, professional identity formation, and inclusive commemorative practice, student-authored expressions of gratitude are proposed as a pedagogically meaningful, complementary, and mutually reinforcing practice alongside formal ceremony. This experience offers a transferable model for newly established or resource-limited medical institutions navigating institutional constraints while remaining committed to the body donor commemoration.

Provenance is at the center of addressing the complicated ethical stewardship of legacy human skeletal collections. Many South African (SA) health science institutions have skeletal collections. While the history of the collections and the demographics of the skeletons have been reported, the provenance of the individuals within the collections, a key factor in ethical practice, has yet to be fully explored. The aim of this study was to investigate the provenance and demographics of the individuals housed in the modern human skeletal collections of South African anatomy departments to ensure their ethical stewardship. The provenance and demographic data (sex, age at death, year of death, and population affinity) of individuals housed in five modern human skeletal collections in SA health sciences institutions were collected. Descriptive statistics were applied to the data to derive frequencies, percentages, and means (SD). The majority of skeletons (83%; n = 3734) in the collections surveyed have been sourced from unclaimed individuals. For those institutions where population affinity was provided, SA Black individuals comprised 71% (n = 2586) of the unclaimed group. Skeletons from bequests were low (15%; n = 683), of which 99% (n = 452) were SA White, older individuals. Male individuals comprised 71% (n = 3196) of the collections. The high number of skeletons from unclaimed bodies in these collections highlights the challenge of ethical stewardship facing curators and institutions housing these collections. The continued use of these collections requires sustained discourse, policy development, and legislative oversight to facilitate the ethical treatment of the individuals within the collections.

Virtual reality (VR) offers new possibilities for anatomy education through immersive and embodied interaction. Early-stage evaluation of VR tools is necessary to assess user experience and perceived cognitive load and to guide iterative development. This pilot study aimed to descriptively evaluate the first prototype of the inCarne VR functional anatomy tool and explore the suitability of an adapted cognitive load questionnaire in this context. Seventeen participants, including kinesiology students and anatomy experts, completed a 15-min guided VR session involving real-time body tracking and skeletal mirroring of hip movements. User experience was assessed using the AttrakDiff questionnaire, measuring pragmatic quality, hedonic quality, and attractiveness. Perceived cognitive load was assessed using an adapted French version of the Leppink Cognitive Load Questionnaire. Analyses focused on descriptive statistics, internal consistency, and exploratory correlation coefficients. User experience ratings were descriptively positive across all dimensions, with attractiveness showing the highest mean score (M = 1.71, SD = 0.59). Intrinsic cognitive load was reported as low (M = 1.54, SD = 1.42), while germane load was higher (M = 4.26, SD = 2.95), indicating reported engagement in task-related cognitive processing. Intrinsic and germane load demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.834–0.950), whereas extraneous load showed low internal consistency (α = 0.283), limiting its interpretability. Exploratory correlations showed moderate to strong descriptive associations between selected user experience and cognitive load dimensions. These findings provide preliminary descriptive evidence supporting the feasibility of the inCarne prototype and inform future development and measurement validation in VR anatomy education.

AI is a medical education tool, yet its potential to foster morphologic reasoning remains underexplored. Histology students often struggle to move beyond pattern recognition toward evidence-based justification. This pilot trial evaluated a prompt-guided “Prompt Loop” workflow for improving morphologic reasoning and verification-oriented appraisal. A parallel-design randomized controlled trial was conducted with 55 first-year medical students. Participants were assigned to Standard Virtual Microscopy (VM) learning (n = 28) or VM Prompt Loop (n = 27). The intervention used a multimodal AI assistant (GPT-4o) within a four-stage cycle—Observation, Reasoning, Verification, and Consolidation—designed to treat AI inaccuracies as verification scaffolds. Outcomes included a supervised VM morphologic reasoning assessment (Identification vs. Reasoning) and a domain-level perception questionnaire. The VM Prompt Loop group achieved higher total scores (78.0 ± 13.5 vs. 67.1 ± 12.0; p = 0.003; Cohen's d = 0.85). This gain was mainly driven by the morphologic reasoning (38.4 ± 10.2 vs. 31.0 ± 8.2; p = 0.005; d = 0.80), whereas identification scores showed no significant difference (p = 0.073). Survey data revealed higher ratings for verification and inquiry behaviors (p < 0.001). Process documentation showed high fidelity, with 93% of Prompt Loop students submitting required AI-interaction screenshots and a mean of 2.1 ± 1.5 error-correction entries. A prompt-guided AI workflow improved morphologic reasoning in histology. When AI outputs were treated as provisional claims and routed through a structured verification process, the Prompt Loop may provide a practical model for supporting verification-oriented morphologic reasoning in histology.