Anatomy teaching in the 21st century

[Will Watson]

It looks like I've managed to blag a job writing the 3rd edition of Crash Course: Anatomy. I'm currently wading through Elsevier's market research and I'm also interested in hearing a few first-hand accounts of anatomy teaching elsewhere.

My background is fairly traditional: I get taught anatomy in preclinical lectures and directed dissections, with the emphasis on the normal anatomy and only the odd clinical example where appropriate.
I'm wondering to what extent this has been moved away from, so...

Do you still recieve formal anatomy lectures?
Is the focus in your learning on normal anatomy, or do you concentrate on clinical applications.
What would be most useful, a book that focuses on giving you the core facts of the actual anatomy (as Crash Course has attempted to in the past) or one that will give you much more of the clinical application as well?

Also, if you want to make comments about CC: Anatomy in general that would be helpful too. Responses to this thread are fine, or by PM or email if you prefer.

[exms]

You lucky sod - how did you manage that?!

I find that a *bit* of the clinical side helps me remember the anatomy, e.g. examples of someone being stabbed in a particular location. I'm not interested in anything more than that, such as which bits of anatomy are involved in various clinical procedures - I just get bogged down in that.

HTH

-- A.

[sparky21]

I know someone who could answer your questions on a wide scale (hopefully)... i'll pm you with the details...

x

[Vixter]

We get no formal anatomy teaching at Liverpool, We have pro-sections and models with work books to go through. Its mainly "normality" but we have seen things like horse-shoe kidneys, and there was an aortic aneuyrism (sp?) in one of the prosections.

I think a bit of the clinical application is a good way to make things stick, and i agree with exms to that extent.

Ooh, and nice clear pictures are good..I have seen some in text books which take ages to figure out which way you're looking at things etc etc....

Congrats smarty pants!

[joyabbott]

Clinically orientated would be good - not many books are predominantly clinically based at the mo

[sparky21]

In Cardiff we have all dissection, with very few lectures (I mean, 1 or 2!). We have a very much self-directed learning experience.. however, we have a fantastic clinical anatomist who takes groups of students for tutorials in the dissection periods - which really highlights the practical application of anatomy.

One thing I have found through anatomy demonstration is that students need to know the basics prior to learning anatomy... i.e. what a tendon is (why we have them etc) and shapes of muscles and what happens when they contract etc - it makes a static subject like anatomy far easier to understand. AND a basic understanding of embryology and development is essential.

When I did my degree I was taught embryology and the anatomy of exercise to complement anatomy and dissection.

x

[Sipadan]

Lets have some colour, as good a book as it is, shades of blue don't quite cut it for anatomy.

[sparky21]

Well said!!! - major problem with the crash course books... there's only so much Orange and blue a someone can take!

X

[axh264]

Anatomy SUCKS!!