Assessing students knowledge of sub-disciplines in anatomy: A pilot study

In recent time, anatomy as a discipline has been broadened, providing lodgings for sub-disciplines. Arising from the consequence of this expansion, it is necessary to assess the knowledge of the sub-disciplines among student trainees in anatomy. Hundred pretested and self-administered questionnaires were administered to undergraduate students and graduate students of BSc. in Anatomy of the Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Nigeria. Results show bio-anthropology to be least known among the students with only 1% of the individuals claiming to have adequate knowledge of it. Other disciplines like sports science and biomechanics, mortuary science, biometrics and forensic biology were higher in the list while evolutionary biology and comparative anatomy, neuroscience, clinical genetics and embryology and histology and histochemistry were top on the list with the students claiming adequate knowledge to specialize in them. This shows that not all sub-disciplines are understood and appreciated by our students and this assessment will be a guidepost in future re-design and review of our undergraduate and post-graduate curricula.   Key words: curriculum, anatomy, anatomy education, sub-disciplines, Nigeria.