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Prosections in Anatomy Education: Preparation, Use, and Educator Perceptions
Author(s) -
Curran Shan,
Schaefer Audra
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.03291
Subject(s) - human anatomy , anatomy , medical education , dissection (medical) , gross anatomy , variety (cybernetics) , medicine , psychology , computer science , artificial intelligence
In response to decreasing anatomy lab contact hours, some anatomy courses are using prosections in order to maintain the benefits of utilizing human cadaveric donors while reducing student lab time. This change has spurred an ongoing debate amongst anatomy educators regarding the best method of anatomy instruction: student dissection or use of prosection? A missing piece in this debate is information on what methods of preparation and use of prosections will provide the best student outcomes. There are a variety of ways to prepare prosections for educational use that potentially influence their effectiveness as teaching tools. While there is plenty of literature comparing dissection and prosection, there are no studies examining how prosections are prepared and used in anatomy instruction. In this IRB approved study, an anonymous survey will be distributed online to anatomy educators to determine how human cadaveric prosections are prepared and utilized in courses they teach at their institution. Anatomy educators from all levels of higher education and all program types will be invited to provide input. The aims of this study are to determine: 1) anatomy educator’s views on the use of prosection in anatomy education, focusing on how they define prosection and what they think the strengths and weaknesses of prosection use in anatomy education are, 2) the types of institutions and course levels using prosections for anatomy education, 3) how prosections are used as either a supplemental tool or a primary teaching tool, 4) how prosections are prepared for different uses, 5) who prepares prosections at different institutions, and 6) how it is decided that prosections will be used compared to other resources in anatomy education. Descriptive statistics will be performed on quantitative data collected from multiple choice questions and free response survey items will undergo thematic analyses to determine themes amongst responses. Finding out how educators are preparing and utilizing prosections is the first step towards determining how best to maximize the effectiveness of prosection use. The results of this study will lay the foundation and provide background information for further prosection use and preparation studies.