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A long‐term perspective on advanced clinical anatomy programs
Author(s) -
Gilroy Anne M
Publication year - 2007
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.21.5.a197-d
Subject(s) - pace , specialty , medical education , preparedness , curriculum , perspective (graphical) , competition (biology) , medicine , psychology , engineering ethics , political science , pedagogy , engineering , family medicine , computer science , geodesy , artificial intelligence , ecology , biology , law , geography
Students in their fourth year of medical school are in an ideal position to integrate their newly learned clinical skills with the basic science knowledge acquired earlier in their training. Many medical schools now offer senior electives that provide this opportunity and increasingly these courses are focused wholly, or in part, on clinical anatomy. As competition for residency programs increases, however, students may be encouraged to enroll in electives that focus solely on advanced clinical skills and specialty medicine rather than basic science. This challenges the medical educator to be creative in developing curricula that keeps pace with the expanding integrative nature of medical education and to anticipate the requirements for participating in a highly specialized and technologically based medical field. The details of fourth year electives offered at UMass for more than a decade will be discussed with regard to their design strategy, effect on residency preparedness and evolution in response to technological advances and educational trends.