Delivering clinical based anatomy to medical students from a surgeon's perspective

Current trends in United States and Canadian medical schools show a shift from basic science teaching to more clinically based teaching. This has resulted in a reduction of time dedicated to didactic and laboratory anatomical education. In order to increase medical student exposure to anatomy, and to do so with clinical applicability, a student run initiative called Surgically Oriented Anatomy (SOA) was created at our medical school. SOA invites surgeons from various specialties to demonstrate a surgical procedure of their choosing on a cadaver. During the demonstration, the surgeon discusses the relevant anatomy that is required in order to complete a surgical procedure. The students then break into smaller groups and examine the relevant anatomy on cadavers. SOA is an extra‐curricular initiative and has thus far proven to be quite popular as 60% of first and second year medical students are currently registered in the program. The high demand for SOA, along with the extremely positive feedback from students attending SOA, demonstrates the desire amongst medical students to learn anatomy, particularly when delivered within a surgical context. Grant Funding Source : N/A