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Day One: What are the possibilities for the first day of gross anatomy courses?
Author(s) -
Metzger Keith A,
Elkowitz David E,
Rennie William
Publication year - 2013
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.27.1_supplement.960.32
Subject(s) - gross anatomy , formative assessment , session (web analytics) , curriculum , psychology , dissection (medical) , medical education , facilitator , human anatomy , mathematics education , anatomy , medicine , pedagogy , computer science , social psychology , world wide web
The first day of gross anatomy courses varies across curricula, potentially including cadaveric dissection, memorial services, or other introductory activities. We assert that the first day of an anatomy course is a crucial formative experience, and as such has great potential for the acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes related to a student's professional development. We present an overview of the day one activities at the Hofstra North Shore‐LIJ School of Medicine, focusing on how they address course and curricular objectives. Our first lab is a four‐hour session titled “Observation and Correlation.” In the first half of the session, students work in small groups, refining their clinical observation skills through external examination of a cadaver. Discussion with each other and a facilitator extends observations to inferences about the medical, psychological and social history of the cadaver. The second half involves pulse point dissection, allowing appreciation of relationships between external points and underlying structures. Faculty help to guide, but do not orchestrate the discussion. We believe these activities address several fundamental principles of clinical observation, including its dual sensory/cognitive nature, the distinction between observation and inference, the importance of description, and the goal‐oriented nature of clinical observation (Boudreau et al., 2008).