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Embryology in the Medical Curriculum: The Perceptions and Opinions of CurrentAnatomy Faculty
Author(s) -
Cassidy Keely
Publication year - 2015
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.29.1_supplement.695.1
Subject(s) - embryology , curriculum , subject (documents) , medical education , likert scale , psychology , mathematics education , medicine , anatomy , pedagogy , computer science , library science , developmental psychology
The anatomical sciences have seen a decrease in hours within U.S. medical education in recent years, most notably in the subject of embryology. With more changes to come, it is prudent to ask embryology educators about content placement, pedagogical methods, and personal experiences. The researchers distributed an online mixed methods survey to current anatomy and embryology faculty. Eighty‐eight percent of the 42 respondents teach at allopathic medical schools, 31% with at least 16 years of experience teaching embryology and 31% with less than 5 years. They primarily teach gross anatomy content, with a smaller percentage of embryology or various anatomy topics within an integrated curriculum. The integration of embryology into other courses is typical, remaining true in this study with 70% integrated and 30% stand‐alone courses. Sixty‐three percent of these individuals teach embryology because they volunteered, 25% were assigned, and 12% cited other reasons. When asked to rate their confidence level teaching embryology on a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high), 79% reported at least a 7, with a mode of 7.5. Analysis of Likert items show that in general, they find embryology interesting and moderately difficult as a subject but find it to be important and applicable to the education of future physicians. Respondents answered an open‐ended question on how to improve the teaching and learning of embryology with several major themes: better integration and curricular placement, improved animations, and greater focus on clinical application. In this time of reform and integration, anatomy educators' perceptions and opinions of the current status of embryology in medical education must be gathered in order to assess its efficacy and to formulate inquiry‐guided recommendations for the future.