144 - Success of Traditional vs. Digital Human Anatomy Curricula at the UAMS College of Medicine

Poster Board Number: 144
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Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Abstract Body : Background: With the advance of technology, novel teaching methods have been created that could revolutionize the classroom. For centuries, medical students have learned human anatomy in cadaver labs. Digital systems like Toltech’s virtual dissection table have a role in modern blended-learning anatomy curricula and could essentially supplement the educational power of cadaver-based methods [1]. Even newer solutions like Virtual Reality dissectors are strongly supported in the literature for integration into the anatomy lab [2]. Organizations such as the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock (LR) have incorporated these resources into their curriculum. UAMS now offers a virtual anatomy lab experience at its satellite campus in Northwest Arkansas (NWA). This allows UAMS to provide a comparable education in NWA without the resources of the central campus. We attempt to determine if these new digital systems are as effective in preparing students for their exams as the traditional dissection-based learning experience.
Methods: The freshman human anatomy course at UAMS administers three written exams during the course. The exams were standardized across both campuses. Scores were statistically compared between the groups.
Results: There was no significant difference on the initial exam, t(19) = 0.11, p = .91, with nearly identical averages among the groups with the 17 students in NWA (M = 83.6%, SD = 10.3) attaining slightly higher scores than the 167 students in LR (M = 83.3%, SD = 9.0). The second exam scores for NWA (M = 79.7%, SD = 8.0) compared to LR (M = 82.4%, SD = 8.2) demonstrated lower scores for NWA, but that difference was not significant, t(20) = 1.32, p = .20. The third and final exam scores for NWA students (M = 77.1%, SD = 9.5) compared to students in Little Rock (M = 83.4%, SD = 10.4) demonstrated significantly lower scores, t(20) = 2.55, p = .02.
Discussion: This study showed statistically similar results for the first two exams. This suggests that each campus is receiving comparable content to succeed on exams. However, the satellite campus performed significantly worse on the cumulative final. We hypothesize that retention is higher among those who attended daily dissection labs. This may be a systemic effect of the different coursework. Students in LR are working on a full anatomical specimen every day in the lab. In contrast, the students in NWA use their digital platforms to filter specific regional anatomy from that day’s assignment. This could reduce the amount of repetition of prior topics that the students are achieving in NWA which lowers the performance on the cumulative final as a result.
Conclusion: Digital learning platforms can adequately prepare a student for human anatomy exams in medical school. Designing a curriculum to optimally utilize digital resources is important in achieving comparable education outcomes to standard curricula.

1. Chytas D, Salmas M, Noussios G, Paraskevas G, Protogerou V, Demesticha T, Vassiou A. Do virtual dissection tables add benefit to cadaver-based anatomy education? An evaluation. Morphologie. 2022 Feb 5:S1286-0115(22)00002-9. doi: 10.1016/j.morpho.2022.01.002. PMID: 35135673.
2. Uruthiralingam U, Rea PM. Augmented and Virtual Reality in Anatomical Education - A Systematic Review. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2020;1235:89-101. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-37639-0_5. PMID: 32488637.