30 - Medical Students Participate in Clinical Anatomy Fellowship: Is There Benefit?

Poster Board Number: 30
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Abstract Body : Introduction and Objective: Kansas City University (KCU), an osteopathic medical school with two campuses and approximately 430 students per class, offers a year-long Clinical Anatomy Fellowship. KCU selects nine Anatomy Fellows each year to aid in the delivery of a cadaveric-based anatomy curriculum. Students can choose to pursue this competitive opportunity following their second or third year of medical school. The Fellows teach anatomy, guide dissections, mentor and tutor students, and complete an anatomical research project. An initial literature search did not identify publications that examine the benefit of participating in an anatomy fellowship. To investigate the advantages of engagement as an Anatomy Fellow, a study was designed to explore student motivation for pursuing the opportunity and the program’s impact on residency applications and early career success.

Materials and Methods: Two surveys (KCU IRB #1996817-1) were developed for distribution to incoming, current, and past Fellows via Qualtrics. The first survey, intended for incoming, current, and past Fellows that have not yet graduated from the university, collects data about motivations for pursuing the fellowship. The second survey, designed for Fellows who have graduated from the university, gathers data about how the fellowship impacted their residency application process and post-graduate medical career. For multiple choice questions, the percentage distribution will be reported. Open-ended responses will be coded by a team of two researchers (CM/GT). Descriptive codes will be applied to the data to summarize responses (Saldaña, 2016). The first coder (CM) coded the data in Microsoft Excel; the second coder (GT) reviewed the coded dataset and noted any datum where the coding did not match their interpretation. The team discussed the coding discrepancies and re-coded as necessary to reconcile. Responses were tabulated and converted to overall counts and percentages using Microsoft Excel.

Results: Early evaluation of an ongoing analysis reveals that incoming, current, and past Fellows that have not yet graduated from the university most commonly pursue the fellowship to gain research and teaching experience. Many indicate that they feel this opportunity will distinguish them during the residency application process. Early analysis of responses from graduated Fellows shows that most felt the program was a positive experience, citing the research opportunities as most beneficial.

Conclusion: There is a dearth of literature exploring the impact of medical school anatomy fellowship opportunities on student residency prospects and career success. As such, this study is well-positioned to fill a gap in medical education research. The opportunities to gain teaching experience and conduct research were highlighted as major driving factors in pursuing the Clinical Anatomy Fellowship. Furthermore, most students felt it would distinguish them when applying to residency. These findings suggest that the program benefits medical students and highlights the importance of increasing access to teaching and research opportunities.

Significance/Implication: These results bring awareness to the benefit of medical school fellowship opportunities, particularly in anatomy, signaling other medical institutions to consider adopting a similar program.

Funding Sources: No funding was received for this study.