22 - Effectiveness of Virtual Teaching in Anatomical Education: Two Survey Studies Focused on the Pharynx and the Nasal & Oral Cavity and the Larynx

Poster Board Number: 22
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Abstract Body : 1. Introduction
Since 2020 January when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a global health emergency, the governments across the world have developed stringent containment measures including quarantine, testing, mask mandating, social distancing, and restriction on public service to combat the increasing incidence of COVID-19 cases. As a results of those public health measures, many medical schools around the world have suspended their in-person teaching due to this global pandemic. Given the critical role of healthcare workers in the control of the ongoing pandemic, online learning has been adopted by many medical systems worldwide to continue providing medical training to medical students and staffs. Human gross anatomy is the cornerstone of medical education and has been impacted dramatically during the transition to online medical teaching. With the advancement in technology, harboring multi-media to assist anatomical education in medical school may suffice the needs of medical students. The objective of this project is to assess the effectiveness of the self-paced dissection videos in gross anatomy education with a focus on the pharynx, larynx, nasal cavity, and oral cavity.

2. Method
Two videos on the pharynx and the nasal & oral cavity and larynx were filmed at the University of British Columbia, edited by Camtasia software, incorporated as part of the anatomy curriculum for first-year medical students, and made available to learners interested in the upper airway anatomy via the public platform “YouTube”. The videos are characterized by a list of learning objectives, labeling of anatomical structures, extra notes of the labeled structures, schematic diagrams, review quiz questions, and feedback survey.

3. Results
The results were collected from the feedback survey for a period of three months from August 2022 to December 2022. The videos received a combined 791 views, 36 likes, and 107 survey responses. The respondents watched the videos for the purpose of preparing for anatomy exam (68.3%) and preparing for anatomy labs (15.8%). Most of the respondents strongly agreed that the videos assisted them in fulfilling their indicated purposes (79.4%), and that a combination of written and video materials would suffice for effective learning (98.9%). Furthermore, most of the respondents found it very helpful to have labeling of the anatomical structures (83.2%), extra notes of the labeled structures (81.2%), schematic diagrams (81.2%), and review quiz questions (83.2%).

4. Conclusion
COVID-19 outbreak acts as an opportunity for medical schools worldwide to develop and improve their virtual learning resources for medical students. Virtual teaching merits its unique value and has proven to be effective according to our study in the anatomical education of the upper airway.

5. Significance and Implication
Dissection videos have been an effective way of teaching gross anatomy to medical students, as most of the respondents strongly agreed that their purposes of preparing for exams and anatomy labs were fulfilled after watching the videos. The current format and content of the videos have been found very helpful by students and should be carried over to the gross anatomy videos of other body parts in the future. The future direction of this study should be focused on reaching a broader audience and higher percentage of survey completion.