Effectiveness of a shortened, clinically engaged anatomy course for physician assistant students.

There is little consensus among programs that train physician assistants (PAs) regarding how much time should be devoted to the study of anatomy, what should be included, or how it should be taught. Similar concerns led us to redesign anatomy for medical students and introduce clinically engaged anatomy, an approach designed in collaboration with clinical faculty. This approach presents anatomy entirely within the context of common clinical cases.

Design, implementation, and evaluation of an innovative anatomy course.

Starting in 2004, a medical school gross anatomy course faced with a 30% cut in hours went through an extensive redesign, which transformed a traditional dissection course into a course with a clinical focus, learning societies, and extensive on-line learning support. Built into the redesign process was an extensive and ongoing assessment process, which included student focus groups, faculty development, surveys, and examinations. These assessments were used formatively, to enhance the course from year to year, and summatively, to determine how well the course was meeting the new learning objectives.