Teaching Integrated Course of Physical Examination and Trunk Anatomy to Second Year Medical Students

Abstract Introduction: Today, there is a global tendency to teaching anatomy courses at the same time with clinical skills during medical education period. This project was designed to determine the effect of an integrated course of physical examination and trunk anatomy on second year medical students' knowledge of anatomy and their attitude towards this method of learning anatomy. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was performed on 39 second year medical students in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in the year 2004-2005. The volunteer students were assigned randomly into two experiment (physical examination) and control (case discussion) groups. Both groups were taught by general physicians in small groups. The effect of the new course on the attitude of the experiment group was assessed by a valid and reliable questionnaire. The theoretical and practical scores of anatomy in both groups were compared by t-test. Results: Thirty seven students (95%) attended the whole program. The mean and standard deviation of theoretical anatomy score in the experiment and control groups were 46.66.3 and 41.46.0 out of the total score 65, respectively. There was no significant difference between practical anatomy scores of the two groups. The Cronbach`s alpha for the attitude questionnaire was 0.94. The mean and standard deviation of the attitude score in the experiment group were 3.48±0.8 out of 5. Eighty one point 3 percent of students believed that the course made them focus on clinical aspects of anatomy in their current studies. Seventy five percent revealed that recalling anatomy subjects was more effective and easier in this method compared with traditional lectures. Conclusion: Teaching physical examination at the same time with anatomy course facilitates learning anatomy. On the other hand, it can motivate students and increase their interest in anatomy.