Teaching gross anatomy during the Covid-19 pandemic: Effects on medical students' gain of knowledge, confidence levels and pandemic- related concerns

For medical students the dissection course is the preferred method to learn gross anatomy. However, the added value of active cadaver dissection on knowledge gain in multimodal curricula offering a diversity of e-learning resources is unknown. The Covid-19-related lockdown forced educators to replace the dissection course by e-learning resources. At the end of the summer term 2020 loosening of pandemic-related reg-ulations allowed offering a compact, voluntary active dissection course of the head-neck region to first-year medical students at Hannover Medical School. A study was conducted comparing a dissection group (G1, n = 115) and a non-dissection group (G2, n = 23). Knowledge gain and confidence level were measured with a multiple-choice (MC-)test. The use of e-learning resources was recorded. A questionnaire measured motivation, interest and level of concern regarding Covid-19 and anatomy teaching. No differences between groups were found regarding motivation and interest in anatomy of the head-neck region. G2, however, had significantly higher concerns regarding the Covid-19 pandemic than G1. Neither before nor after the edu-cational intervention, differences in the scores of the MC-test were found. However, after the course G1 answered more MC-questions with highest confidence level than G2 (6.7 +/- 6.0 vs. 3.6 +/- 4.6, p < 0.05) and demonstrated by trend an increased improvement in the scores of image-based questions (30.8 +/- 18.2 % vs. 17.1 +/- 14.8 %, p = 0.06). In general, frequent users of online quizzes, a part of the e-learning resources, scored significantly better in the knowledge test. Active dissection improves self-assurance to identify anatomical structures and should be re-implemented in multimodal, blended-learning-based anatomical curricula in the post-pandemic era.(c) 2022 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study compared the effects of active cadaver dissection and e-learning resources on the learning of anatomy by medical students. The results showed no differences between the two groups in motivation and interest in anatomy, but the non-dissection group had higher concerns about the Covid-19 pandemic. There were no differences in the scores of the knowledge test between the two groups before and after the educational intervention, but after the course, the dissection group demonstrated higher confidence levels and better scores in image-based questions. Students who frequently used online quizzes scored higher in the knowledge test. The study suggests that active dissection should be reintroduced in anatomical curricula in the post-pandemic era.