Experimental Biology

Abstract:

Many medical schools have undergone curricular reform in the past decade. With these reforms, the time spent teaching anatomy has decreased. Did these curricular changes impact medical student anatomical knowledge? At Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM), a new curriculum was implemented in Fall 2016. In this study, we examine how curricular reform may have impacted student performance at one of the medical campuses, IUSM-Bloomington (IUSM-BL). At IUSM-BL, the pre-curricular reform year-long human gross anatomy course was condensed into an integrated semester-long course (called Human Structure). Human Structure integrates gross anatomy, histology, and embryology. In order to assess if these medical curricular changes have impacted student anatomical knowledge at IUSM-BL, we compare pre-curricular reform and post-curricular reform class performance on anatomy practical lab exams – specifically, among lower order (pure identification) questions versus higher order (function, innervation, embryological origin) questions. Pre-curricular reform data was comprised of first year medical students from academic year 2015-2016 (~36 students). Post-curricular reform data was comprised of first year medical students from both Fall 2016 (~36 students) and Fall 2017 (~36 students). Copies of de-identified lab practical exams from all of these years were collected for analysis. Lab practical exam questions were coded as higher order or lower order and overall exam performance across all questions was divided into a lower order average and a higher order average. An ANOVA was then completed to compare performance on higher and lower order questions before and after curricular reform. This study will provide demonstrable evidence about the impact of curricular reform on medical student anatomical knowledge.