94 - Bringing PA Students Back to the Anatomy Lab: A Focus on MSK

Poster Board Number: 94
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Co-authors:

Michael Johnson - The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences

Abstract Body : INTRODUCTION/SIGNIFICANCE. While the roots of the Physician assistant (PA) profession are in primary care, there has been a recent shift to increased employment in surgical specialties, particularly orthopedics, where there is a need for more PAs. A robust preclinical education program of anatomy, pathophysiology and musculoskeletal (MSK) clinical medicine is necessary for PA students to improve performance in the clinical year. There have been repeated observations which positively correlate PA student didactic achievement in anatomy with scores on the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination® (PANCE). There are different known methods of teaching gross anatomy in the PA curriculum including lecture, simulation, prosection and dissection but nothing is known about the effectiveness of bringing students back to the gross anatomy lab during their clinically-focused MSK course.

METHODS. PA students (64) in their didactic phase of training successfully completed their anatomy course in their first semester. Seven months later during the MSK section of clinical medicine, the students returned to the gross anatomy lab and participated in an orthopedic-focused prosection lab session. Students in small groups rotated through prosection stations focused on 5 joints of

the body: spine, shoulder, hip, knee, and foot/ankle. Each station consisted of cadaveric specimens, bones, models, and radiographic images. Lab was facilitated by experienced clinicians while the anatomy course director circulated to help identify structures. A post-session survey was voluntarily completed by 37 students assessing multiple facets of the learning session.



RESULTS. Students reported a significant increase in their understanding of clinical concepts from lecture (p=0.006); confidence in reviewing radiographs (p=0.017); confidence in identifying structures, correlating abnormal physical exam findings with underlying pathology, and confidence in safely performing interventions (all p< 0.0001).



There were two themes identified based on students’ qualitative comments: (1) how this session enhanced their learning by providing the opportunity to visualize, touch, and move structures all while applying clinical relevance of disease conditions they were learning in clinical medicine. (2) The experience was enhanced by the specialized facilitators working with the anatomist and the interactive nature of the learning session.

CONCLUSIONS. The students reported that going back to the lab to review prosections helped them better understand what was being discussed in the clinical MSK course. Students requested this be applied to other topic areas in the future to solidify anatomical concepts while applying this knowledge to clinical content.