139 - Bridging Anatomical Dissection and Precision Medicine: The Summary and Evaluation of an Interdisciplinary Workshop for Preclinical Medical Students

Poster Board Number: 139
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Co-authors:

Savannah Newell - Biomedical - Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine-Louisiana; Lin Kang - Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine-Louisiana; Kasia Michalak - Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine-Louisiana; Pawel Michalak - Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine-Louisiana

Abstract Body : Educators seek to develop interdisciplinary learning sessions as medical schools move towards integrated curricula. Anatomy educators are often in positions to collaborate with colleagues in other disciplines to develop activities integrating anatomy with those other subjects. Anatomists and geneticists at VCOM-Louisiana developed an interdisciplinary workshop that combined analyses of mock precision medicine reports with information regarding pathology and variation that was documented during anatomical dissection of four donors with documented causes of death of cardiovascular disease, senile degeneration, colorectal cancer, and lung cancer. These donors were chosen because their documented causes of death along with additional observations documented during dissection ranged from conditions with potentially strong genetic components to conditions with stronger environmental influences. The goal of this workshop was for students to evaluate both the precision medicine report alongside information inferred from donor dissection to learn about uses and limitations of precision medicine in a hands-on, guided session focused on future approaches to patient care and decision-making. To evaluate the effectiveness of this workshop, we asked participants to complete a pre- and post-workshop survey that combined a mixture of Likert-scale and open-ended questions about the uses and limitations of precision medicine and the effectiveness of integrating precision medicine and anatomy in this way. This presentation describes the structure of the workshop and reports the Likert-scale data from these surveys. Sixteen second-year student participants completed the pre- and post-surveys associated with this workshop. There was a shift in five of the eight paired pre-/post-survey Likert-scale responses from disagree/neutral toward agree/strongly agree in categories that asked students to rate the importance of precision medicine in contemporary medicine, treatment decisions, and perceived future use in healthcare settings. Additional post-survey Likert-scale response frequencies support the integration of precision medicine and anatomy in pre-clinical curricula in similar interdisciplinary workshops, including in categories that assessed whether students felt the workshop complemented other medical coursework and how well the workshop met its intended aims. While the number of students involved in the workshop and surveys was small, the results of this pilot project support broader integration of anatomical sciences and other subjects, including genomics, as programs consider interdisciplinary approaches to preclinical medical education.