Use of Ultrasound to Teach Living Anatomy to Graduate Students

Ultrasound technology is used to reinforce gross anatomy instruction in many medical sciences programs. However, this technology has not transferred into common practice for anatomy instruction in non-medical graduate courses. The addition of ultrasound sessions provides a clear view of local anatomy and could help graduate students transfer anatomy from didactic content onto a living, moving body. This modernized approach to instruction complements the rapidly evolving technological advances in science education and may assist with spatial understanding, knowledge retention, and student engagement. Our main objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of ultrasound sessions in order to aid comprehension and retention of gross anatomy. We tested our hypothesis with two cohorts of students (n=48) who were enrolled in both graduate-level gross anatomy, and a parallel course that was designed to introduce imaging techniques for visualizing normal anatomy. During these courses, students participated in three interactive, two-hour long ultrasound sessions that corresponded to the gross anatomy lecture material. At the end of the semester, the students took a final examination and lab practical, which was scored and averaged to evaluate their content mastery. They also filled out a questionnaire to assess their learning experience and interest level in the sessions. The questionnaire results were analyzed, and the words and phrases that were used most frequently to describe the sessions were collected. Analysis of the 31 questionnaires that were completed, demonstrated that 96.77% (30) of the students felt that the ultrasound sessions aided in their anatomical comprehension. Despite the fact that the students had a limited background in ultrasound technology or anatomy, 90.32% (28) of them felt that they had adequate knowledge from the gross anatomy lectures to be able to benefit from the sessions. Furthermore, the students unanimously “agreed/strongly agreed” that ultrasound technology should be used for anatomical instruction for graduate students. Free response data showed that while students found the sessions to be helpful, they sought more and longer sessions, and smaller group sizes. The average score of the combined final examination and lab practical was 79% correct, indicating that students had an appropriate level of understanding of anatomical concepts related to ultrasound technology for a graduate anatomy course. Overall, this study supports the idea that using ultrasound technology to reinforce gross anatomy instruction to graduate students may be an effective and engaging method of instruction that will aid in comprehension and retention of the content. Affiliation: The George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences: Department of Anatomy and Regenerative Biolog