Does the existing traditional undergraduate Anatomy curriculum satisfy the senior medical students?

Interns at the end of their clinical year and medical students at the end of their final year were asked to evaluate the anatomy curriculum they had experienced in their undergraduate preclinical years. Most of the respondents found that the gross anatomy taught to them was adequate but the vast majority expressed that clinical anatomy, imaging anatomy and surface and living anatomy were inadequate. Both interns and medical students ranked anatomy courses and integrated clinical topics as the keystone for their clinical training and felt the need of a clinically oriented anatomy curriculum, case studies and participation of clinical faculty members in teaching during the pre-clinical years. Retrospective evaluations at the end of internships and the undergraduate years are helpful “evidence” to be considered when reforming the anatomy curriculum, and in particular when developing a clinical core course in anatomy. The results of such surveys should be taken into consideration when discussing modifications to the anatomy curriculum.