Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of First Year MBBS Students Regarding Different Methods of Learning Anatomy

To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of the first year MBBS students regarding different methods of learning anatomy.

Astructured multiple choice questionnaire was administered anonymously. The questionnaires were distributed amongst the consenting first year MBBS students (n = 167) at one point of time and the responses obtained were analysed statistically by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) (version 16).

Atotal of 167 completed questionnaires were analysed – 106 from male and 61 from female respondents; 54.5% werefrom urban, 28.1% from semi-urban and 17.4%from rural backgrounds. In all,78.4% students studied anatomy>3 days/week, 41.3% were familiar with dissection instruments and 80.3% used the atlas regularly. A total of 65.3% found dissection and 23.4% found histology as the most difficult aspects of anatomy. In total, 31.2% of the girls and 21.7% of the boys regularly carried dissection handbooks to the class (P=0.04) and 73.7% prepared rough notes and diagrams of the dissected regions. In all, 57.4% of the girls and 27.4% of the boys preferred development of concept over memorising only (P = 0.003). A total of 32.3% students did not come with prior preparation to the class and 93.4% found regular assessment helpful for learning. In total, 45.5% of the students had some idea about computer-assisted learning in anatomyand 35.4% used images from internetfor learning.

Mostofthe studentsstudied anatomyregularly, used atlas, prepared notes and wanted regular internal assessments. Female respondents preferred development of concept over memorising in significantly greater proportion. No significant difference between students from different residential background was observed.