Handouts as an educational support for the teaching/learning program in clinical anatomy

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Anatomy

Background:

• Handouts were developed to support the Clinical Anatomy program at the Medical School of Porto.
• Alterations have been made since 1996/97 to improve handout format and content aligned with educational objectives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate second-year medical students' opinions on the organization and usefulness of clinical anatomy handouts.
• To assess the handouts' adequacy for lectures and various practical sessions.

Main Methods:

• A questionnaire was administered to 152 second-year medical students; 138 (90.8%) returned it.
• Spearman rank correlation and canonical correlation were used to analyze the relationship between handout value and organizational aspects.

Main Results:

• Students highly approved of handout organization (81.8% lectures, 87% practicals) and presentation (74.6% lectures, 86.2% practicals).
• Handouts were deemed relevant (88.3% lectures, 85.5% practicals) and useful for understanding lectures (77.6%) and preparing for practicals (83.3%).
• High utility was reported for case studies (90%), physical examination (81.9%), and sectional anatomy (65.7%).

Conclusions:

• The evaluation of clinical anatomy handouts was highly favorable.
• Students emphasized the handouts' essential role in session preparation and their objectivity.
• The handouts serve as an effective guide for students navigating the innovative Clinical Anatomy program.