[New pedagogic methods in anatomy: experience at Cambridge University]

The expansion of knowledge in basic medical sciences is not linked to the time assigned for the teaching of anatomy to medical undergraduates. The question of "basic knowledge" in teaching anatomy during medical training arises as a need for education of future clinical doctors. Nowadays, two extreme views in teaching anatomy can be recognized: one adopted some pure anatomists who feel their existence threatened even by the idea of any reduction in their field, and one by some morphologists exclusively interested in cellular biology, who consider that classical anatomy is of no interest, since it has been exhausted as a field for research. An intermediate position is taken by some clinicians, who maintain that anatomy is indispensable but seek a severe reduction in the content to what they consider to be necessary. The above mentioned need for clinicians was reflected in recommendations of Education Committee of the General Medical Council (GMC) which in short, could be characterized by: the substantial reduction of factual information, the increase of student learning and the emphasis of clinically applied anatomy with its integration to the general medical education. GMC delegated the Department of Anatomy at the University of Cambridge by the developing of the new anatomy course. This new course was for the first time introduced in school year 1998-1999. In this study are presented ways and methods of undergraduate anatomy teaching at the University of Cambridge. These educational principles could serve as a model for teaching anatomy during its transformation in other medical faculties.