An international survey of gross anatomy courses in chiropractic colleges

The purpose of this study is to provide the first comprehensive description of gross anatomy course design in chiropractic colleges internationally and to provide baseline data for future investigation, future comparison with other health care professions, and identification of trends.

A 72-question cross-sectional electronic survey was sent to the anatomy department chair at 36 chiropractic colleges internationally using Zoomerang, a web-based survey instrument. To augment the survey response data, public sources of data also were collected.

Forty-four percent of the electronic surveys were returned and information was gathered for 31 institutions from public sources. These results indicate (1) the most common degrees held by anatomy faculty were MS and PhD in anatomy, and DC degrees; (2) 75% of institutions utilized human cadavers and 75% presented laboratory anatomical demonstrations; (3) 62% used PowerPoint and 100% provided students with copies of lecture presentations; (4) 88% required attendance in laboratory and 50% in lecture; (5) 69% issued one grade for lecture and laboratory; (6) 100% of laboratory examinations were anatomical identification; and (7) 80% of written examinations were multiple-choice format.

While individual variations existed, chiropractic institutions internationally have similar gross anatomy faculty, course design, delivery methods, and assessment methods.