Googling "Anatomy dissection": Pre-pandemic, pandemic, and current scenario

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Anatomy

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted medical education globally.
• Dissection labs, crucial for anatomy learning, faced closures and restrictions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of physical dissection lab closures on online search behavior for "Anatomy dissection".
• To compare search trends pre-pandemic, during the pandemic, and in the current period.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Google Trends to analyze worldwide web search behavior for "Anatomy dissection" keywords.
• Downloaded relative search volume (RSV) data from January 1, 2018, to July 31, 2022.

Main Results:

• A noticeable decrease in RSV for "Anatomy dissection" was observed from April 2020 onwards.
• Pre-pandemic peak search interest in May was absent in 2020 and 2021, but reappeared in May 2022.
• The Philippines, United States, Canada, Australia, and India showed the highest search volumes.

Conclusions:

• Online search trends for "Anatomy dissection" were lower during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic times.
• This decline suggests a correlation between active dissection in labs and increased online searches for the term.
• Further multi-country analysis of dissection practices and lab access is recommended to clarify these findings.