Persistence of changed attitudes among students in an integrated anatomy curriculum

Many medical schools in the United States have integrated anatomy into an organ-based preclinical curriculum with some schools using anatomy as the cornerstone of their reorganization efforts. Curricular change could affect one or more of the three domains of learning, with the cognitive domain often scrutinized exclusively. A previous study reported the impact of anatomy integration on the affective domain, specifically, student attitudes toward learning anatomy. This mixed methods follow-up study asked if the observed attitudinal changes and lack of effect on student knowledge and confidence persisted using knowledge and confidence surveys, focus groups, internal and national surveys, and United States Medical Licensing Examination^® performance metrics. Results evidenced the persistence of specific attitudinal differences between cohorts with blocked versus integrated anatomy with no apparent short- or long-term differences in anatomy learning or confidence in this learning. Altered attitudes included lower value placed on working in teams and reflective practices, and less recognition of anatomy's contribution (or less contribution of anatomy learning) to professional identity formation. These attitudinal changes could result in a weaker foundation for building collaborative skills throughout the medical curriculum. A decreased sense of student engagement also followed curricular change, as assessed by data from the American Association of Medical Colleges Year 2 Questionnaire. Overall, results emphasized the necessity of anticipating, monitoring, and if necessary, addressing changes in the affective domain when undertaking curricular change.