[The human body and the computer as pedagogic tools for anatomy: review of the literature].
Since the first dissections, the human body has been the main tool for the teaching of anatomy in medical courses. For the last 30 years, university anatomy laboratory dissection has been brought into question and the total hours of anatomy teaching have decreased. In parallel, new technologies have progressed and become more competitive and more attractive than dissection. The aim of this review of the literature was to evaluate the use of the human body as a pedagogic tool compared to today's computer tools. Twenty comparative studies were reviewed. Their analysis showed that the human body remains the main tool in anatomy teaching even if anatomic demonstration (prosection) can replace dissection, and that the computer tools were complementary but not a substitute to dissection.
Captier
G
G
Laboratoire d'anatomie de Montpellier, 2 rue école de médecine, 34000 Montpellier. gcaptier@free.fr
Canovas
F
F
Bonnel
F
F
D000715:Anatomy / Q000193:education* / Q000379:methods; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004210:Dissection / Q000193:education* / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D013663:Teaching