Applied clinical anatomy: the successful integration of anatomy into specialty-specific senior electives.
OBJECTIVE
A strong foundation in anatomical knowledge is essential for physicians in all fields. Despite this established importance, anatomy continues to be primarily taught only during the pre-clinical years of medical school. Senior medical students have more mature clinical reasoning and analytical skills; therefore, advanced anatomy courses have great potential to integrate basic and clinical sciences to better prepare senior medical students for residency.


METHODS
At our institution, five electives have been implemented that integrate anatomical education in clinical contexts in the fields of emergency medicine, musculoskeletal medicine, radiology, surgery, and obstetrics and gynecology. These 4-week courses are all offered in the spring of the final year of medical school. The course curricula, content, and evaluation data are described for each of the courses.


RESULTS
The five electives have been extremely popular at our institution, and all have been consistently filled each year by students entering diverse disciplines. Course evaluations have been positive and students specifically note how these courses allow them the opportunity to integrate basic anatomical knowledge into clinical contexts. Students have marked improvement in anatomical knowledge after completion of these electives.


CONCLUSIONS
Advanced anatomy courses that integrate anatomical education with clinical reasoning are important curricular innovations that are popular with students and lead to important improvements in anatomical knowledge. Anatomists can lead the charge for better integration of basic sciences into senior medical school curricula.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Michigan Medical School, 1500 E. Medical Center Dr., L4000 Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA. hjkang@med.umich.edu.|Department of Learning Health Sciences, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA. hjkang@med.umich.edu.
Helen
H
Morgan
Division of Anatomical Sciences, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.|Department of Surgery, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.|Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.|Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
John
J
Zeller
Department of Surgery, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
David T
DT
Hughes
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
Suzanne
S
Dooley-Hash
Department of Radiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
Katherine
K
Klein
University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
Rachel
R
Caty
Department of Learning Health Sciences, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.|Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
Sally
S
Santen
D000715:Anatomy / Q000193:education*; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000639:trends
Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Milestones; Anatomy education; Basic science education; Fourth-year medical school