Assessment of Anatomy Education Teaching Modalities before and during COVID-19 in US Medical Schools
Table 3
Estimated percent of time engaged in each during lab contact hours in preclinical curricula prior to 2020 and during 2020–2021 by status of in-person learning in 2020.
All schools
Virtual learning
In-person learning
Prior to 2020
Prior to 2020
2020–2021
p-Value
Prior to 2020
2020–2021
p-Value
Embalmed cadaveric dissection
60.3 (32.0)
53.5 (32.03)
8.3 (28.9)
0.002
73.1 (24.7)
39.8 (33.8)
0.06
Nonembalmed dissection
3.1 (9.9)
6.4 (13.9)
2.8 (9.6)
0.48
0.16 (0.5)
5.8 (20.8)
Histology
8.1 (13.6)
9.7 (16.8)
1.98 (6.0)
0.14
7.4 (10.9)
10.2 (14.9)
0.56
Prosections
4.2 (5.8)
2.1 (3.6)
8.5 (19.9)
0.33
4.7 (10.9)
11.4 (16.7)
Plastinated specimens
1.9 (5.6)
1.65 (3.2)
0.08 (0.3)
2.4 (7.6)
1.4 (5.0)
0.84
Demonstrations
4.2 (11.7)
5.7 (15.5)
6.5 (20.0)
0.92
3.1 (7.6)
1.1 (3.2)
0.21
Plastic/physical models
1.1 (2.4)
2.3 (3.2)
1.3 (4.2)
0.55
0
0.6 (1.1)
0.07
Computer 3D anatomy
0.7 (2.2)
1.5 (3.1)
33.3 (38.5)
0
0.3 (1.1)
0.34
Virtual tables
2.5 (8.6)
4.2 (12)
3.5 (9.8)
0.49
1.1 (3.4)
1.4 (5.0)
n/a
Virtual reality
0.05 (0.2)
0
0.08
0.37
0.1 (0.3)
0
0.33
Medical imaging—US
2.0 (4.7)
1.4 (3.1)
0.26 (0.6)
0.75 (1.6)
2.2 (5.6)
0.37
Medical imaging—MRI/CT/X-ray
5.5 (11.1)
2.6 (3.9)
3.9 (4.4)
4.1 (5.2)
9.3 (14.2)
0.91
Simulation models
0.8 (2.3)
1.6 (3.3)
1.5 (3.8)
0.96
0.1 (0.3)
0
0.86
Dissection videos
3.0 (5.3)
2.3 (3.6)
22 (35.4)
3.1 (6.7)
16.5 (19.6)
0.05
Body painting
2.4 (9.6)
5.17 (13.7)
5.8 (20)
0.94
0
0.2 (0.7)
n/a
Values reported as percent of total time (SD), responses normalized to 100. Bold values indicate significant difference. All p-values were calculated using an unpaired t-test. Those denoted with an asterisk () were calculated using Welch’s test due to unequal variance.
