Is Anatomy Important for Speech Language Pathology (SLP) Undergraduate Students?
Authors: Barros Mirna Duarte , Silva Vivian Alessandra , Liquidato Bianca Maria 
Published: November 2023

Introduction

Professors and institutions have striven to make the curriculum of the undergraduate courses in the health sciences field more fitting to the health needs of the patients, to technological advances and to student characteristics in the current generation. In relation to the teaching of basic sciences in these courses, it has been observed more and more frequently that students present restrictions in learning anatomy, considering the topic monotonous, difficult and little relevant to clinical activities. In Brazil, the SLP course lasts four years, anatomy being taught in the first year, and the main part of clinical practice, in the last year of the course. At our school, we have made great efforts to bring the clinical context into the discipline of anatomy, enhancing the meaning and importance of the basic contents which are dealt with.

Objective

To analyze the perception of students of the importance of the anatomy instruction at the beginning and at the end of the SLP course.

Materials and Methods

Thirty‐one students participated in the research, 15 from the first year and 16 from the last year in the SLP course. A questionnaire similar to Likert containing fifteen questions was given to students at the end of the anatomy course in the first year and final stages of the clinical internships of the last year. The questions about anatomy were divided into two groups: Group 1, questions on the general content and Group 2, questions on specific topics. The data obtained was analyzed qualitatively, comparisons were made with the Fisher's exact test and no difference was found among answers, as to age and gender of the participants.

Results

Nearly all of the students interviewed (93.8%), from both groups, agreed that anatomy and neuroanatomy are important to the clinical practice of the speech therapist, however the last‐year students reported feeling more motivated to learn about the topic (63.6%), in comparison with the first‐year students (12.5%). Over 60% of the students consider the administered theoretical and practical classes helpful in making them understand the importance of the topics, but only 40% report that the evaluations can play this role. In relation to the class themes, we observed that all of the students understand that knowledge of the anatomy of the larynx, the temporomandibular articulation, swallowing, auditory pathways and muscles of the face are important to clinical practice. Nevertheless, general anatomy topics were considered as relevant by a smaller number of students, these being: the muscular system (93.8%), the sensorial systems (93.8%), the skeletal system (81.3%), the human movement (68.8%) and the circulatory system (60%).

Discussion and Conclusion

SLP students in the end of the first and last years of the course consider the knowledge of anatomy to be important for clinical practice, with topics directly related to the professional practice being cited as more important than those related to themes which allow for the student to comprehend the human body in general. Despite the relevance of anatomical knowledge, the student identifies and categorizes priorities and relevance of anatomical topics which clearly show themselves to be related to clinical practice.