The anatomy of healthcare student perceptions
Authors: Dowdy Jared L. , Martin Charys M. , Nichols Carol A. , Edmondson Anna C. 
Published: November 2023

Feedback is a vital part of any healthcare career. Recognizing the importance of feedback, many healthcare professional schools are implementing reflection exercises into the curriculum. The gross anatomy lab, with its team‐oriented nature, fosters an environment conducive to developing the skills of giving and receiving feedback. The purpose of our project was to evaluate differences between how medical and allied health students perceive themselves and their peers. We hypothesized that medical and allied health students would rate themselves lower than their peers and that medical and allied health students would emphasize different themes in their narrative comments.

As a part of the anatomy curriculum, students are required to complete self‐reflection and peer feedback exercises consisting of 5 rating rubric statements and sections for narrative comments on strengths and areas for improvement at the end of the course or semester. These exercises address medical knowledge, professionalism, communication, and practice‐based learning domains. We evaluated the responses of medical (n=192) and allied health (n=123) students by averaging the rating rubric responses and sorting the narrative comments into three main themes (professionalism and leadership skills, knowledge, and personal behaviors).

When analyzing the rating rubric statements, there was little difference in how medical and allied health students rated their peers or themselves between the two programs. However, both medical and allied health students consistently rated themselves significantly lower than their peers. When evaluating narrative comments on strengths, students commented predominantly on professionalism and leadership traits with little difference between medical and allied health students. However, medical students emphasized knowledge more than allied health students (Peer: 16.7% vs 10.9%; Self: 10.4% vs 6.8%; p<0.01). Conversely, medical students emphasized personal behaviors less than allied health students (Peer: 22.2% vs 27.6%; Self: 19.8% vs 27.5%; p<0.01). When evaluating narrative comments on areas for improvement, medical students emphasized professionalism and leadership skills more than allied health students (Peer: 51.1% vs 42.7%; Self: 38.3% vs 27.3%; p<0.01). Again, medical students emphasized personal behaviors less than allied health students (Peer: 28.9% vs 40.0%; Self: 22.8% vs 36.4%; p<0.01). When evaluating areas of improvement, medical and allied health students emphasized knowledge and preparation similarly. Overall, there are significant differences in the emphasis placed on personal behaviors between medical and allied health students. When commenting on personal behaviors as strengths, both groups emphasized extrinsic behaviors (respect, patience, enthusiasm, and engagement). Whereas, when students commented on personal behaviors that needed improvement, both groups emphasized intrinsic behaviors (frustration, negativity, and lack of confidence).

The differences found in emphasis between programs may be due to variances between department and program objectives, the timing and intensity of the anatomy courses, the degree level of the programs, and/or the varying proportions of males and females within the programs. Understanding how medical and allied health students perceive themselves and others may give us insight into methods to improve multidisciplinary communication within the healthcare setting.