Osteopathic Medical Student Study Skills for Clinical Anatomy
Authors: Covington Aubrey , Hines Jonathon Heath , Reynolds Amberly 
Published: May 2022

Clinical Anatomy courses have seen an influx of new teaching modalities and resources. Studies have discovered that students gravitate to certain resources and study styles (Welch et al. 2020), but there is limited data on how first year Osteopathic Medical (OM) students adapt and study for anatomy. As resources increase, how are students able to determine which are helpful? We explore student perceptions of study skills and study aids utilized in Clinical Anatomy at a U.S. Osteopathic Medical School. By conducting this study, we evaluated how first‐year OM students utilized various materials and its impact on their experience in the course.

Students who completed Clinical Anatomy were invited to participate in an interview and a graduate student conducted the interviews. Students signed a consent form and were asked questions focused broadly on study skills and resources. Interviews were recorded and stored in a password‐protected site. Upon completion of the interviews, audio recordings were transcribed, and a code book created. Codes were established by the PI and multiple iterations occurred to ensure validity. Following, thematic analysis was performed.

Using qualitative methodology to ensure validity and limiting bias, ten codes were established. Codes included focus on board prep materials and provided lectures to application of specific study skills. For example, the code pertaining to board prep included the terms “Q‐banks and Boards and Beyond.” Following coding, thematic analysis resulted in the following themes:

· First‐year OM students in preparing for clinical anatomy are aft to use lecturer’s notes in conjunction with outside resources that are oft spoken about by other medical students, including but not limited to, Sketchy, First Aid and Boards and Beyond.

· First‐year OM students in preparing for anatomy are reliant on guidance from instructors, utilize contact with body donors and mimic study skills of instructors and fellow students including flow charts, spaced repetition, and drawing.

Future direction may include being more pointed in asking questions about the perceived effectiveness and usefulness of the outside resources and those provided. In addition, these students were the first class at a new institution, thus we are interested in interviewing the second class to see if there was influence from prior cohorts.

Significance of this research is to provide guidance to future OM students on which resources are most beneficial when it comes to studying for Clinical Anatomy and to serve as a framework for professors to better understand the students’ perceptions of resources. In addition, the interviews provided insight into the lack of study skills at the beginning of the course and skills they acquired throughout. Further evaluation of where students need help in their study skills and how professors can help foster these skills sooner is a future point of interest.

1. Welch, M. C., Yu, J., Larkin, M. B., Graves, E. K., & Mears, D. (2020). A Multimedia Educational Module for Teaching Early Medical Neuroanatomy. MedEdPORTAL : the journal of teaching and learning resources, 16, 10885.