Consolidation Carnival: A Case-Based Approach to Reviewing Musculoskeletal Anatomy in an Undergraduate Medical Curriculum

Abstract

Introduction

Recent changes in undergraduate medical curricula have resulted in time constraints that are particularly challenging, especially when students must learn large blocks of musculoskeletal anatomy content. Consequently, students have resorted to rote memorization to cope, which counteracts our established collaborative self-directed learning model.

Methods

For a 6-week musculoskeletal anatomy course, two structured case-based review sessions are described, each following the completion of two five-hour lab sessions, two on the upper extremities and two on the lower extremities. These largely self-directed review sessions consisted of 6 students rotating through 7 to 8 stations every 10 minutes where clinical cases with follow-up questions were projected on large screens. The students were expected to work collaboratively to solve the cases utilizing the prosected specimens provided and discuss the accompanying answers at the end of each case.

Results

Ninety-four per cent of the students who participated in this study agreed that the case-based review sessions provided a helpful overview of musculoskeletal anatomy content. Student performance on the open-ended, case-based musculoskeletal examination questions showed no significant difference in performance on shoulder, hand, hip, thigh, and leg questions. There was, however, a statistically significant decrease in the students’ scores on a forearm question in 2021 compared to 2019.

Conclusion

This paper describes our integrated, collaborative musculoskeletal course, including case-based review sessions, which was positively received by students as having value in reviewing the musculoskeletal content though it was not found to improve examination performance.

Keywords:

• musculoskeletal
• anatomy
• integrated curriculum
• review
• consolidation
• evaluation

Acknowledgment

The authors thank the body donors whose generous gifts made this anatomical review session possible. We also thank Joanne Willey for sharing her expertise and guidance in the development of this manuscript. Jeff Bird and Judith Brenner provided access to assessment and evaluation data.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.