Medical student-initiated anatomy education: an extracurricular experience at a regional medical school

Hattam, Andrew T; Diaz, Claudia M

doi:10.5694/mja12.10735

To the Editor: The paucity of human anatomy teaching at Australian medical schools is well established.1 Recently, a number of 4-year graduate-entry medical schools have sought to improve anatomy knowledge among students by introducing cadaver-dissection electives2 and extracurricular anatomy courses.3 Currently, 6-year undergraduate medical programs, such as at James Cook University (JCU), incorporate more anatomy education than their graduate-entry counterparts.4 However, even 6-year programs offer less anatomy education than was provided in past eras.4

James Cook University, Townsville, QLD.

Correspondence: andrew.hattam@my.jcu.edu.au

Acknowledgements:

We gratefully acknowledge Dr Christine Pirrone for assistance, organisation and support in the development of this student-initiated program.

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

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2. Ramsey-Stewart G, Burgess AW, Hill DA. Back to the future: teaching anatomy by whole-body dissection. Med J Aust 2010; 193: 668-671. <MJA full text>
3. Roberts MJ, Manoharan B, Vonau M, et al. Delivering supplemental anatomy education: the University of Queensland model [letter]. Med J Aust 2011; 195: 449. <MJA full text>
4. Craig S, Tait N, Boers D, McAndrew D. Review of anatomy education in Australian and New Zealand medical schools. ANZ J Surg 2010; 80: 212-216.

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