IS 3D CYBER ANATOMY A PREFERABLE TEACHING METHOD?

Background: Gross anatomy has been taught over the years by cadavers' dissection, plastic models and atlases. This study is aimed to compare conventional teaching methods of anatomy with that of 3D cyber anatomy. Materials & Methods: This longitudinal cross-sectional study with prospective type was conducted in Khyber Girls Medical College Peshawar, having a sample size of 233 from three different colleges, using Open-Source Statistics for Public Health sample size calculator. Using random number generator 80 students were made to attempt a pretest and a post-test consisting of 20 MCQs prior to and after completion of GIT and Renal module respectively. Results: Out of 585 students, 240 (80 from each medical college) students took part in the study with 144 female students. Mean age of the students was 20.7 +/-1.07 years. College 2 had highest post-test mean score. The mean difference of test scores between post-test and pre-test among all colleges were statically significant as calculated by paired sample T-test. There was significant difference in mean score of post-tests among 3 colleges which was find out by One-way ANOVA. Post hoc tests identified that post test scores of college 2 was statically different from college 1 and college 3. Our results also showed a significant difference in post-test scores between gender with female students scoring higher than male students. Conclusion: There was no difference in academic performance between the students taught either by conventional method or 3D cyber anatomy and a better performance of female students as compared to male students was also noted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]