Does a functional prosection provide a more effective method of learning the anatomy of the forearm and hand than a 3D online anatomy resource?

Recent changes to anatomy education across UK medical schools are thought to be contributing towards a lower proficiency in anatomical expertise amongst students. The introduction of alternative learning methods may help to overcome this. Prosections and 3D online anatomy resources are both used as alternative methods for learning anatomy, but it is not clear which of these methods provides a better outcome. The aim of this study was to compare students' learning of the anatomy of the hand and forearm using a functional Thiel prosection or a 3D online resource to see which method was associated with a better outcome on an anatomy quiz. The secondary aim was to see which of these methods was preferred by students. A cohort of 37 medical students at the University of Dundee participated in this crossover study. Group A learnt about the anterior compartment of the hand and forearm using the prosection followed by taking an appropriate quiz. They then used the 3D online resource to learn about the posterior compartment before again completing a relevant quiz. Group B carried out the study in reverse, using the prosection to learn about the posterior compartment and the 3D online resource to learn about the anterior compartment, each followed by completing the relevant quiz. All participants then completed a questionnaire about each of the learning methods. The results showed no significant difference in quiz performance after using the Thiel prosection compared to using the 3D online resource (p>0.05). Feedback from questionnaires suggested that the majority of participants preferred using the prosection to learn functional anatomy. Limitations of this study include the small sample size and the type of assessment method used. The results of this study were inconclusive and further studies are required to determine which resource is a better tool for learning anatomy.