Radiographic interactive teaching tool for first‐year medical students taking gross anatomy

• Published in: The FASEB journal 2006-03, Vol.20 (4), p.A19-A19
• Main Authors: Morton, David A., Foreman, K. Bo, Blackham, R. Bren, Koehn, Kathryn, Eckel, Christine M., Albertine, Kurt H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0892-6638; 1530-6860
• DOI: 10.1096/fasebj.20.4.A19-d

The cadaver is the primary teaching tool for the study of medical gross anatomy. However, clinical evaluation of internal anatomy is primarily through radiographs. Therefore, we created a radiographic tutorial as an ancillary teaching tool for first‐year medical students taking gross anatomy. Using a HIPPA‐approved protocol, we obtained permission to access electronic files of radiographs on the hospital medical server. We obtained approximately 400 digital radiographs, removed personal identifiers, edited the images, and imported them into an interactive web teaching tool that we created, using the commercial software Macromedia Flash. The students access drop‐down menus that have subject headings for body regions. Once a body region is selected, additional drop‐down menus display imaging modalities, such as MRIs, CTs, and radiographs. Displayed images are interacted with by selecting tools, located at the bottom of the screen, that allow the image to be panned, zoomed, rotated, and reset. Our interactive program displays the image and self‐learning text related to the image. Knowledge of normal radiographic anatomy is assessed on written and laboratory practical examinations for the gross anatomy course. We conclude that the radiographic interactive teaching tool aids in the education, review, and understanding of normal human anatomy. [Supported by the Dept. of Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Utah]