The First UAE Anatomy Conference conducted at Ajman University on May 28, 2022, invited international anatomy educational scholars, leaders of innovations in health professions education, and students from the gulf region. This interactive space created an opportunity for medical educators and students to share experiences of best practices in education and novelties relevant to the Gulf and Mediterranean region.
Anatomy faculty from Gulf Medical University participated in a big way in the conference. Presenting a poster on ‘Cadaver Dissection for Present Day Medical Education’, Dr. Liju Susan Mathew, Lecturer in Anatomy and alumni of Gulf Medical University opined, “There is a requirement to align the core anatomy content facilitated via dissection-based learning to competency-based practice for undergraduate medical education.”
Dr. Miral Salama, Assistant Professor and Head of Anatomy was an Organizing Committee member of this international conference. Participating in a Round Table Discussion on anatomy teaching, she explained “Teaching anatomy has become a difficult task in the modern era due to the amount of knowledge that must be conveyed, whether concise or elaborate, which requires the faculty to strike a balance. Furthermore, the fast-pace of life in general has resulted in students becoming easily bored, necessitating constant employment of novel teaching-learning strategies to capture students’ attention”. Her ideas were appreciated by the moderators, eminent academicians and research scholars of anatomy. The recommendations from the meeting shall form the basis for future faculty development workshops.
Zeeshan Zulfiqar, a sophomore of the Associate Degree in Preclinical Sciences program, who also attended the conference and was a co-author in the research work done by the anatomy faculty said, “Thanks GMU for giving me the opportunity to attend this conference. I could interact and learn different perspectives from faculty and my peers from other universities. I strongly advocate cadaveric dissection to learn anatomy than being taught on prosected specimens.”
The Anatomy faculty at Gulf Medical University has introduced cutting-edge technology and latest innovations in teaching anatomy to make learning of anatomy interesting and relevant for students. These include integrating radiological anatomy, hands-on ultrasound sessions, 3D Anatomy software, ‘Dessicare,’ which is a renovated dissection-based learning practice etc. A unique tool used by the faculty of Anatomy at GMU is the ‘Live Dissection Broadcasting Unit’ which promotes integrated teaching-learning for the students and facilitated online teaching, which proved indispensable during the peak of Covid-19 pandemic. The inclusion of “Gamification Technology” was a further value-addition that helped our tech-savvy students revise the subject through playing at home, also serving as a formative assessment tool, introducing a spirit of healthy competition among students, and facilitating learning combined with fun.
Many medical students have evinced keen interest in opting for a summer elective in Anatomy to perform cadaveric dissection. These initiatives we hope would drive students to opt for Anatomy in their postgraduate studies.