Guide to Anatomy Practicals

The life of a medical student is unique for many reasons. Patients will open up to you about personal problems, you are trusted with confidential information and you are a source of comfort to those struggling. It is these privileges that motivate so many of us through the challenging 5 years. Another privilege that we as medics receive is the opportunity to learn from donated bodies. Whether by prosections or dissections, the teaching method can be a key factor in deciding where to study. So what exactly can you expect from the anatomy teaching at BL and how do you get the most out of it?

 In the same way that you may have exaggerated your best feature to sell yourself to medical schools, they were using the same tactic to sell themselves to you. Although Barts do teach anatomy by dissection, there is some small print you need to be aware of. The dissections are SSCs (student selected components), this means that not all of you will be able to do dissection. Last year there were 240 spaces on the dissection SSCs and with the cohort numbering around 300, to guarantee a place you need to act quickly. So if dissection is just an SSC then how is anatomy usually taught? Well this is via the fortnightly anatomy practicals which use a combination of prosections, diagrams and imaging techniques to present the specific area covered during that session. You are given a booklet and are expected to rotate around the stations, interacting with the objects on that station to fill in the booklet. Therefore, the teaching is very self-directed. The information is available but it’s your job to work out the best way to get that information into your head. There are demonstrators around to answer any questions and give you demonstrations but it’s up to you to ask them. So that’s what to expect, but how do you get the most out of it? 

 This has to be a personal decision. We all learn differently and you need to find the technique that works best for you. To give you a helping hand, here are 3 techniques that were recommended by our demonstrators and worked well for me last year. Firstly, fill the booklet out at home, not in the lab! This can either be before the practical or after the practical (my preference) as revision. All the information to fill in the booklet can be found online or in textbooks: don’t waste the precious little time you have in the lab filling it in. Secondly, get stuck in! Arrive on time, get gloved up and get stuck in with the prosections. The best diagram in the world cannot recreate the learning experience of 3D prosections. Again you only have a limited amount of time with these prosections so make the most of it! Find a small group, go around together and take turns talking through what you are looking at. Ask each other questions and learn from each other’s mistakes. Lastly, probably the most important technique, use the demonstrators! They may seem a little intimidating, spending the majority of their days hanging around stinking body parts, but they are super friendly and have a wealth of knowledge. If you have no idea where to start on a station, ask a demonstrator to talk you through it. They will be more than happy to do so! Also remember, one of the few benefits of paying £9,250 tuition fees is that we can expect a high level of teaching. So don’t be afraid to say you don’t understand something or to ask for something to be explained again, get your money's worth!