anatomy at KCOM

[s42brown]

Hey current KCOMers it is my understanding that students at KCOM take an entire year of anatomy. Do you think this is overkill. I had 28 weeks of gross anatomy at my undergraduate school and I really want to go to KCOM, but I hate to think about spending another 28-32 weeks in that room. I realize how important anatomy is to our profession, however many schools only have a 10-12 weeks program. I am from st. louis and SLU medical school only has a 10 week program, I just wanted to hear some thoughts on the matter. Thanks

 

[Aberfly]

s42brown,
Anatomy at KCOM is not all year. This last year it took place for quarters 1, 2 and 3. The anatomy department at KCOM might be the best department at the school. The professors are outstanding. The cadaver lab has 40 tables, so everybody gets great individual help (compared to another DO school which has 12 tables). The lab is also in good shape (compared to yet another DO school, which won't even take you into their lab on interview day, because it is so old).
I believe anatomy is one of the most important subjects to master as a student doctor. In my humble opinion, the only way to truly understand relationships of structures in the body is to dissect. I know people feel strongly about the prosection vs dissection debate. I have seen prosections, and they can be helpful, but they do not give you an appreciation for the structure and its relationship to other structures.
Hope this helps. Feel free to email me if you have any specific questions I can answer for you.

 

[dkwyler94]

DO schools in general are known for having more Anatomy than many other schools. Talking to the KCOM folk who have taken the USMLE, they say the anatomy is a piece of cake compared to that of the COMLEX. If you are going to get the additional training in the musculoskeletal system, you need the anatomy.

I can't comment on the training at any school except KCOM, but I would say that the more anatomy the better. I haven't added it up, but it is probably about 250 contact hours that we have. I think in most any area of medicine when the patient presents, it will help you understand what is going on.

It also helped when I was in surgery and the doc was pimping me, and I got the majority of his questions correct.

Now your undergrad class might be enough to breeze through it and you might be able to just concentrate on your other classes. I had two semesters of anatomy, TA's for 3 semesters, did a full body disection, and still learned a ton when I went through the course here. I would say the anatomy department is the strongest department at KCOM.

Now I got to get back to the books. Good luck in deciding where to go.

 

[BigSkyDreams]

Howdy,

AberFly,

Gross continued to live on in Q4, but under the alias Neuroanatomy.

A rose by any other name....

 

[Aberfly]

Ahh, thank you BigSkyDreams. Sorry about the mix up. Those tricky anatomy profs...

 

[Sweaty Paul]

s42-

Yes there is a lot of anatomy at KCOM. However, and the first years at KCOM and second years might not believe it, but everything, and I mean everything relate back to anatomy, physiology, and poss. pharmacology (which besides drugs is really applied physiology).

I think there might be some overkill in anatomy, but that said, the opportunities that the dept. gives you for learning are outstanding and the faculty is certainly top-notch and enthusiastic about their subject. Additionally, the time you get one on one with your cadaver to palpate various structures and really see and feel the various anatomic relationships is a big plus. Perhaps there are too many hours, however, hours spent early are hours made easier and fewer later when you are having to review the stuff for a surg you will be assisting with as 3rd and 4th year or as a surgical resident.

Just my 2 pennies.

Sweaty Paul MS-III
KCOM

 

[s42brown]

Thanks guys and gals. I really agree with you, anatomy is the foundation for the rest of the medical courses. I just wanted to see if the students at KCOM agreed with me. Thanks

 

[rbassdo]

Dear s42brown,

I am currently taking anatomy at KCOM (class of '06). If there's one thing that the deans/faculty are hammering home often is that "all this anatomy will pay off." I can sense that already. Now I feel that if I were getting less time/detail in anatomy, it just wouldn't be right. FYI - KCOM anatomy department tends to change the amount of time taken to complete the course. In the past 5 (or so) years, classes have taken anywhere from 5 to 1!!!! quarters to complete anatomy. I talked to a doc that was in the class that completed anatomy in one quarter. She said that they were in the lab every day for 4-5 hours. I couldn't imagine that! This is not meant to scare you. Each time table has it's pros and cons.

Ryan

 

[dobonedoc]

The more the better. You only get one chance to learn this stuff, and the anatomy will help you with physical exam skills, EKGs, & obviously on your radiology, surgery, ortho, & ob/gyn rotations. I rotated through a radiology program with two other 4th year students from other schools. They looked silly trying to identify the anatomy on CT, MR, and even plain films. You will be greatful for having more anatomy.

AT Still would be rolling over in his grave if he heard someone question the possibility of too much anatomy!

 

[fasciaLATA]

I agree with the KCOM student replies above...anatomy is big at KCOM and a very strong department. We just finished our first quarter of gross, the final was yesterday. I have to admit I was a little frustrated after our first exam. As a class, we didn't to so hot but it was an awakening and a good one at that. As involved as learning anatomy can be, I feel it has been the most rewarding class. To put it simply, you have to know your anatomy and KCOM provides its students with all the right tools. If you had asked me that 2 months ago, I probably would have responded differently, but looking back on what I've learned these past 3 months...it's cool. I actually know stuff

 

[bones]

welcome to the fun facialata. first post eh?

Ah yes, anatomy at KCOM. you hate it and you love it... and hate it some more. I think once 3rd quarter is OVER, you love it again. while some areas might seem a little fuzzy as time goes by, it all comes right back- and you get to keep reminding yourself of muscle names and nerve distributions via OMM if you do that sort of thing. I recall a time last year when I was asking a 3rd year at a not-to be named 2nd tier med school (one of the top in his class- thinking neurosurgery residency) about the plastic surgery he was doing in rotations and it shocked me to hear that he knew less than me about much of what we consider basics (I was somewhere around the middle of the pack here for anatomy, which is perhaps why i was surprised).

He explained that they teach to a point- specifically, only structures that are relevant to common surgical practices (he told me this is also how the USMLE questions are written). he knew serratus anterior was innervated by the long thoracic nerve, but with many of those little "inconsequential" back muscles- they never really studied, named, or talked about innervations. seems weird to me after what we've been through. I dont really know how valuable this extra info will be in the long run, but I think if you want to be true to osteopathic principles and really personalize your patient treatment (yea sweaty, I hear you grumbling... lol!) every little bit of anatomy you know may help in finding the piece of the puzzle that is significant for a particular patient. You cant really do "holistic" medicine without either doing it superficially or really deeply understanding a variety of information that could be useful for a given patient. Maybe thats something all this extra study time is good for...

cheers,
bones

 

[Sweaty Paul]

Actually Bones I agree with you to a degree, except take out the "true to the osteopathic philosophy" and put in "true to the patient's best interest" (we don't corner the market on approaching patients holistically). I think that having a solid understanding of all anatomy is very important.

I am discovering that as a third year student it is important to have a broad knowledge over a variety of topics. KCOM's anatomy while grueling has prepared me well. With changing rotations comes a change in focus on various regions of anatomy and having a working understanding of all of those areas has been benficial to me and has saved me a considerable amount of study time as I haven't had to really study any area of anatomy, just review it to remind myself of important details that I once had to know well to survive!!

Anyway, yeah anatomy at KCOM can suck. That said, much of it is beneficial. While I belive that some of the hours could be cut without harming the essence of the course, their expectations while far above either the comlex or usmle have so far served me well on my rotations.

Sweaty Paul MS-III
KCOM