Anatomy

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Dr Dazzle

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Hi all,

Tried skimming over some previous threads, but would really appreciate if you guys could offer some advice on how to do well in anatomy having never taken it before medical school. What resources helped you? What studying strategies were effective?

Thank you!
 
-actually read/skim over the dissector before going to class (grant's dissector for me)
-have an anatomy book on hand during dissection so you can review structures while doing it
-quizzing people in your group over structures as you're doing it
-afterwards it could help to briefly review rohen's or netter's
 
Not sure how your course is structured, but for the non-practical exams, I found it very useful to use question books like pretest. It makes it easier to be in the right frame of mind to answer clinical test questions if you've done a lot.

Spend time in the lab. Spend time with as many cadavers as possible. They can only tag one thing on each body, so try to figure out what that "one thing" will be for each body. Know how the tendons lay out on LOTS of bodies. Practice figuring out what things are without touching/manipulating them.

Draw out diagrams of nerves/arteries on paper or whiteboard until you don't need to look at a source diagram. If you study a muscle, use that muscle on your body. Straighten your arm out and try to understand what muscles are pulling what bones. Integrate the information in as many ways as possible.

Think about how you do really well in a math class. You do the problem forwards, and then backwards. Then you find another way to do it.

With all due respect to Mr. Meowmix, I found dissectors and atlases to be the least useful resource, but that's just me. Obviously they are an important piece of the puzzle, but in my school at least, we were not asked to identify pictures - so in my mind they are not that important.

As with any subject in medical school, you need to gear yourself to the test. If its a practical exam, you need to be in there with the bodies. Switch up your study groups so you see the information in different ways and avoid groupthink. Ask someone to show you their body.

If it's a clinical question exam...do step 1 style questions. All of them. Twice. If you don't understand an answer, talk through it with other people until you do.

When dissecting, pay attention to the teachers. Not what they are saying, but what they are doing. Do they always favor 2-3 bodies for showing stuff? Does one teacher spend 30 minutes dissecting one forearm for the students? Good chance that's going to be on the test.
 
Study in the lab. The best learning hands down is look at the netters/any manual/book you like and then looking at the body and trying to figure out everything. Even if you draw diagrams do it IN THE LAB next to your body. Visual memory is half the game.

Quiz the crap out of your lab partners. Go back and forth.

The people who get high grades in anatomy do two primary things:
(1) Spend a lot of time in lab
(2)Don't procrastinate learning...aka if people are reviewing an area you don't know jump in and at least try to figure it out as they go (don't think you need to go learn it on your own before you figure it out in lab).

Finaly RELAX. Everyone learns at different speeds. There is an approx. 99% chance someone will learn **** faster than you. This ain't a race. You leave lab when YOU know it.
 
I agree with the above posts. Solid advice.

I'll just add that anatomy practicals, at least at my school, are not 100% straightforward "what is this?". There are many secondary questions that require you to know what is being tagged to answer the question. Thus, it is important to keep lecture material in mind when dissecting/studying for practicals.

I used Rohen's and Netter's. I found Rohen's more helpful for lab, and Netter's for lecture and lab (mostly lecture). It can be difficult trying to study for lecture using a book with cadavers (Rohen's) vs multi-color illustrations (Netter's). I didn't use Grant's Dissector too much. One of my tankmates usually had one if we needed it.

If you get assigned to an individual that has a lot of fat, spend time outside of lab (if you can) clearing away the fat. It is tedious work, but you and your tankmates will be thankful. The amount of fat I had to deal with was incredibly annoying and took away precious time that could have been better spent identifying and discussing structures. If you can't find something on your cadaver, find it elsewhere. I spent a good amount of time in/out of lab looking at the other cadavers identifying the things that were either destroyed or unidentifiable on mine.
 
As other posters have already stated, the key to doing well in anatomy is spending time in the lab. Period. However, the real secret to doing well is to know the anatomy as it is presented in your textbook before going to lab. If you can see the pictures from the book in your head, then all you are doing in lab is correlating what the actual anatomy looks like vs. the artist's drawing. If you approach anatomy in this way, your lab time will be efficient and you won't waste your time learning in the lab. You will already know the anatomy, so all you need to learn in the lab is how to apply your knowledge to the cadavers.
 
rohen + netter + wikipedia = success in anatomy

if your lab is pro-section based, just show up knowing what structures to look for.

if you are dissecting, get ready to put in some serious hours cutting away fat and skin.
 
My biggest mistake was trying to memorize pictures from Rohen's, as dumb as that sounds. Make sure you understand RELATIONSHIPS and what they do and where they are going. I thought using Netter's or Thieme were better for this purpose. Then watching Acland before exams helps too.
 
- Chung
- A good atlas (I liked Thieme)
- Michigan practice questions
- Draw structures (vessels/nerves) schematically, from memory.
- Get your friends to quiz you in lab. Quiz your friends in lab.
 
get your class to set up a practice practical before every test.
 
Acland's Videos are gold. Pure gold.
 
Acland's Videos are gold. Pure gold.

More so than the other resources quoted? There seem to be a lot of resources available! What would you guys say are 1-2 resources that are the best from the ones mentioned here?
 
Not sure how your course is structured, but for the non-practical exams, I found it very useful to use question books like pretest. It makes it easier to be in the right frame of mind to answer clinical test questions if you've done a lot.

Spend time in the lab. Spend time with as many cadavers as possible. They can only tag one thing on each body, so try to figure out what that "one thing" will be for each body. Know how the tendons lay out on LOTS of bodies. Practice figuring out what things are without touching/manipulating them.

Draw out diagrams of nerves/arteries on paper or whiteboard until you don't need to look at a source diagram. If you study a muscle, use that muscle on your body. Straighten your arm out and try to understand what muscles are pulling what bones. Integrate the information in as many ways as possible.

Think about how you do really well in a math class. You do the problem forwards, and then backwards. Then you find another way to do it.

With all due respect to Mr. Meowmix, I found dissectors and atlases to be the least useful resource, but that's just me. Obviously they are an important piece of the puzzle, but in my school at least, we were not asked to identify pictures - so in my mind they are not that important.

As with any subject in medical school, you need to gear yourself to the test. If its a practical exam, you need to be in there with the bodies. Switch up your study groups so you see the information in different ways and avoid groupthink. Ask someone to show you their body.

If it's a clinical question exam...do step 1 style questions. All of them. Twice. If you don't understand an answer, talk through it with other people until you do.

When dissecting, pay attention to the teachers. Not what they are saying, but what they are doing. Do they always favor 2-3 bodies for showing stuff? Does one teacher spend 30 minutes dissecting one forearm for the students? Good chance that's going to be on the test.

whats a good resource for these types of questions?
 
Repetition. I often felt like all the material came together right before the exam. Just stick with it and study.
 
I took an anatomy class at an undergrad institution a couple of years ago. I know it was not the same as med school anatomy will be, but it was a good introduction. Here are some things that helped me.

There is a company called 3d4medical. They make iPod and iPad apps for anatomy. They are really good. Get one or two of the free trial versions, and if you think they will help, buy the full versions. I plan on buying the full versions of one or two of them soon. Not only does it show all the parts you will need to know, it can quiz you on those parts and you start to learn the relationships between parts. Learn what muscle attaches to that bump, what nerve passes through that hole, etc.

When studying the bones and muscles, I took a photo of them and made my own flash cards. The college that I was at didn't have cadavers so the muscles were all on plastic "muscle men." I don't know if you will be allowed to take photos of the cadavers. But I would have the photo of the lower limb, print it out a bunch of times, then outline a different muscle on each print. Not only would I try to state the name of that muscle, but also the muscles that border it (muscle groupings), as well as origin, insertion, action, and nerve for it and all the surrounding muscles. Since I was taking photos of the models that were used for the lab practical exams, I could identify all the parts. This allowed me to study when I didn't have access to the lab (I was working full time, commuting over an hour each day, volunteering, taking 4 credits of anatomy, and trying to be present for my family)

The textbook that was used has short videos and on-line content that had quizzes and instruction. I used it a lot to start the learning process. If you can access on-line content from your book, it can be worth it. It is more than an electronic version of your book.

I just hope that some of what I learned in the anatomy class will be accessible to me when I need it starting next month...

dsoz
 
You won't be.

I figured you wouldn't be able to take photos. What I was wondering was if anyone has been allowed to bring iPads into anatomy lab if they don't take pictures. If I throw it in a large ziplock bag I'm able to use the touchscreen even with gloves on. I have Grants and Netters on there as well so I thought that could be beneficial for lab.
 
I think planes2doc or someone else said they did this in another thread, but they had to get special permission from one of the deans or the course instructor. I'd make sure to ask a higher authority first before you get in trouble for violating your school's particular policies.

my school let us take pictures for educational purposes. But no one really did.
 
More so than the other resources quoted? There seem to be a lot of resources available! What would you guys say are 1-2 resources that are the best from the ones mentioned here?

Not "moreso"...but in conjunction with.

The videos will just light up all the dark or cloudy spaces in your brain after studying all the details. Unless you want to be in a lab with a cadaver non-stop. You will need an atlas for details.

Your most precious resource? Genuine curiosity and fascination. If you have this...things will stick in your head like glue. Anatomy is one of the most difficult easy classes if you're not super interested.
 
Your most precious resource? Genuine curiosity and fascination. If you have this...things will stick in your head like glue. Anatomy is one of the most difficult easy classes if you're not super interested.

So true. I hated everything but extremities and head and neck. Guess which tests I did great on and which ones I did poorly on?
 
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