How is Anatomy Taught in PT School?

[ktachiba]

Hi All,

I was curious in the teaching method in which anatomy is taught in DPT school. I have seen two kinds of methods used by professors in undergrad anatomy. One professor basically said "everything in the book is open game", and didn't give any study guides/specifics for the test. The other professor provided study guides and told us specifically what will be on the test.

My question is which method is used by professors in graduate school?


Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[goyo1010]

Hi All,

I was curious in the teaching method in which anatomy is taught in DPT school. I have seen two kinds of methods used by professors in undergrad anatomy. One professor basically said "everything in the book is open game", and didn't give any study guides/specifics for the test. The other professor provided study guides and told us specifically what will be on the test.

My question is which method is used by professors in graduate school?


Thanks!

The method by which any class is taught is for the most part dependent on the professor that teaches the class. They very much can just come in the class, pass out a 200-pg packet, tell the students to learn the material for the test in two days, and not come back until said test day, especially if they have tenure. lol

Fortunately, PT programs do not have those types of professors because PT is so hands-on and the PTs that teach the classes are inherently hands-on type of people (hopefully). We had two professors co-teach our gross human anatomy class. One professor used packets with most of the information we needed and we'd do some awesome labeling and coloring along with him as he lectured through the packet. The other professor utilized PowerPoint presentations to present the materials; however, he did provide packets with unlabeled/uncolored diagrams and figures for us to use, too. They would pretty much tell us that anything presented in class and in the assigned readings was fair game. If we went over something that was not important, they would say, "You don't need to know this for the exam, but it's good to know," etc.

There are things we will not need to know in great detail in gross anatomy, e.g., GI tract. So, if a professor says everything in the book is testable is doing you a disservice.

So, in short: IT DEPENDS.

 

[markelmarcel]

So, in short: IT DEPENDS.

Goyo's got it. My anatomy was taught by a biology professor so it was a more traditional course for me, just lots more info in a short amount of time haha.

 

[NewTestament]

I imagine every professor is different. The difference at every PT school will be the amount of material. It's amazing how much you can learn in 15-16 weeks. You probably learn 3x as much as any undergraduate anatomy course. The anatomy course I took two years ago seems so elementary now.

At my school, the professor publishes his notes in a PDF that students can either print or download. He then lectures 3x week, but everything he says in the lecture is in the notes, because he's the author of those notes.

Kevin

 

[PTMattI]

In my school there is a pretty strong emphasis on courses of nerves and arteries. You obviously still have to know your insertions and origins for muscles, but you might get a question such as "a man was stabbed in the ventral aspect of his wrist with an icepick, medial to the tunnel of guyon, and the icepick penetrated the flexor retinaculum. what nerve do you expect to be damaged? what muscles do you expect to lose function?"

from that you should know the median nerve in the carpal tunnel would be damaged, and that would affect all the muscles that it innervates in the hand, also any muscles the ice pick would have to go through to get to the nerve would be damaged as well. hope that helped! haha

 

[TarHeelPhil]

I'm a student at Emory and the director of our program who has a Ph.D in anatomy teaches our gross anatomy course as well as an optional advanced anatomy course.

Extremely comprehensive and very well taught.

 

[ktachiba]

Wow thanks everyone! Yeah I figured it depended on the professor, but it also sounds like they give some direction of what will be on the exam, which I'm happy to hear.

 

[dizzy88]

Our professor tested us in a very clinical manner. Simplest example would be carpal tunnel syndrome. He would expect that you know your basic anatomy in order to answer a question on the deficits that would present if *this nerve* was compromised.

In regards to lab, we had a list of structures that we were expected to identify during lab time. So, there were no surprises on the exams.

 

[Azimuthal]

Muscle manual!