total structures in gross anatomy

[nev]

---

Members don't see this ad.

How many structures (like all the muscles, bones, nerves,etc) would medical school students be expected to know in gross anatomy? What would the total number be?
Wierd question...but I'm just curious.

Nev

 

[Rendar5]

I'm trying to remember. I know it was around 1/4 of all the possible current anatomy terms. i'll look it up and have an answer later on.

 

[synapse lapse]

I'm going to guess around 2000-2500? I have no clue, I think we've learned about 1000 now so I am guestimating. Anyhow, yeah off to take anatomy midterm!

 

[Rendar5]

~4500-5000 different parts of the anatomy (more names than that). so if i was right about having to learn 1/4 of them, then that'll be around 1250 parts u've gotta know. Not that many in retrospect.

 

[nev]

WOW 😱
2000-2500 terms are a lot to remember......But after Gross anatomy, thats it right? You wont have to study the remaining 3/4th of the other terms, correct?

 

[Gimlet]

For each unit we have a list of structures that we have to know cold and be able to identify on our cadavers. There are about 250 terms on each list (with minimal repetition) X 4 units = 1000. Of course there are other structures and more conceptual things like spaces and sheaths that we have to know for the written exams, so I'd say in 1 semester of anatomy we're learning somewhere around 1500 anatomical terms.

 

[2112_rush]

I remember someone in my class asking our gross anatomy course director if he would give us a list of structures to know. He just laughed and said anything mentioned in the text and dissector was fair game (pretty much know everything and you'll be fine). Ahhh...memories.

 

[nev]

I'm trying to remember. I know it was around 1/4 of all the possible current anatomy terms. i'll look it up and have an answer later on.

So in medical school, you guys have to only study 1/4th of all the possible current anatomy terms?

 

[yellowcat322]

So in medical school, you guys have to only study 1/4th of all the possible current anatomy terms?

ONLY ??? Believe me, that is a heck of a lot of terms for a human being to memorize. Besides, there really is no point in doing more than that in med school. You'll forget most of it anyway and if you go into surgery you'll learn whatever extra terms you need on the wards.

 

[logos]

So in medical school, you guys have to only study 1/4th of all the possible current anatomy terms?

Anatomists are very detail minded. There are a ton of minimally significant structures that have names. Bumps on bones, tiney arterys/veins/nerves, some structures have names for various areas of them. Some structures you need to know are there, but dont need to find them because it would waste too much time dissecting to find them (mostly nerves that run in the fat just below your skin).

We need to be able to identify all of the bold words in "Grants Disector" which is a short book that tells you how to do the dissections (and your new best friend in medschool).

Its a lot of stuff, but it is certainly doable.

 

[bigdan]

Last year at Stony Brook, the Anatomy prof began a quiz on-line that he'd only set up for giving credit for answers with the correct spelling. So he also put together a list of the terms with correct spellings, which numbered into the low 2000's, so I'd support that as a resonable number.

dc

 

[rpkall]

It's really not so bad, though, because it's a visual class. Things are named for what they are, what they do, where they insert, what they innervate, what they supply with blood, what tissues they drain, etc, etc, etc. If you can "see" the cadaver in your mind's eye, you can reconstruct the vocabulary and reproduce it anytime you want. You just have to learn the language the the physical relationships--and you have to spend a lot of time immersing yourself in the material.

bottom line: it ain't SO terrible. 😉

 

[noncestvrai]

It's almost like learning a new language (read dead language).

noncestvrai

 

[tupac_don]

How many structures (like all the muscles, bones, nerves,etc) would medical school students be expected to know in gross anatomy? What would the total number be?
Wierd question...but I'm just curious.

Nev

Who knows, I don't count them. But it's a fair amount, I'd venture about 30-40 per/lab, about 30 labs, so you do the math. Some are repeating and these are main structures. There is more if you looked at every single thing. But it's not as bad as it sounds.