Evaluating the effectiveness of integrating radiological and cross-sectional anatomy in first-year medical students – A randomized, crossover study

CONTEXT: Radiological anatomy (RA) knowledge is essential for the current-day clinical practice due to the rapid development in imaging technologies. As there is a long interval between learning RA in the 1(st) year and applying it in their clinical disciplines impedes their functional understanding, this study has been planned to provide the students with a right mix of anatomy and radiology in order to promulgate deeper medical comprehension. AIM: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of integrated RA in honing the radiological reasoning abilities in 1(st) year medical students and to develop critical thinking skills through small-group, case-based learning experience. METHODOLOGY: All the students of 2017–2018 batch were randomized equally into study group and control group. The study group was exposed to the interactive RA module followed by posttest. The control group was exposed to traditional teaching and then given posttest. The groups were flipped for successive regions of anatomy. Feedbacks were obtained by both quantitative and qualitative methods. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Posttest scores were compared using Student's t-test. Feedbacks were analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: The posttest scores were significantly higher in the study group when compared to the control group. Nearly 92% of the students felt that the integrated module made them learn better and 44% of the students felt that it helped them to apply the knowledge in clinical context. CONCLUSION: For the present millennial-generation students, integrated RA lectures help develop their critical thinking and help in the subsequent clinical years.