MIL OSI – Source: Royal Australasian College of Surgeons – Press Release/Statement
Headline: Not enough anatomy education in today’s medical degrees
Friday 28 November 2014
Medical students are calling for national standards in anatomical education according to an article in the latest issue of the ANZ Journal of Surgery.
The Journal is published for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) and the article details the Australian Medical Students Association (AMSA) position statement on the development of explicit guidelines on the core anatomical knowledge expected of graduates for safe clinical practice.
The statement was developed following a review of current Australian Medical Council (AMC) curriculum guidelines and comparisons to overseas bodies such as the General Medical Council (GMC) in the United Kingdom.
The review also refers to the ANZ Association of Clinical Anatomists call for basic standards, a reflection of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland core syllabus in anatomy detailing the minimum expected knowledge of recent graduates, yet to be reflected in GMC or AMC guidelines.
Movement from the AMSA also comes from the rise of extracurricular anatomical elective courses such as those run from James Cook University in Cairns, accredited by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.
Co-author of the article and medical student John Farey says that traditional methods of anatomical education such as dissection should be available to medical students at all universities.
“The AMC should collaborate with Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand (MDANZ) and the postgraduate colleges to develop clear guidelines that make explicit, the core knowledge of anatomy, expected of medical graduates at each stage of their career,” Mr Farey said.
“The absence of national guidelines for the teaching of anatomy means that the level of basic anatomical knowledge held by some graduates might be inadequate for competent clinical practice, as curriculum standards and methods of assessment are left up to individual institutions,” he said.
The ANZ Journal of Surgery, published by Wiley-Blackwell, is the pre-eminent surgical journal published in Australia, New Zealand and the South-East Asian region for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. The Journal is dedicated to the promotion of outstanding surgical practice, and research of contemporary and international interest.
About the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS)
RACS is the leading advocate for surgical standards, professionalism and surgical education in Australia and New Zealand. The College is a not-for-profit organisation that represents more than 7000 surgeons and 1300 surgical trainees and International Medical Graduates. RACS also supports healthcare and surgical education in the Asia-Pacific region and is a substantial funder of surgical research. There are nine surgical specialties in Australasia being: Cardiothoracic surgery, General surgery, Neurosurgery, Orthopaedic surgery, Otolaryngology Head-and-Neck surgery, Paediatric surgery, Plastic and Reconstructive surgery, Urology and Vascular surgery.
www.surgeons.org
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