Introduction
Medical education has recognised the importance of teaching anatomy to
medical students and resident doctors in training 1.
While anatomy was fully covered for hundreds of years, currently it has
been reduced in medical education curriculums 2. In
addition, there has been a change from the traditional ”hands-on”
teaching on cadavers to using imaging such ultrasound scans and magnetic
resonance imaging, living anatomy, and multimedia resources3. Such a change in anatomy teaching has not been
methodologically studied to see if it compromises patient safety4.
Toogood et al. 2 recognised a low unsafe level of teaching anatomy for
medical students and suggested that more attention to anatomy education
during residency training may bridge the knowledge gap. While applied
anatomy knowledge is necessary for safe medical practice, there has been
an increase in medical litigation attributed to the lack of appropriate
knowledge in surgical anatomy 5.
Several reports in obstetrics and gynaecology (O&G) discussed the
importance of applied anatomy education during postgraduate training.
Sgori et al. 6 evaluated trainees’ perceptions of the
level of anatomical knowledge in O&G training programs and recognised
limitations in applied anatomy knowledge among trainees at all levels of
training. In addition, they suggested formal applied anatomy courses
during residency training. Furthermore, such limitations were also
recognised among first year gynaecology oncology fellows, where 40% of
fellows were not able to identify relevant anatomical structures during
surgical operations 7. Such a report from a fellowship
program further emphasized the perception of inadequate knowledge in
surgical anatomy during residency training.
There are several abdominal, pelvic, and perineal anatomical structures
relevant to O&G that resident doctors are expected to have appropriate
knowledge about.
The primary aim of our study was to evaluate O&G resident doctors’
knowledge in surgical anatomy in all the five training years. Secondary
aims included studying variables that could influence this knowledge
such as age, gender, value of medical student O&G anatomy course, and
attendance at formal applied anatomy lectures and workshops. In
addition, monthly surgical procedures they attended or performed and how
often senior colleagues demonstrate anatomy during operating theatre
sessions were evaluated.