The Case Anatomical Knowledge Index (CAKI) as a Tool for Selecting Clinical Cases for Clinically Oriented Anatomy Teaching: Approach and Content

gynaecology (normal delivery, ectopic pregnancy). In combination, disease prevalence and potential for For medical education to be valid and reliable for anatomy learning, can promote validity and clinical practice there must be concordance between reliability of anatomy teaching when we consider what students learn and the demands of their future practical real life experiences of clinicians. The clinical responsibilities. The objective of this paper findings could have practical applications for is to describe a technique that brings together disease anatomy educators in selecting clinical cases for prevalence and the potential of a disease/clinical case teaching anatomy. to foster anatomy learning for selecting diseases/clinical cases for clinically oriented anatomy teaching (COAT). INTRODUCTION In the study reported disease prevalence was compiled from national Health Management For medical education to be valid and reliable for Information System (HMIS) records from three clinical practice there must be concordance between consecutive years and analysis of clinical audit what students learn and the demands of their future records from three hospitals, including the national clinical responsibilities. When there is a disconnect referral hospital, and one urban district health about what students learn in medical schools and management team for a 5-yr period. The most what they need for clinical practice a radical rethink prevalent diseases/cases in general surgery, surgery of curricula design is indicated. In anatomy the sub-specialty, medicine, paediatrics, and obstetrics mainstay of curriculum delivery is the lecture and gynaecology were then scored and ranked using method and practicum (dissection and microscopic). the Case Anatomical Knowledge Index (CAKI). The This is true for many African countries and Zambia in CAKI is a Guttman scalogram analysis index used to particular. Additionally, anatomy is taught either evaluate the anatomy embedded in a clinical case. regionally or by body systems. In clinical settings, however, anatomy is encountered in the context of a The study identified high-prevalence high-CAKI clinical problem (diagnostic, investigative, or for diseases/cases including, for example: for general treatment). This is why case based teaching was surgery (intestinal obstruction, head injury, inguinal introduced in problem based learning curricula in 1 hernia); surgery sub-specialties (hydrocephalus, many medical schools the world over . However, in 2,3 congenital talipes equinovarus, dental caries); the literature some authors have expressed medicine (pulmonary tuberculosis, meningitis, heart concerns about the scope and depth of anatomy disease); paediatrics (congenital neural tube, and learned when case based teaching is used. heart defects, meningitis); obstetrics and In practice, certain diseases are more likely to be encountered than others and they each present distinctive demand for knowledge of anatomy to the clinician. This paper describes a technique that