Use of a virtual human cadaver to improve knowledge of human anatomy in nursing students: research article

Anatomy is regarded as a cornerstone of health care education and is normally a pre-requisite for clinicians. Even though cadaver dissection and prosection is perceived as the "gold standard," in recent years, its use appeared to be replaced by a myriad of innovative teaching technologies. The present study incorporated a three-dimensional (3D) virtual human cadaver-Anatomage Table (AT)-in teaching human anatomy to first-year nursing students in a quasi-experimental design. The results show that the class average in mid-term and final examinations and the overall Grade Point Average (GPA) was significantly higher in students taught with the AT than students taught without the AT. On a satisfaction survey, 84.0% of students reported a positive experience with the AT, and 85.4% indicated they would recommend this teaching tool to other students. For nursing programs without cadaveric dissection, the AT may serve as an effective teaching tool to increase the knowledge of anatomy and may enhance student's long-term knowledge retention. (C) 2021 Organization for Associate Degree Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.