The prospect of anatomy as a career choice among clinical year medical students in Nigeria

• Published in: Annals of African medicine Vol. 8; no. 2; pp. 90 - 94
• Main Authors: Onakpoya, Oluwatoyin H, Onakpoya, Uvie U, Adereti, Grace E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd 01.04.2009; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Anatomy; Anatomy - education; Career Choice; Clinical medicine; Core curriculum; Education; Education, Medical; Faculty, Medical; Female; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health sciences; Humans; Influence; Learning; Male; Medical schools; Medical students; Medicine; Methods; Nigeria; Physicians; Public speaking; Self-Assessment; Sex Factors; Social Perception; Students; Students, Medical; Surveys; Surveys and Questionnaires; Teaching; Textbooks; Young Adult; Nigeria
• ISSN: 1596-3519; 0975-5764
• DOI: 10.4103/1596-3519.56235

Medical doctors are potential important source of anatomy teachers. The aim of this study was to determine the choice of anatomy as a career option among medical students in a Nigerian medical school Descriptive survey of second- and third-year medical students using a self-administered questionnaire to asses age, sex, perception of anatomy as a subject, anatomy training experience and choice of anatomy as a career among respondents. Analysis was conducted using the SPSS and statistical significance inferred at P RESULTS: Three hundred and fifty three (85.3% response rate) who completely filled questionnaire were returned and analyzed of which 195 (55.2%) were males and 158(44.8%) were females. Their ages ranged between 18 and 37 years with a mean of 22.4 9.9 years. Although most students agreed that anatomy was an important subject in medical sciences 346 (98%), they had benefited from anatomy training in their clinical classes 320 (90.7%), and the knowledge of anatomy is useful in investigating patients with certain diseases 251 (71.1%), only 22 (6.2%) would choose anatomy as a career. Male students were more likely to choose anatomy as a career (P=0.026). Textbooks were the most common 334 (94.5%), while radiological means were the least 23 (6.5%) method employed in learning anatomy. Anatomy as a subject is perceived positively by clinical medical students, but the choice as a career option is low; attempt at increasing career interest is needful.