Healthcare Profession Student Internet Usage in the Gross Anatomy Lab Setting

Mike Pascoe, PhD

1, 2

Physical Therapy Program, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO
2
Modern Human Anatomy Program, Dept of Cell and Developmental Biology, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO
1

Results

Background
Personal computer use for educational purposes by students of
healthcare professions has become ubiquitous. Although the effect
of computer-based dissection instructions has been studied (Reeves
et al. 2004), there is a paucity of information regarding student
usage of the vast amount of anatomical information available on
the internet. Although todays students have favourable attitudes
toward accessing anatomical information online (Barry et al. 2015),
internet usage patterns have not yet been investigated specifically in
the gross anatomy lab setting.

Other

Quizlet flashcards
Craigslist
Amazon
PubMed

Objective

Figure 2. Photograph
depicting the location of the
iMac computer adjacent to a
dissection table in the gross
anatomy lab.

To describe the browsing characteristics of healthcare profession

students in the gross anatomy setting.

Methods

Productivity
services

Google search,
anatomy related

25.1%

Date/Time

Left crus of diaphragm

Transversus thoracis
Why gallbladder green
Spinal cord vessels

22.0%

Google search,
non-anatomy related

16.4%

Cloud hosting
Email
Canvas
Univ webpages

Judge Judy net worth

Male Disney scrubs
Sean Connery
Neurosurgeon salary

Entertainment
services
Music streaming
YouTube
Social media

# Visits

Total

Webpage visits
Unique webpages
.rb

x 24
USB

Figure 1. Procedures for obtaining and analyzing web browser history. Computers were used
during gross anatomy courses for PT, PA, MD, DDS, MHA and AA students. These procedures
were deemed exempt from human subjects research by the COMIRB (protocol# 15-0662).

100,857
36,587

Per iMac
(N = 24)

Per Day
(N = 600)

4,202 2,483
(19 - 7,968)

168

1,524 945
(12 - 3,407)

61

Table 1. Summary of webpage visits and unique webpages analyzed, per iMac and per day
(June 2013 - January 2015). Per iMac are mean standard deviation (minimum to
maximum values).

These preliminary analyses demonstrate a large volume of internet

usage by healthcare profession students in the gross anatomy lab. A
wide diversity of anatomy- and non-anatomy related websites were
visited.
These findings suggest that students primarily use internet access
to seek information about specific structures they are dissecting in
cadaver lab.

20.6%

15.9%

.CSV
URL

History
.PLIST

Conclusions

Results

Figure 3. Categorical breakdown of the 100,857 webpages visited on the 24 iMacs from
June 2013 to January 2015 (~600 days). Primary categories given in bold with examples
listed below.

Future analyses will include examination of when in relation to

class time students accessed the information (e.g., in preparation
for or during class), how usage changes over time, and what
anatomical structures were most commonly searched for.
In addition, future analysis should examine the accuracy of
information students are viewing to determine if students need
guidance on appraising anatomical information they find on the
internet.

References

Barry, DS et al. (2016). Anatomy education for the YouTube

generation. Anat Sci Edu, 9: 90-96.
Subcategory

Example search term

Count

Percent of sample

Structure

Conus medularis

750

75.0%

Region

Blood supply to bladder

144

14.4%

Clinical concept

Abdominal aorta bypass graft material

44

4.4%

Resource

Bergman atlas anatomy variation

25

2.5%

Concept

Circle of Willis

23

2.3%

Terminology

Arcuate definition

14

1.4%

Table 2. Subcategorization of a sample of 1,000 (total = 22,146) anatomy-related Google

search terms.

Reeves, RE et al. (2004). Improved dissection efficiency in the

human gross anatomy laboratory by the integration of computers
and modern technology. Clin Anat, 17: 337344.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Kalie Petefish for assisting with webpage categorization

and to Scott and Jomana Malone for writing the custom ruby code.

#ESIS2016