A novel way to learn about human anatomy

[ The University of Melbourne Voice Vol. 3, No. 1  14 April - 12 May 2008 ]

By Amanda Tattam

An@tomedia is an interactive teaching aid that started out 12 years ago as a small, but ambitious multimedia project in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Melbourne.

The originators had big plans to change the way medical and allied health students learn anatomy. Now An@tomedia has 16 licence agreements with universities around the world and is winning international acclaim from venerable sources.

An@tomedia CDs provide a novel approach to learning about human anatomy by presenting it from multiple perspectives. The user can construct the body (via regions and systems) and deconstruct it (via dissection and imaging).

An@tomedia co-author Dr Priscilla Barker said the initiative was the result of extensive individual, Government, University, institutional and business support. “It is designed for use by medical and other allied health students but is a valuable resource for independent study or practitioners to use in patient education.”

An@tomedia has so far produced five comprehensive CDs covering the Back, Thorax, Abdomen and Pelvis as well as General Anatomy, a CD covering principles and concepts of anatomy. The sixth CD on the Upper Limb is going through final testing and is due for release in second semester 2008.

It is 12 years into a 15-year development schedule and when complete it will represent over 100,000 hours of development and contain content equivalent to 360 contact hours of comprehensive anatomy teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Head of Anatomy and Human Sciences at King’s College London, Professor Susan Standring, Editor of the 150-year-old medical bible Gray’s Anatomy, says An@tomedia displays “consistently superb dissections and highly accessible relevant text.

“Students at any stage of their training will find that it complements their studies,” says Professor Standring. “The Introductory module should be mandatory ‘reading’ for all first year students of anatomy before they begin a systematic study of topographical anatomy.”

Leading the An@tomedia team are Dr Norm Eizenberg, Associate Professor Christopher Briggs, Dr Priscilla Barker and Dr Ivica Grkovic.

Associate Professor John Fitzgerald Associate Dean for Knowledge Transfer (Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences) says An@tomedia is an excellent example of how other organisations and people can benefit from University staff expertise.

Professor Fitzgerald is conducting a survey of university staff in April to find out about other kinds of enterprising projects and outreach activities (see item this page).

The An@tomedia website is at www.anatomedia.com Individual CDs in the series can be ordered from the University of Melbourne Bookshop website: www.mup.unimelb.edu.au/e-showcase/