Wet Specimens, Plastinated Specimens, or Plastic Models in Learning Anatomy: Perception of Undergraduate Medical Students

Background Methods of teaching anatomy have shown major change as the medical undergraduate curriculum became more challenging. Traditional teaching methods like dissection and wet specimens are nowadays widely replaced by anatomical models, plastination, and technology-enhanced applications. Aim To explore the perception of undergraduate students of three methods of learning anatomy, which are wet specimens, plastinated specimens, and plastic models. Methods This is a descriptive, cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study that included a sample of 268 male and female undergraduate medical students of the third and fourth study years at Ibn Sina National College for Medical Studies in Saudi Arabia. Results Students in this study preferred wet specimens in regard to motivation to gaining anatomical knowledge in clinical context and usefulness for surgical career. On the other hand, they preferred plastinated specimens when it comes to feasibility of use, ability to differentiate between structures, and understanding complex structures. Conclusion Although the findings in general refer to preferring the use of wet specimens, no one modality seems to be enough for effectively learning anatomy. A combination of various modalities can provide the best benefit for medical students in this regard.