Introduction
Medical education has recognised the importance of teaching anatomy to medical students and resident doctors in training 1. While anatomy was fully covered for hundreds of years, currently it has been reduced in medical education curriculums 2. In addition, there has been a change from the traditional ”hands-on” teaching on cadavers to using imaging such ultrasound scans and magnetic resonance imaging, living anatomy, and multimedia resources3. Such a change in anatomy teaching has not been methodologically studied to see if it compromises patient safety4.
Toogood et al. 2 recognised a low unsafe level of teaching anatomy for medical students and suggested that more attention to anatomy education during residency training may bridge the knowledge gap. While applied anatomy knowledge is necessary for safe medical practice, there has been an increase in medical litigation attributed to the lack of appropriate knowledge in surgical anatomy 5.
Several reports in obstetrics and gynaecology (O&G) discussed the importance of applied anatomy education during postgraduate training. Sgori et al. 6 evaluated trainees’ perceptions of the level of anatomical knowledge in O&G training programs and recognised limitations in applied anatomy knowledge among trainees at all levels of training. In addition, they suggested formal applied anatomy courses during residency training. Furthermore, such limitations were also recognised among first year gynaecology oncology fellows, where 40% of fellows were not able to identify relevant anatomical structures during surgical operations 7. Such a report from a fellowship program further emphasized the perception of inadequate knowledge in surgical anatomy during residency training.
There are several abdominal, pelvic, and perineal anatomical structures relevant to O&G that resident doctors are expected to have appropriate knowledge about.
The primary aim of our study was to evaluate O&G resident doctors’ knowledge in surgical anatomy in all the five training years. Secondary aims included studying variables that could influence this knowledge such as age, gender, value of medical student O&G anatomy course, and attendance at formal applied anatomy lectures and workshops. In addition, monthly surgical procedures they attended or performed and how often senior colleagues demonstrate anatomy during operating theatre sessions were evaluated.