Anatomy

How to study Anatomy
Dr.Lopa A. Mehta

Up to the HSC, a student depends entirely on 'verbal' memory for internalizing a body of knowledge that he is expected to possess. A student entering the portals of a medical college, especially the department of Anatomy has to leave behind the habit calling into play his verbal memory which is learning what is 'expected', wearing blinkers, as it were. He has to allow his mind to enjoy studying by taking help of the Kiplingian sextuplet - the six teachers that Rudyard Kipling found to be the best. They are - What, How, Where, When, Who, and, most importantly, Why.

It is now proved scientifically that our two cerebral hemispheres, left and right, work differently. The left handles analysis, words and reasons, whereas the right uses a comprehensive perspective - a visual and artistic approach.

For the subject of Anatomy, the student must use both his hemispheres. With the help of dissection, he should obtain a total visual perspective (right brain) and through the inquiring mind, the analysis and synthesis of the total subject (left brain). He will arm himself with a total perspective of the theatre called the human body in which the drama of human disease is enacted. The edifice of medical knowledge of the student will be resting on a solid foundation, once he has a visual concept of body structure and clarity of understanding of the principles of organization of the human body from sub-molecular to the gross level.

The relevance of studying anatomy would automatically follow in logical sequence once the student gives up the attitude of taking the textbook and the teacher as the final authority on the subject. He would then proceed with the study with an inquiring, alert mind, to verify and satisfy his own urge to understand the content and importance of the subject.

To sum up, with a fresh, inquisitive mind, taking nothing for granted, regular attendance at study in the form of dissection, practicals, demonstrations, participating in group discussions, tutorials and seminars allows the student not only to cope up with the subject confidently but makes him suitably equipped to enter the arena of clinical medicine for the rest of his career.