Effectiveness evaluation of digital virtual simulation application in teaching of gross anatomy.

Introduction: Digital virtual simulation (DVS) is increasingly used to supplement the teaching of anatomy. DVS can provide the students with three-dimensional (3D) stereoscopic images and precise structures in anatomy teaching. We investigated the effects of digital virtual simulation (DVS) application in gross anatomy teaching. Materials and methods: Fourth-year medical students (n = 120), majoring clinical medicine in Class 2013 from Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, were assigned into four classes. Two classes received a traditional teaching method and were the control classes, the others received a new teaching reform method-gross anatomy teaching by DVS, and were the experimental classes. After the reform was carried out, the students in teaching reform classes were proceeded to do a subjective evaluation of the teaching method in order to collect feedback information. Results: Students in the experimental group achieved a mean score of 84.97 (17.86) compared to 78.96 (+/- 5.78) in the control group, with statistical significance between two the groups (p < 0.01). The result of the questionnaire survey showed that the students highly approved this reform in many domains. Conclusion: The application of digital virtual simulation could be used to supplement the teaching of gross anatomy, including theoretical and experimental teaching such as specimen dissection. (C) 2018 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.