Bare Bones: A Return to Anatomy for Teaching Bone Marrow Biopsy and Aspirate Procedures

Abstract Introduction This resource combines a variety of teaching tools to supplement bedside supervised teaching of the bone marrow aspirate and biopsy procedure with an emphasis on underlying deep anatomy. Methods This resources provides a video with a visualization exercise using live participants, cadavers, and skeletons to teach underlying anatomy involved in performing bone marrow procedures, in addition to a review of technical procedure-techniques. Also included is a PowerPoint presentation developed to address indications, contraindications, and risks of bone marrow procedures that can be used at a clinical teaching session. Results At pretest, 48% (15 out of 31) of residents landmarked accurately. At posttest, 74% (23 out of 31) of residents accurately performed the procedure. McNemar's test revealed a non-significant trend towards increased performance at posttest. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test demonstrates a significant difference between pre and posttest accuracy in the 16 residents initially inaccurate at pretest. No association was detected between participant demographics and pretest accuracy. Discussion Our study suggests that this anatomy-based video exercise improved resident procedural performance as measured by landmarking accuracy. Future research is needed to explore application of this form of intervention on teaching medical procedures. Using this easily-accessed intervention at point-of-care in programs would enhance its impact beyond that realized from our single teaching session.