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ERIC Number: EJ1465399
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Apr
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1935-9772
EISSN: EISSN-1935-9780
Available Date: 2025-02-16
Who Is Teaching Anatomy? An Examination of the Demographic Characteristics, Academic Backgrounds, and Professional Responsibilities of US Anatomy Teachers
Tyler R. Hall1; Claudia F. Mosley2; Joanne B. Vakil3; Carson K. Lambert4; Dustin M. Savelli2; Joy Y. Balta5,6
Anatomical Sciences Education, v18 n4 p335-346 2025
Given the demand for anatomy instruction, it is imperative to understand the current cohort of anatomy teachers. This study aimed to delineate the demographic characteristics, academic backgrounds, and professional responsibilities of United States (U.S.) anatomy teachers. A survey was sent to teachers who were identified by their professional membership profiles. Results from 654 responses indicated that 45% of respondents identified as female and 67% identified as white. Most (68%) respondents had an academic doctoral degree. On average, respondents had completed graduate coursework in approximately half of the traditional anatomical sciences subdisciplines. However, approximately 40% of respondents with graduate/professional teaching responsibilities lacked graduate coursework in histology, neuroanatomy, and/or embryology, while approximately 70% of respondents without graduate/professional teaching responsibilities lacked similar coursework. Survey participants reported an assigned time effort of 58% teaching, 16% research, 10% service, and 10% administration and a perceived time effort of 56% teaching, 13% research, 10% service, and 12% administration. Perceived and assigned time efforts were significantly different (p [less than or equal to] 0.04) for administrative, research, and teaching responsibilities. Significant differences (p [less than or equal to] 0.03) also existed amongst participants regarding assigned administrative and teaching time effort and perceived administrative, service, and teaching time effort. Given these findings, we are concerned about protected research time for and the subdiscipline education of anatomy teachers. As such, we provide potential solutions for increasing protected research time and pursuing additional subdiscipline education. We also speculate about the potential impact of the now decades-long anatomy educator shortage on anatomy teacher responsibilities. [The information gathered from this study was shared in part as a poster presentation at the Anatomy Connected conference in Washington, DC, USA in March of 2023 as well as the Anatomy Connected conference in Toronto, OT, CA in March of 2024.]
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www-wiley-com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Department of Health, Exercise, and Sports Studies, Denison University, Granville, Ohio, USA; 2Division of Anatomy, Department of Biomedical Education and Anatomy, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA; 3Joyce University of Nursing and Health Sciences, Draper, Utah, USA; 4Physician Associate Program, College of Arts and Science, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA; 5Anatomy Learning Institute, College of Health Sciences, Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, California, USA; 6Division of Anatomy, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, California, USA