Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development最新文献

{"title":"Accuracy of Self-Assessment in Medical Student Communication Performance.","authors":"Anastasiya A Lipnevich, Andrew Houriet, Angelo D'Addario, Krista Mattern","doi":"10.1177/23821205261477594","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23821205261477594","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Effective communication is a core competency in medical practice, supporting patient relationships, treatment adherence, and clinical outcomes. Developing both skills and confidence is a central goal of medical education. Self-assessment, guided reflection, and exemplar-based feedback are promising strategies to enhance competence and self-regulation. Yet, evidence on medical students' accuracy in self-evaluating communication remains limited. This study examined calibration of self-assessed communication performance, potential gender differences, impact of feedback strategies, and changes over time.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>We analyzed data from 78 students in a larger study who completed self-evaluation of their communication with a virtual patient. Participants engaged with eight video-based clinical vignettes targeting two communication competencies: providing clear, relevant information and responding to patient emotions. For each vignette, students recorded an initial response, reviewed exemplar feedback, completed a self-evaluation (with or without reflection prompts), and re-recorded their response. Communication behaviors were scored using an AI-based system validated against expert ratings. Mixed-effects regression models tested linear and quadratic effects of actual performance on self-assessed behaviors. Gender, experimental condition, and time (T1 vs. T2) were included as moderators to examine differences and changes in calibration.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Students consistently overestimated their performance at low actual ability levels (intercept significantly greater than zero: t(154) = 13.48, p < .001, d = 1.53) and underestimated at higher levels (slope significantly less than one: t(148) = -9.99, p < .001, d = -1.13). The quadratic term did not improve model fit. No significant gender differences or improvements in calibration over time or feedback condition were observed.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Medical students show systematic miscalibration in self-assessed communication, even when engaging in structured self-evaluation and exemplar-based reflection. These findings highlight the importance of instructional strategies that actively promote comparison with high-quality exemplars and guided reflection. Integrating these approaches may reduce miscalibration, strengthen communication skills, and better prepare students for the interpersonal demands of clinical practice.</p>","PeriodicalId":45121,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development","volume":"13 ","pages":"23821205261477594"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13477551/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148762144","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Designing an Effective Ambulatory Medicine Clerkship.","authors":"Harish Jasti","doi":"10.1177/23821205261475557","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23821205261475557","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ambulatory care is central to modern healthcare, yet undergraduate clinical education often remains hospital-centered. In outpatient settings, brief visits, irregular workflows, and variable preceptor supervision can make learning uneven. Much guidance on outpatient teaching focuses on what individual preceptors can do during clinic sessions. This article instead describes practical strategies for clerkship directors and medical educators who organize learning across multiple sites and preceptors. The strategies address core design decisions, including site expectations, preceptor support, student roles, workflow, observation, feedback, continuity, and monitoring. Together, they provide an evidence-informed approach to building a feasible and educationally effective ambulatory care clerkship.</p>","PeriodicalId":45121,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development","volume":"13 ","pages":"23821205261475557"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13473765/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148765330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Underrepresented in Medicine and Gender Trends in Ophthalmology: A Retrospective Analysis.","authors":"Audrey Schulze, Joshua Wang, Avinash Singh, Misha Syed, Praveena Gupta","doi":"10.1177/23821205261478423","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23821205261478423","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Representation in the physician workforce is essential for equitable patient care, yet trends in underrepresented in medicine (URIM) and female representation in ophthalmology relative to other specialties remain unclear. We conducted a population-based retrospective cross-sectional analysis from 2011 to 2024 to evaluate trends in URIM and female representation in ophthalmology compared with other surgical and nonsurgical residency programs. We also compared these trends among applicants, matched participants, and active residents within ophthalmology. Participants included ophthalmology residents in ACGME-accredited programs (2011-2024) and applicants and matched participants in the San Francisco Match (2016-2024). Primary outcomes were the proportions of URIM and female applicants and residents and changes over time. Data included 5,664 ophthalmology applicants (3,734 matched) for race/ethnicity and 6,206 applicants (4,420 matched) for gender from 2016-2024, and more than 1.27 million residents for race/ethnicity and 1.4 million for gender from 2011-2024. URIM representation increased significantly among applicants from 8.75% to 24.3% (absolute increase 15.6 percentage points, 95% CI 12.06-19.08) and among matched participants from 6.61% to 30.26% (23.6 percentage points, 95% CI 19.1-28.2). Among residents, URIM representation rose from 7.3% to 13.4% (6.1 percentage points, 95% CI 3.92-8.28). Female applicants increased from 40.0% to 45.2%, and matched female participants from 41.4% to 47.9%. However, female representation among ophthalmology residents declined slightly from 42.4% to 40.6% (-1.8 percentage points, 95% CI -5.5 to -1.9), while increasing significantly in other surgical specialties (+8.6 percentage points, 95% CI 7.7-9.5). Trend analyses confirmed statistical significance (all p < 0.001). Ophthalmology has made meaningful gains in URIM representation across the training pipeline, but improvements in gender representation have not translated into sustained increases among active residents, underscoring the need for longitudinal, specialty-specific strategies beyond recruitment alone.</p>","PeriodicalId":45121,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development","volume":"13 ","pages":"23821205261478423"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13462495/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148727093","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Implementation of Health Systems Science Curriculum in Radiation Oncology Resident Education.","authors":"Brady S Laughlin, William G Rule, Patti Thorn, C Dan Johnson, Lisa A McGee","doi":"10.1177/23821205261478407","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23821205261478407","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Healthcare Systems Science (HSS) is an important part of medical education because it helps physicians understand how healthcare systems work and how to improve them. However, it is not commonly included in graduate medical training. This manuscript describes the creation and use of a radiation oncology (RO) HSS curriculum that was built with medical school faculty and adapted to the needs of residents in our residency program. The curriculum included sixteen sessions over ten months and covered six domains: person centered care, population centered care, team-based care, high value care, leadership, and health policy economics and technology. Each session included a short lecture and a case discussion on topics such as financial toxicity, telemedicine, workflow improvement, burnout, health equity, and billing. The curriculum was used successfully with regular participation from residents and faculty, showing that it can fit into an existing residency schedule. Residents completed pre- and post-intervention surveys assessing understanding, consideration, confidence, and satisfaction related to HSS domains using 5-point Likert-scale items. Among residents with paired survey data, scores for understanding of HSS, incorporation of HSS into care planning, confidence applying HSS principles, and satisfaction with HSS integration all improved following curriculum completion. This experience shows that adding HSS to RO residency training is practical and useful, and it may also be a helpful model for other residency programs.</p>","PeriodicalId":45121,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development","volume":"13 ","pages":"23821205261478407"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13458131/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148714089","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An Interactive, Project-Based AI in Healthcare Curriculum for Clinicians and Medical Educators.","authors":"Hiba Hamdar","doi":"10.1177/23821205261477580","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23821205261477580","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>A persistent skills gap separates the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in medicine from clinicians' ability to critically evaluate, adopt, and govern them. Existing AI-in-healthcare education is typically delivered through passive, lecture-based formats that do not require learners to apply frameworks to real clinical or institutional problems.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We designed and piloted a 10-week, interactive AI in Healthcare curriculum using a Socratic teaching method: each concept is taught, followed by a targeted question the learner must answer before advancing; every task submission receives detailed individualized correction. The curriculum requires each learner to develop an original AI project addressing a real clinical or educational problem, culminating in a published GitHub repository documenting a structured readiness-objectives-adoption-data (R.O.A.D.) analysis, algorithm selection, an ethics and governance framework, and a validation plan.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Pilot delivery of the curriculum's foundational module demonstrated feasibility of the interactive correction model, with measurable improvement across four graded learner tasks, including increased precision in formulating measurable, evidence-based project objectives following targeted instructor correction.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>This curriculum offers a generalizable, no-cost model for closing the AI evaluation skills gap in healthcare education, combining interactive correction with a mandatory, learner-defined capstone project. We discuss plans for formal assessment validation and full-cohort implementation.</p>","PeriodicalId":45121,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development","volume":"13 ","pages":"23821205261477580"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13458112/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148714073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluation of a Longitudinal Health Equity Curriculum: A Pilot Initiative for Advancing Inclusive Medical Education.","authors":"Naseem Alammar, Yadira Rivera-Sanchez, Kelli Martinez, Whitney Cameron","doi":"10.1177/23821205261477147","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23821205261477147","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Despite the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requirements for education on health equity, many graduate medical education (GME) programs lack structured learning in this area. Health inequities persist in clinical practice, emphasizing the importance of incorporating training in health equity concepts.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>This study aimed to design and pilot a longitudinal health equity curriculum for pediatric fellows to improve their knowledge, beliefs, and comfort with equity-related concepts.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A two-phase pilot study was conducted. Phase I was from October 2024-March 2025 within a two-year pediatric hospital medicine (PHM) fellowship. Of six total PHM fellows, five were eligible and participated. Curriculum development followed Kern's six-step model. A needs assessment informed session topics. Four, sixty-minute interactive, in-person sessions were held. Phase II curriculum sessions were delivered to a separate replication cohort of pediatric fellows in November and December 2025. Anonymous pre-post-session surveys were administered to assess changes in knowledge, beliefs, and comfort. Demographic data was not collected during phase I to maintain anonymity but was collected from the larger phase II cohort. Results were compared using pre-post-session data, using descriptive statistics. Survey tools were internally developed and not externally validated.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>During phase I, five fellows were eligible to participate, with 4-5 fellows per session (80-100% participation). All phase I participants (100%) completed both pre- and post-surveys. Self-reported knowledge, beliefs, and comfort improved across all sessions. In phase II, similar patterns of improvement were observed and participants shifted away from neutral or disagree responses, with marked improvements in knowledge, belief, and comfort domains.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>A longitudinal health equity curriculum was piloted within a PHM fellowship and then replicated in a larger cohort, with measurable improvements in understanding of health equity concepts. These findings support the integration of longitudinal health equity education into GME programs to better equip physicians to advance health equity in clinical practice.</p>","PeriodicalId":45121,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development","volume":"13 ","pages":"23821205261477147"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13458116/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148714103","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Financial Residency Education and Entertainment (Free): A Cross-Sectional Study of a Prioritized Personal Finance Curriculum for Resident and Fellow Physicians.","authors":"Jeffrey Huang, Matthew Sexton, Alice Gallo de Moraes","doi":"10.1177/23821205261475561","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23821205261475561","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Poor financial literacy and financial behaviors negatively affect the wellness and professional duties of residents and fellow physicians. Major financial missteps can create significant personal stress, leading to worsening wellness and burnout. There are currently no available comprehensive financial literacy curricula for residents and fellows for educators to use to address this gap.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We created and assessed the educational impact of a comprehensive 4-module curriculum that covers fundamental personal finance topics which are universally applicable to all physicians regardless of their medical and surgical specialty. We delivered the entire curriculum 6 times between November 2023 and December 2024 to anesthesia residents, internal medicine residents, and critical care fellows. We assessed their self-reported baseline financial behaviors and their knowledge and self-efficacy with core financial topics using pretest and posttest surveys.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>For the 4 modules respectively, 66 (25%), 39 (15%), 44 (17%), and 35 (13%) of 260 possible trainees completed surveys. Self-efficacy significantly increased for creating a financial plan (p<0.001), investing (p<0.001), designing a debt payoff strategy (p=0.005), selecting an asset allocation (p<0.001), selecting optimal asset locations (p<0.001), and selecting appropriate health (p<0.001)/life (p<0.001)/disability (p<0.001) insurance plans. Resident knowledge significantly increased from pretest to posttest for all 4 modules: Financial Plan & Basics of Investing (p<0.001), Budgeting & Debt Management (p=0.010), Retirement Accounts & Asset Allocation (p<0.001), and Insurance (p<0.001). Mean trainee satisfaction with the overall curriculum on a 5-point scale (1-low, 5-high) was 4.2 (standard deviation 0.8).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>We identified poor baseline financial literacy and behaviors in our resident and fellow physicians. This prioritized curriculum effectively adapted to the needs of multiple different training programs and was highly desired by trainees. This curriculum increased their knowledge and self-efficacy with several key topics in personal finance.</p>","PeriodicalId":45121,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development","volume":"13 ","pages":"23821205261475561"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13458329/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148714113","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Implementation of a Faculty Mentorship Skill Development Curriculum in Radiation Oncology.","authors":"Lisa A McGee, Heather A Billings, Brady S Laughlin","doi":"10.1177/23821205261476943","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23821205261476943","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>To implement and evaluate a faculty mentorship skill development curriculum within a radiation oncology department at a single academic medical center.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A three-part faculty development curriculum consisting of three 45-minute facilitated workshops was implemented for physician faculty mentors. The curriculum was designed to support mentors in navigating mentoring relationships, aligning expectations, and fostering mentee independence. Content was informed by evidence-based mentorship frameworks and adult learning principles, including models developed by the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research, social cognitive theory, and principles of psychological safety and self-efficacy. Faculty participants representing a range of academic ranks and mentoring experience levels participated voluntarily. Pre- and post-curriculum self-assessment surveys evaluated participant understanding and implementation of mentorship skills, as well as perceptions of common mentorship challenges, using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). Descriptive statistics were used to analyze responses.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Curriculum content progressed from foundational mentorship concepts, including mentor roles, mentoring networks, and stages of mentoring relationships, to communication strategies, expectation alignment, and promotion of mentee independence. Educational methods included brief didactic instruction, case-based discussion, guided reflection, and peer-to-peer learning. Survey data demonstrated improvement in participant self-assessment scores across all evaluated mentorship domains, including mentoring across differences, supporting mentee goal achievement, confidence as a mentor, providing constructive feedback, awareness of mentorship challenges, setting clear expectations, and understanding core mentorship competencies. Participants also reported reduced perceived challenges related to mentorship, with the largest improvements observed in setting boundaries, mentoring across differences, and addressing sensitive topics.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This faculty mentorship development curriculum was feasible to implement and demonstrated favorable early improvements in self-reported mentorship knowledge, confidence, and perceived ability to navigate common mentorship challenges. Further longitudinal evaluation is needed to assess sustained implementation of mentorship skills and longer-term impact on mentoring relationships.</p>","PeriodicalId":45121,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development","volume":"13 ","pages":"23821205261476943"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13452924/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148702591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Virtual Care Training: A Competency-Based Telehealth Curriculum for Physician Trainees.","authors":"Robert G Belcourt, Megan Vs Dekker, Florence J Dallo, Mara M Hoffert","doi":"10.1177/23821205261477333","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23821205261477333","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Although virtual care has rapidly expanded, standardized, competency-based training is lacking. We developed a feasible, interactive, virtual care training (VCT) curriculum for trainee physicians that is aligned with nationally recognized competency standards.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Utilizing a single-group pre-post quasi-experimental design, we implemented a three-hour, in-person, competency-based VCT program aligned with the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) telehealth competencies. The program comprised a one-hour interactive didactic session followed by two one-hour activity rotations: (1) two experiential case-based activities and (2) two objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs)-simulated encounters with standardized patients to perform a virtual physical examination and medication reconciliation. Standardized patients and faculty debriefers provided real-time feedback. Self-reported outcomes (comfort, difficulty, and likelihood to recommend) were evaluated using pre- and post-program surveys, while objective clinical performance was assessed by faculty debriefers during the OSCEs.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>One hundred twenty-six trainees participated in the VCT program: 119 (94.0%) completed the pre-program survey and 126 (100.0%) completed the post-program survey. Among the pre-program survey respondents, 64.0% reported having neither previous training in virtual care nor prior experience conducting a virtual care visit with a patient. Post-program, trainees reported significant improvements in being \"very\" or \"quite\" comfortable with virtual care visits (94.4% vs 36.9%), virtual physical examinations (78.5% vs 10.0%), and virtual medication reconciliation (96.0% vs 60.5%) (all <i>p</i> < 0.001). Perceived difficulty improved significantly after the training, with \"difficult\" rates dropping from 40.0% to 8.0% and \"very easy\" rates rising from 0.0% to 23.0%, although over half (55.0%) felt that providing virtual care was \"easy\" before completing the program. Lastly, trainees reported higher rates of being \"extremely\" or \"quite\" likely to recommend virtual care to patients after completing the VCT program (88.0% vs 50.4%; <i>p</i> < 0.001).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our structured three-hour VCT program is a feasible model that leads to significant improvements in trainee confidence and the demonstrated performance of discrete telehealth tasks. This curriculum offers a scalable approach for integrating telehealth training into graduate medical education.</p>","PeriodicalId":45121,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development","volume":"13 ","pages":"23821205261477333"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13451742/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148698060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fresh Human Donor Tissue in Anatomy Education: Task Fidelity, Procedural Relevance, and Curriculum Design Implications.","authors":"Punnose Kattil, J C Malsawmzuali, Fadi W Adel, Xiaoyu Ma, Wojciech Pawlina","doi":"10.1177/23821205261469935","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23821205261469935","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Gross anatomy is now delivered in curricula that are increasingly compressed and integrated with other areas of medical training. At the same time, digital resources and physical models have become more common as supplementary tools in anatomy education. These shifts have renewed interest in the distinctive educational value of donor-based learning and in how preservation methods should be aligned with clinically meaningful learning objectives. This narrative review examines the use of fresh human donor tissue in anatomy teaching and clinically oriented procedural training. It focuses on unembalmed, non-fixed, and fresh-frozen tissue, while soft-preserved tissue is considered mainly as contextual and comparative evidence. Literature searches were conducted in MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and ERIC databases for English-language human studies published from 2015 through early 2026, with backward citation to identify older landmark comparator papers. Because the preservation-explicit educational literature was limited and heterogenous, findings were synthesized narratively. Across the included literature, fresh tissue appears most educationally valuable when learning objectives depend on functional tissue behavior, including tissue palpation, percussion, tissue-plane recognition, ultrasound-guided anatomy, or realistic procedural handling. Available studies suggest benefits in selected knowledge and performance outcomes, especially in clinically oriented examination and postgraduate refresher courses. Comparator evidence indicates that soft-preserved tissue may provide a pragmatic alternative when programs need repeated access or broader curricular integration while still preserving more realistic handling than formal fixed donors. Formalin fixed tissue remains useful for durable structural teaching despite reduced functional realism. Overall, preservation methods should be treated as a curricular design decision rather than a neutral technical detail. Fresh tissue therefore has a defensible place in competency-based anatomy education when used selectively for tasks requiring high functional fidelity, although stronger evidence for long-term clinical transfer remains limited.</p>","PeriodicalId":45121,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development","volume":"13 ","pages":"23821205261469935"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13451749/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148698084","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}