BIO 325 T,U Clinical Anatomy for Physician Assistants 

Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

 May 7 - July 27 (all 12 weeks of summer session)

 Lecture: MWF 1030-1145; Laboratory: MW 1400-1700; F 1300-1600

 Books

 The following books are required for the course:

    Moore, K.L. Clinically Oriented Anatomy. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. 

    Sauerland, E.K. Grants Dissector. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.

 You should acquire ONE of the following:

    Agur, A.M. Grants Atlas of Anatomy. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.

    Clemente, C.D. Anatomy. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.

    Netter, F. Atlas of Human Anatomy. Ciba-Geigy Corporation

Laboratory Consumable Charge

A laboratory fee of $40.00 is required for the course. This fee will cover basic dissection tools, scalpel blades, and gloves. You should pay your laboratory fee in the bookstore. You will be required to obtain clothing for dissection and other minor supplies for the laboratory on your own or within your dissection group. Details of the policies and requirements for the laboratory will be distributed separately.

Course Objectives

This course is designed to teach Physician Assistant students the essentials of gross anatomy pertaining to clinical practice. The course contains a lecture and a laboratory component. The laboratory component includes dissection of human cadavers, as well as use of human skeletal material, radiological images, and anatomical models.

The student is expected to complete the course with an understanding of the gross anatomy of the skeletal, muscular, cardiovascular and nervous systems of the human body. The student is expected to develop skills in understanding the three-dimensional relationship of structures in the human body and to be able to use these skills in reading and interpreting cross-sectional and radiographic images. The course is organized regionally. Students are expected to take from each regional module an understanding of the relationships of gross anatomical structures, the relationship of internal structures to external surface anatomy, and the pathways and mechanisms of innervation and blood supply to the internal organs, skeleton, muscles, and skin. Finally, students are expected to work together in teams to learn anatomy through dissection and through the evaluation and presentation of clinical case studies, thereby developing skills in communication and group problem-solving that will provide a foundation for clinical practice.

Learning objectives will be distributed for each module. These objectives are intended to guide your reading and focus your studying and are not intended to be all-inclusive.

Examinations and Grading

There will be 4 examinations, each of which will include a lecture component and a laboratory (practical) component. There will also be small quizzes designed to help you keep up to pace with the material and as a practice for the later examinations.  Each week, you will be asked to complete a small "warm-up" assignment using your assigned reading.  These will be short and not all-inclusive of the assigned material; they are intended to guide you in the level at which you should be reading the assignments and to assist me in identifying the levels of preparation within the class.

In the laboratory, each student is expected to participate equally in dissection and group learning of the laboratory material. Each group will keep a laboratory journal.  Groups will be asked to present a short preparatory lecture at the start of each section and may be asked to present their dissections and the material they learned for the laboratory to the instructors and/or to the class.  Presentations, preparation, journals, and dissection quality will be used to determine the laboratory grade.

 Letter grades will be assigned on a 10-point numerical basis.

      Written and Practical Exam 1     15%

      Written and Practical Exam 2     20%

      Written and Practical Exam 3     20%

      Final Exam (Cumulative W & P) 25%

      Quizes and Assignments    10%

      Laboratory presentation, preparation and dissection 10%

 Honor System

All students are expected to be familiar with and to abide by the University Honor Code at JMU. A complete description of the University Honor System can be found in the JMU Student Handbook.

 Attendance

Attendance is essential to the successful completion of this course.  Officially excused absences from a laboratory or examination must be approved by the professor prior to the absence.  Make-up examinations or late assignments will be acceptable only in the case of officially excused absences (official school business, illness with M.D.'s excuse, death in the family), and provisions for these absences will be made on a case-by-case basis.  An absence for an exam that has not been approved prior to the start of the exam will be assigned a grade of "0".