The importance of teaching and knowing anatomy

Anatomy is the basis in studying veterinary medicine. It will affect your future studies and will be important in your work, not depending on the specificity of your job. Unfortunately understanding the importance of learning this, comes to you when you`re older. We usually are 18-19 years old when we learn anatomy and we often do not understand the importance of it and consider it boring and way too hard. At that time we learn in order to pass and get a grade, to go on with the studies to learn stuff that we consider more interesting and fun (e.g. surgery- which in reality is based on knowledge of anatomy). I, for sure, was one of those students who did it. In order to become the veterinary surgeon I am now, I had to re-study pretty much all of the anatomy. Believe it or not, even the most confident surgeon opens an anatomy book from time to time. Unfortunately nowadays students and young graduates have big confidence in their knowledge, but in practice they often are proven wrong.

Then this rises a question- is there a possibility to improve anatomy studies? Maybe we could make studies more enjoyable? Perhaps we could find other additional possibilities for studying anatomy and not only rely on stinky cadavers where you need quite an imagination to find a certain blood vessel or a nerve.

I think it is maybe time to try virtual reality.

Nick