How Anatomy continues to inspire Medical Students at Bristol Medical School: Experiences of the Foundations of Medicine Conference

Medical undergraduates typically first encounter anatomy teaching in the early weeks of medical school. Studies have reported the significance of these early experiences on students’ thoughts and feelings about the human body in life and death. At the University of Bristol, we task student groups to present the topics that have inspired them since starting medical school at the ‘Foundations of Medicine Conference’. During the first 10 weeks of year 1, they work together in groups to produce a presentation (Pecha Kucha), scientific poster, and a creative piece for presentation and display. The topics of these works is entirely chosen by the students, and the event acts as their first assessment of engagement and teamworking in the course. Anatomy has often been chosen as the theme for student works. They have presented aspects of anatomy in relation to, for example, ethics and body donation, and have used anatomical drawing within their creative pieces to show the link between mind and body. By choosing anatomy, students remind us of the impact that our discipline has, not only for the value of learning the topography of the human body, but in the added skills and attitudes that are invoked through anatomy learning.