The use of dissection table during anatomy lectures in the nursing school: evaluation of feedback and learning performance. From: Selected Abstracts from the joint Meeting of 16th Congress of the European Association of Clinical Anatomy (EACA) and the XII Meeting of the International Symposium of Clinical and Applied Anatomy (ISCAA) Padova, Italy, held remotely via zoom platform, Date 14th to 16th September 2021.

Anatomy is one of the biosciences disciplines included in the nursing curricula degree and it is one of the the most daunting for the nursing students. Indeed, it has reported that nursing students experience anxiety when facing this topic. As consequence professors continuously analyse their teaching methods and diversify the lecturing approach, in order to lowering the experienced anxiety and improving the related rate of exam succes. The aim of the study was to test the use of a virtual dissection table (DT) during the anatomy lectures at the 1st year of the nursing school, evaluating the anxiety level before the exam, using a State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) test, the feedback on the use of the DT and the exam scores. Attending students of the same year had the opportunity to join to practical/ interactive laboratories session, lasting two hours on DT, based on their willingness, once a week. The feedback of the evaluated student population was positive overall. The students who attended the DT training sessions experienced less anxiety and achieved better exam scores, compared to the students who approached the subject in the traditional lecturing methods. In conclusion, the integration of the DT in anatomy lectures enhanced the self-confidence of the first year nursing students and improved their learning performance.