Promoting the Development of Core Competencies during Early Medical Education: Implementation of a Teaching Assistant Program in Anatomy Course

Competency-based curricula that emphasize personal and professional development have been widely implemented in medical schools. To strengthen competency training during the early years of medical education, we established an anatomy Teaching Assistant (TA) program for raising second-year medical students. The medical student TAs assumed a leadership role in a dissectionbased anatomy course for Physician Assistant (PA) students. They worked in the dissection laboratory demonstrating dissection techniques, confirming anatomic structures, and engaging PA students in dialog to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of anatomy. Two questionnaires were conducted at the end of the course: a “TA Self-Reflection Survey” completed by the medical students and a “TA Evaluation Survey” completed by the PA students. Both questionnaires addressed the development of TA core competencies during the course. The survey data indicated that medical student TAs acquired a greater base of knowledge for practice and enhanced interpersonal communication and life-long learning skills, such as the confidence to admit and correct mistakes. The data also indicated that the medical student TAs learned and demonstrated many attributes of professionalism, including commitment to excellence, respect and compassion for learners, timeliness, and inter-professional collaboration. The TAs agreed that they learned essential skills and behaviors that would benefit future patient care. Our findings indicate that anatomy TA programs provide a valuable opportunity for medical students to share basic science knowledge with allied health professionals and acquire a working knowledge of core competencies that are expected of practicing physicians.