Objectives: Anatomy teaching has experienced a worldwide reduction in time and assessment within medical education with the rise in integrated curricula. While surveys of medical schools in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand (AANZ) have examined gross and neuroanatomy, they have not looked at the current state of histology education, especially considering the recent forced shift to online teaching. The aim of this study was to capture a cross-sectional snapshot of current histology education in accredited AANZ medical schools.
Methods: Survey questions were sent to histology educators at 25 institutions via email invitation to a Qualtrics (Qualtrics, Seattle, Washington, USA) link.
Results: Twenty-two responses were received from 20 of 25 universities. Histology content was taught in integrated curricula (82% of institutions, primarily integrated with gross anatomy and pathology) and delivered synchronously in face-to-face, online-only, or blended modes. Most programmes (86%) had 40 hours or less of histology content, with half containing 20 hours or less. Medical students’ histology knowledge was assessed predominantly via face-to-face practical and theory examinations, and least often using online practical examinations. More educators used Level 1 to Level 3 (1: identification, 2: comprehension, 3: application) multiple-choice questions, less used short-answer questions. Over two-thirds of histology educators have a PhD (n=27), with others having MD/MBBS (n=9), or MSc(n=1) degrees.
Conclusion: In comparison to previous research, the level of integrated teaching has increased, yet the mode of teaching and assessing has remained constant. Histology educators in AANZ still engage largely in face-to-face teaching and assessment of medical students.
Keywords: curriculum; histology; medical students; teaching; university
Ethical statement: Ethics was granted by The University of Western Australian Human Research Ethics Committee (2022/ET000767).
Funding statement: No funding was received to conduct this survey.