Effect of Simultaneous Teaching of Human Anatomy and Physiology on Occupational Health Student's Learning

Modulation of theory and practice in training is emphasized in the reforms of the medical training course. The courses of anatomy and physiology, as basic courses, are important. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of simultaneous teaching of anatomy and physiology of the human body on occupational health students’ learning. This study was performed as an empirical study among the occupational health students of the health faculty of Mashhad in 2013-14. The sample members were divided into two Control (18 persons) and Experiment (25 persons) groups. The lesson plan was compiled, using comments of experts. Simultaneous teaching of the anatomy and physiology courses and separate teaching were conducted by one teacher for group experiment and group control respectively. Data from the evaluations were evaluated at the end of the course, using SPSS 11 software and T-student test. There was a significant difference between the final score of physiology in control (18.36±0.95) and experiment (19.40±0.64) group (p=0.05). But, no significant difference was observed between the final scores of anatomy of the two groups. The observed difference between some topics of the courses of physiology and anatomy was significant. Simultaneous teaching of the courses of anatomy and physiology of the human body results in the development of the occupational health students’ learning in the course of physiology, particularly in the topics of nerve and muscle, lung and optic and auditory in physiology, and upper and lower extremities and the heart in anatomy.