Analyses of the Neuroanatomy Portion of the Anatomy Question Papers for Written Summative Assessment at the Medical Undergraduate Level in Bangladesh.

Neuroanatomy is a vital part of the undergraduate medical (MBBS) Anatomy curriculum of different universities of Bangladesh. The teaching-learning and assessment of Neuroanatomy have gone through significant changes in current times in various parts of the world. Neuroanatomy textbooks are supposed to be useful reflectors of these changes and of the present inclinations. The importance of an understanding approach towards Neuroanatomy is beyond doubt. Consequently, the contemporary Neuroanatomy books are inclined more towards an understanding approach in their presentation. However, there has been no organized effort in analysing how such trends are being reflected in the student-assessment in the medical undergraduate courses of Bangladesh. This kind of study can provide useful insight into the present circumstances and assist teachers and curriculum planners in formulating crucial changes. The present study was aimed at analysing the Neuroanatomy written questions of five years' First Professional MBBS Exams regarding content coverage and level of cognitive domain addressed. The study was a descriptive observational one involving qualitative analyses (and quantitation) of questions. All the 'segment's of every item (SAQ and MCQ) dealing with Neuroanatomy in all the available Anatomy written question papers of all the First Professional MBBS Exams of four public universities of Bangladesh of five years (2005 to 2009) were analysed. The frequencies of item- 'segment's dealing with different chapters (or similar parts) of a Neuroanatomy textbook commonly recommended to the medical undergraduate course of the country1 were estimated to determine the content coverage and the item- 'segment's addressing different levels of cognitive domain were identified. The relative coverage of different chapters (or similar parts) of the textbook by Snell1 in the question papers showed considerable differences from the relative proportions of the corresponding chapters (or similar parts) in the book itself. Most (97.64%) of the item-'segment's addressed the recall-level of cognitive domain. The understanding-level was addressed by only 2.36% of 'segment's, but no application-level 'segment' could be identified. The findings of the present research assist teachers, paper- setters and moderators of questions as well as the curriculum planners in integrating the current trends in Neuroanatomy in the respective domains so that pre-clinical undergraduates can be made better prepared for the upcoming years and occupation.