Human anatomy is recognised as one of the fundamental subjects for medical

undergraduates, doctors and other related health professions (Gillingwater, 2008; Arraez-Aybar
et al, 2010). In traditional curriculum, anatomy is taught with highly detailed information about the
body organs and systems, its microscopic appearances and the developmental processes from
fertilization to foetal maturity in a topographical structural anatomy taught by didactic lectures and
dissection of body (Older, 2004; Drake et al, 2009; Drake et al, 2014).

The best teaching method for teaching and learning anatomy has been debated for year
s.A survey was conducted among students in a traditional medical curriculum, who found that th
e information was adequately taught in traditional anatomy teachings in different parts of the hu
man body, but the duration was found to be "too long and superfluous" for the upper and lower li
mbs. Approximately two - thirds felt that the surface and living anatomy were "too short" and
requested to extend the time allocated. The amount of clinical and imaging anatomy taught was
found “inadequate and too short” (Pabst, 1993; Zahid et al, 2010).

Learning of anatomy in the recent years has gradually become influenced by increasing
costs, reduced time and limited resources that causes it to be delivered in less hours but more
clinically oriented
(Etarrh,2014).The current educational trend leads to condensed information on anatomy teachin
g and approaches that integrate anatomy with other basic sciences. These approaches usually
emphasise on functional and clinical relevance (Drake et al, 2014; Johnson et al, 2012). Biasutto
et al conducted a study in 2006 comparing different methods in teaching anatomy between
teaching using cadavers and teaching using computers.
In their study, they found that the theoretical examinations of students taught in the traditional m
ethod performed excellent.There have been some changes in the method of learning in the curr
ent curriculum adapted by the USIM in order
to acclimate some of the modern method to stimulate independent learning in students.New met
hods have been used to replace didactic lectures
using fixed learning modules and self - learning packages. Correlation with clinical cases are
introduced in Problem Based Learning sessions at the end of their semesters.

Apart from that, reliability of anatomy knowledge and clinical use has been widely
discussed.
Students should master a large amount of anatomical information during anatomy teachings in p
re - clinical years with scant awareness of their application in clinical medicine. When they reach
the clinical years, and are ready to use the anatomical knowledge, a substantial part of the
information has been forgotten (Arroyo-Jimenez et al, 2005). Majority of clinicians opined that
current anatomical education given to medical students is inadequate and below the minimum
necessary for safe medical practice (Waterson & Stewart, 2005). Anatomist were blame for
teaching too many details and not the clinically relevant structures (Pabst, 1993). Hence, there
came a widespread support among clinicians for a more vertical integration of anatomy teaching
throughout the undergraduate medical curricula (Waterson & Stewart, 2005).

Traditional curricula for anatomy contain simple arrangements of teaching facilities but
with limited integration. Strategies for examining and evaluating anatomy curricula are necessary
to identify efficiencies and learning benefits to students. (Etarrh, 2014). Therefore, this study were
conducted to assess the relevance of traditional anatomy curriculum among clinical students and
to evaluate contentment level of the clinicians on the anatomy knowledge of the medical students.