Introduction: It is still a challenge that the
dissecting room has a place in learning gross anatomy.
Understanding the students’ preference of learning
tools is important to devise alternative teaching aids
for improvement in learning anatomy. This study was
conducted to assess student’s preference of learning tools
available in the anatomy laboratory of an integrated
curriculum.
Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was
carried out for 4 weeks among 741 medical and dental
students of International Islamic University Malaysia
(IIUM), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM),
University Sabah Malaysia (UMS) and University
Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS). Pre-tested, semistructured,
self-administrated questionnaires including
open-ended questions were distributed. The data were
analyzed by using SPSS 17.
Results: Most of the participants were Malays (86%) and
female (67%). The students from IIUM, UiTM, UMS
and UNIMAS preferred the plastic model in terms of
handability and application in examination (OSPE). It was
statistically significant (p