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Effect of Surface Marking Exercises on Students’ Clinical Landmark Recognition

Abstract

The study examines the effect of surface marking exercises on students’ clinical landmark recognition, with emphasis on the use of practical body-surface marking activities to improve students’ ability to identify and locate anatomical landmarks relevant to clinical examination. Surface marking provides a practical approach for relating visible and palpable external features to underlying anatomical structures and may strengthen students’ understanding of anatomical position, regional relationships, and clinically important landmarks. Such exercises may also improve students’ confidence and accuracy when applying anatomical knowledge during practical and clinical activities. The study will assess students’ ability to recognize selected clinical landmarks before and after exposure to structured surface marking exercises. The specific objectives will include determining students’ baseline ability to identify clinically relevant landmarks, exposing students to guided surface marking activities, assessing their landmark recognition following the intervention, and comparing students’ performance before and after the exercises. A quasi-experimental research design will be adopted for the study. An appropriate sample of undergraduate students will be selected using a suitable sampling technique and exposed to structured surface marking exercises involving selected regions of the body. The activities will include locating, identifying, and marking clinically relevant anatomical landmarks using appropriate diagrams, anatomical models, body-surface references, and supervised practical demonstrations. Data will be collected using standardized landmark recognition assessments and analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation, with appropriate inferential tests applied where necessary. The study is expected to reveal improved recognition of clinical landmarks among students following exposure to the surface marking exercises. Students may demonstrate better identification of prominent and easily accessible landmarks, while less distinct, deeper, or closely related landmarks may remain more challenging. Improvements may also be observed in students’ ability to relate surface markings to underlying bones, muscles, joints, vessels, nerves, and other anatomical structures. The findings will be useful to anatomists, anatomy educators, clinical skills instructors, medical students, physiotherapy students, nursing students, and other healthcare trainees involved in clinical examination and practical anatomy. The study may provide useful information on the value of practical surface marking activities in strengthening students’ understanding of surface anatomy and improving the application of anatomical knowledge to clinical examination. It may also assist educators in developing practical learning activities that complement lectures, diagrams, models, and specimen-based teaching. The study will conclude by determining the effect of structured surface marking exercises on students’ clinical landmark recognition. It is recommended that surface marking activities should be systematically incorporated into anatomy and clinical skills training, with adequate supervision, appropriate anatomical references, and opportunities for repeated practical identification. Further studies involving larger and more diverse student populations should be conducted to provide additional evidence on the effectiveness of surface marking exercises in anatomy education.

Keywords: Surface marking exercises, clinical landmark recognition, surface anatomy, anatomy education, undergraduate students, anatomical landmarks, practical anatomy, clinical anatomy, anatomical identification, body surface marking, anatomical orientation, practical learning, clinical examination, anatomy teaching, medical education.