Making Dissection a More Positive Experience: A Student Centered Approach

Kathy A. StarrPhysical Therapy Department Western Carolina University

Cullowhee, North Carolina 28723

Reducing Anxiety Before the Initial Dissection

Helping Students Get to Know Each OtherPhysical therapy students enter the program as a cohort taking classes together throughout the two-year curriculum. During fall orientation students are introduced to the faculty and to each other. So that they can quickly get to know each other, they are asked to write and share a biographical sketch. They are then given three weeks to choose dissecting partners before they begin dissecting.

Introducing Students to the Anatomy Lab

During the first anatomy class the students are given a tour of the anatomy suite to familiarize them with the surroundings. While students are in the lab for the initial visit, the metal covers on the dissecting tables remain closed. Thus, students see the lab but do not yet see the cadavers.

Students Talk About Their Experiences in the Lab

We produced a video in which we interviewed six first-year physical therapy students one month after they began dissection. They were asked to describe their expectations prior to entering the lab and whether those expectations were met once they began dissecting. They also provided advise for incoming students about dealing with the anxieties of working with cadavers. We plan to show the video to new students next fall as part of their orientation.

Using a Personal Letter to Discuss the Issue of Dissection

Before beginning dissection students read a letter written by a first year medical student about his experiences with cadavers. The letter entitled “The Past Life of My Cadaver” was obtained from the American Medical Student Association Web Site at www.amsa.org/dd/cadav.crm (retrieved July 12, 2001).

During the next class session students discuss the letter and any any other issues they may have about working with cadavers. The following is an excerpt from the letter:

Appropriate Draping and Care of the BodyRespect for the body donors is reflected in how the cadavers are handled. We produced a video in which the anatomy instructor demonstrates the proper handling of cadavers, dissection techniques and the necessary steps to maintain tissue integrity. Out of respect for the body donors, the cadavers are draped so that the only area exposed is the area being dissected. Since we do not do facial dissections, faces remain covered throughout the course.

Developing the Proper AttitudeStudents are assigned to one cadaver for the entire two-semester course. To remind students that the cadavers were once real people, they are given the body donor’s first name, age, and a brief statement on the cause of death. Lab policies prohibit loud music, profanity, or disrespectful behavior while dissecting.

Respect for the Body Donors

Discussing the Cadaver Experience with Nursing Students

At various times throughout the fall semester of 2002 senior nursing students enrolled in a course on death and dying came into the cadaver lab to view the dissections and to talk with physical therapy students about working with a human body. Students from both disciplines had an opportunity to discuss psychosocial and spiritual aspects of the experience. Both nursing and physical therapy students found this to be a rewarding experience.

Memorializing the Body DonorsIn the spring of the second semester each dissection group develops a presentation to honor their body donor. Students make their presentations during a memorial program held in a park adjacent to the classroom building. Faculty, students, and administrators attend the ceremony. Examples of past student presentations include original poems, personal letters of gratitude, a candle-lighting ceremony, release of balloons, tree planting, recitation of a short story, and musical interpretations.

Students meet each other during orientation.

Touring the Anatomy lab

before beginning dissection.

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A Candle-lighting ceremony Releasing balloons as a Memorial Memorial Poem Written by a Student

Students talk about their experiences with cadaver dissection.

The anatomy instructor

demonstrates the proper way to cover

the body when dissection is

complete.

Let Us Not ForgetLet us not forget you are someone’s child

Someone’s friendSomeone’s first love

And you touched many lives in your timeNo doubt you changed a life with a simple word or smile

I’m sure you cried with deep despair at times, And others were filled with exhilaration

All the toil, the worry, the pain are over nowAnd in the end, you gave an incredible giftIn addition to the gifts you had given so far

For you became the teacherThe classroom full of tremendous lessons

Waiting for us to uncoverAnd in this you touched yet a few more people

And in turn, with the knowledge bestowed to us through you

We will touch a few more and on down the lineUntil,

All are unified by a common threadA touch that started with youAnd will continue on forever.

Let us not forget.

Kristina Hooks, Physical Therapy Class of 2002

The Past Life of My CadaverBy Ranit Mishori, Georgetown University School of Medicine

Obtained from www.amsa.org/dd/cadav.crmSpecial to The Washington PostTuesday, December 7, 1999; Page Z11It's a reasonable enough question. What amazed me was how often people asked it. "What," they would ask, "what is it like to do that to a dead body?"It took me some time to sort out how I really did feel during those first weeks of anatomy class as I explored--by scalpel, by wrench and by saw--a human body, "my" specimen, "my" cadaver.Every year the Georgetown University Medical Center invites the family members of those whose bodies have been dissected to a memorial service. It was not until I attended this funeral of sorts that I could answer the "what is it like" question satisfactorily for myself.There I was, perhaps the only Jew in that Catholic chapel, surrounded by people making the sign of the cross, kneeling, singing hymns. I had come to pay my respects to a courageous woman. A woman who until recently had filled my thoughts almost every waking moment. My cadaver.

Cadaver dissections are the cornerstone of the anatomy curriculum in the physical therapy program at Western Carolina University. New students who have never worked with cadavers may experience great stress or even emotional trauma when they first begin dissecting. To reduce anxiety students are carefully prepared for their first

encounter with cadavers. Steps in preparation create opportunities for students to reflect on and discuss these anxieties. Using cadavers can also provide opportunities for students to develop a respect for the human body. In our anatomy lab this respect is reflected in how the students identify with the cadavers they are dissecting and

culminates with a memorial program to honor the body donors. This poster presentation provides the ways in which students are prepared for their first cadaver dissections and how they are encouraged to respect the human body throughout the anatomy course.