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VOLUME 2 , ISSUE 2 ( July-December, 2018 ) > List of Articles

MEDICAL EDUCATION

Attitude and Response of First-Year Medical Students Toward Cadaver, Dissection, and Subject of Anatomy: A Qualitative Study

Monika Lalit, Anterpreet K Arora, Sanjay Piplani

Keywords : Anatomy education, Attitudes, Cadaver dissection, Psychology reactions

Citation Information : Lalit M, Arora AK, Piplani S. Attitude and Response of First-Year Medical Students Toward Cadaver, Dissection, and Subject of Anatomy: A Qualitative Study. Curr Trends Diagn Treat 2018; 2 (2):121-129.

DOI: 10.5005/jp-journals-10055-0053

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

Published Online: 01-08-2011

Copyright Statement:  Copyright © 2018; The Author(s).


Abstract

Background: The first-year medical students go through the anatomy curriculum which involves extensive anatomy teaching by dissection and experience a variety of emotional reactions and mixed feelings when they encounter the human cadavers for the first time. Therefore, the present study was designed to explore the attitude and views of first-year medical students toward cadaver dissection. Materials and methods: This observational study was performed on newly admitted 150 first-year medical students, at the Department of Anatomy at a tertiary care teaching hospital and medical college in Amritsar, Punjab. A performa was designed with a structured questionnaire having 22 items requiring “yes, no, or undecided” responses and 6 items with Likert-type questions ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. One hundred thirty-eight students participated in the study and answered the questionnaires. The data were compiled and analyzed. Result: The impact of cadaveric dissection on the students that sway on routine activity was observed like nausea (20.28%), dizziness (2.89%), weakness (3.62%), fear (9.42%), tremor (1.45%), sweating (4.35%), restlessness (10.14%), lack of concentration (13.77%), sleep disturbance (3.62%), etc. The results showed that 94.2% of the students found their first visit to the dissection room exciting. About 9.42% of the students were upset at the beginning of the dissection. About 84.78% of the students did not show any anxiety and stress immediately before and during dissection. About 47.83% of the students were found mentally prepared for the dissection and 86.96% agreed that dissection enhanced there thinking skills. About 96.37% of the students agreed that dissection provided the best method for learning anatomy. Conclusion: Most of the students in the present study reported their first exposure to dissection hall thrilling. It was also inferred that cadaveric dissection for learning anatomy is still considered important and indispensable and cannot be substituted by any other tool and technique.


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