Medical education Learning anatomy in med school: Is it still necessary to work with cadavers? Let’s explore the pros and cons of using cadaveric anatomy labs versus prosections/virtual anatomy exclusively as the primary mode of instruction for first-year medical students. Nov. 1, 2023WednesdayNovember 2023 issue OMS Life Kevin Seely, OMS IV Student Doctor Seely attends the Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Contact Student Doctor Seely
AOIA’s 4-part webinar series on digital health prepares DOs for tech advancements, improving patient care David O. Shumway, DO, and Sameer Sood, DO, will present new digital health technology on Nov. 4 as part one of the free four-part webinar series.
What residents are getting paid in 2024 Annual Medscape report explores average resident salaries based on residency year and notes that 90% of residents feel they are underpaid “relative to their worth, skills and hours.”
all valid, however, from a geezer…1 year gross anatomy, no prosection, it all looked like turkey meat. Got to do it all. I would add CT and MRI to the process however. Nobody (normal) enjoyed it…the human/ethical aspects but it’s part of the growing process….you’re going to see lot more dead patients…before and after….need to start dealing with it. A year is a long time but worthwhile. Best wishes…these are the best days of your lives. Embrace and enjoy. wash those lab coats daily :) Nov. 2, 2023, at 6:45 am Reply
as an aside….I fail to see any “ethical” issue with hands on gross anatomy. These are either donated or unclaimed and treated with respect through the year. Ethics education should be a larger part of medical education however….foundational knowledge in this helps one deal with your first patient to expire, by natural cause or iatrogenic etiology…..unfortunately misadventures do occur. Those provide ethical and moral challenges to the young and old physician. I agree with the comments below as well. You’ve entered a noble profession; please enter it with seriousness. Nov. 2, 2023, at 12:55 pm Reply
I really wish we would stop allowing medical students to decide how they want to be taught. The past few years have seen many medical students come out to rotations under-prepared for clinical medicine. Many do not have a fund of knowledge beyond board review books. Many have poor understanding of the basics of physical exam skills and have little desire to learn, practice, touch other humans and do the physical part of medicine. Many do not interact with human patients well. Many also don’t know what they don’t know. Just because something in medicine makes a person uncomfortable is not a reason to avoid doing it. Our jobs are messy. Taking care of humans when they are at their worst, both physically and mentally, is messy. This is part of being a doctor. Allowing medical students to decide they don’t need cadaver learning is putting doctors at the same level as NP and PA, which is not the goal. More virtual learning is not the answer. DOs could always pride themselves on having good physical exam skills and the increase in virtual learning has made this skill no longer a defining characteristic of our profession. I fear for my own health if the surgeons, ER doctors, ICU doctors, and primary care doctors some day have no cadaver training. Nov. 2, 2023, at 7:32 am Reply
I believe gross anatomy/dissection is highly valuable for learning about the human animal. Seeing and touching the body should generate a level of comfort and respect for patients and organ systems not easily achieved by proxy teaching. One vary valuable skill learned is the use of surgical instruments, which is a skill that may be used frequently in both training and in clinical practice. Nov. 3, 2023, at 12:27 pm Reply
I am a current MS1 at a school that no longer dissects. There was a lot of preparation for this change and, as of now, our step 1 pass rate has not been affected. It actually increased, which coincided with the start of the new curriculum and step 1 going pass-fail. The “limited exploration” is not true. Just because the donor’s are dissected beforehand doesn’t mean we don’t explore. We search for structures on donors and dig around all the time. I was worried I would miss out on the experience or skills from dissecting, but after talking to physicians and other health professions students who still dissect, it seems the only thing I am missing out on is incorrectly resecting nerves and small vasculature with fascia or adipose. Most of us spend 4-5 proctored hrs in the lab and an additional 6-14 of independent study, depending on the content. We are still learning the same structures in gross lab as before, but we are 100% focused on learning- from multiple donors. That allows us to really understand the extent of anatomical variation. I also can vouch that having gross anatomy lab is vital. I took anatomy in undergrad (without lab), where we learned almost the same structures as in med school (fewer nerves). I also worked in EMS, and, while I didn’t apply the anatomy to the same extent as a physician, I still applied regularly, but I’ve been blown away by how wrong my thinking was about the real anatomical relationships and size of structures. Hope this helps, Ben M Nov. 14, 2023, at 4:44 pm Reply