Emotional Involvement and Attitude of First Year Medical Students towards Cadaveric Dissection: A Study from Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract

Introduction: Teaching anatomy in medical colleges has been conventionally based on use of human cadaveric specimens, either whole body specimens for dissection or individual specimens. Cadavers are to be held in high esteem and regarded as the first teacher of a medical student as cadaveric dissection allows students to grasp the three dimensional anatomy and skill development. Aim: To know the physical and psychological effects experienced by students while doing cadaveric dissection and also to know the attitude of the medical students towards dissection in learning anatomy. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the 181 first year medical students in a Government Medical College, Andhra Pradesh, India, during the month of May 2021. The study was undertaken after two months of cadaveric dissection classes and the responses were the cumulative subjective effect of all the classes. Data was collected using a predesigned, prestructured and pretested questionnaire, entered in MS Excel and descriptive statistics like simple frequencies, percentages were used. Chi-square test was used to statistically analyse the data. Results: Total 181 students participated in this study (out of 250 first year medical students). Nearly, 88% of the students were older than 18 years of age. Nearly, 2/3rd of the students were females (65.7%). Out of 181 participants, 152 (84%) experienced psychological symptoms while doing dissection. Out of 152 students, who experienced psychological symptoms, 40.8% experienced excitement followed by anxiety 22.4%, fear 17.8% stress 16.4%. Among those who experienced excitement nearly 70% were females. Sweating was the most common physical symptom experienced by the participants. Among the study participants 98.3% students had sense of gratitude to people who donated their body and 96.1% had sympathy and respect for the cadaver. A 20.4% want to donate body for dissection. While assessing the attitude, 97.2% students agreed that cadaveric dissection is important in the curriculum, 97% agreed that dissection is required for understanding the structure of human body. Conclusion: Student-cadaver encounter is of paramount importance in medical education. Computer assisted and multimedia methods should be complementary but not a substitute to dissection. Introducing cadaver oath has resulted in students reflecting about organ donation and body donation, showing respect to the dead body.