To echo the above, they certainly do get better.
I remember my first few autopsies and then my first autopsy a long time after not having any. Those dissections took a long time mainly because I was still perfecting my technique.
Two helpful hints:
(1) Separate the heart/lung block from everything else first and then separate and inflate the lungs first thing. That way, the lungs can fix while you do the rest of the dissection.
(2) Finding the adrenal glands can be difficult especially when you haven't done many autopsies. A trick that was taught to me by one of the chief residents is to just bluntly dissect using your hands the perirenal/periadrenal fat from the overlying diaphragm. Find the adrenals from above and not from below (i.e., trying to dissect up the superior pole of the kidneys).
Different people have their own techniques. You simply have to do enough dissections on your own to come up with the best technique for you.
Personally, I am a big fan of blunt dissection using my hands. I just go elbow deep in all the mush and fat and just start tear away. Of course, you can use scissors and blades to refine the dissection depending on how perfectionistic you are. The goal is to find the disease and not try to come up with the perfect dissection deserving of publication in some anatomy atlas.
My goal is to finish the dissection in 1 hour, maybe 1.5 hours tops.
