Autopsy postion while an undergrad

[aspirationMD]

So, I've applied for a position at the med school/hospital I hope to attend. Working with doc's, residents, and med students on cadavers. People think I'm nuts for wanting such a job! Hmmm, maybe so, but I'd be working side by side with physicians to find causes of death (and much much more), learning incision techniques and stitching procedures. Obviously I want to get as close to physicians as possible. How much could this count as experience, if any? At the very least, maybe I could get some good connections with important people, maybe I'm just overly hopeful?

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[Bertelman]

You'll pretty much rock in Gross Anatomy lab. When everyone else is gasping for air and taking a breath outside to ward off fainting, you'll be wondering why the cadavers smell so good. You will also be much more familiar with scalpels, techniques, etc.

Seriously, I cut up cadavers for tissue donation prior to med school, and it was a wonderful experience. Funny, it took me a few years to get in, and I like to think having that job helped. The fact that you will be working closely with faculty can only help.

 

[njbmd]

Working as a diener is an interesting job. I doubt that you will learn much suturing in the path or anatomy lab unless the surgical residents come in to teach the medical students.

Most of our dieners were going into morturary science and enjoyed embalming the cadavers as they came into the lab from outside.

 

[BleepTastic]

This sounds interesting. How do you get a job like this?

 

[aspirationMD]

This sounds interesting. How do you get a job like this?

not sure yet! still in the process

Basically a friend of mine works at this med school/hospital and she told me about it (is recommending me for the job), I applied, but I kinda doubt that I will get it, who knows though.


Oh yes, someone mentioned that I probably wouldn't be suturing. The job description actually said the person filling the position would be suturing. I guess I'd be okay not doing it, but I'd rather

 

[Bertelman]

not sure yet! still in the process

Basically a friend of mine works at this med school/hospital and she told me about it (is recommending me for the job), I applied, but I kinda doubt that I will get it, who knows though.


Oh yes, someone mentioned that I probably wouldn't be suturing. The job description actually said the person filling the position would be suturing. I guess I'd be okay not doing it, but I'd rather

Any suturing you would do is unlikely to translate to the suturing done on live people. Different technique, different goal, different appearance, etc.

 

[Law2Doc]

So, I've applied for a position at the med school/hospital I hope to attend. Working with doc's, residents, and med students on cadavers. People think I'm nuts for wanting such a job! Hmmm, maybe so, but I'd be working side by side with physicians to find causes of death (and much much more), learning incision techniques and stitching procedures. Obviously I want to get as close to physicians as possible. How much could this count as experience, if any? At the very least, maybe I could get some good connections with important people, maybe I'm just overly hopeful?

Seems to be some confusion in pre-allo of late as to the difference between cadaver dissection and autopsy, which are not really synonyms. Cadavers are part of gross anatomy, and tend to involve prepared intact adult donors. Autopsy is very different. In autopsies, the bodies are unpreserved, unprepared, you will have to deal with children, mutilated and mangled bodies, immolation, and various states of rotting and decomposition. So autopsy tends to be more upsetting to folks not already prepared (eg by already having done cadaver work).

 

[aspirationMD]

Seems to be some confusion in pre-allo of late as to the difference between cadaver dissection and autopsy, which are not really synonyms. Cadavers are part of gross anatomy, and tend to involve prepared intact adult donors. Autopsy is very different. In autopsies, the bodies are unpreserved, unprepared, you will have to deal with children, mutilated and mangled bodies, immolation, and various states of rotting and decomposition. So autopsy tends to be more upsetting to folks not already prepared (eg by already having done cadaver work).

Yup, have read, and re-read the job description many times. I know what it entails and hopefully what it does not. It won't be glamorous, and will be disgusting, BUT it will give me the hours I am looking for (while in college) and pay way more then I get now. Plus once an employee there, I get first pick at other jobs, so, I won't be doing forever

 

[Law2Doc]

Yup, have read, and re-read the job description many times. I know what it entails and hopefully what it does not. It won't be glamorous, and will be disgusting, BUT it will give me the hours I am looking for (while in college) and pay way more then I get now. Plus once an employee there, I get first pick at other jobs, so, I won't be doing forever

Um, my point was that you used the word "autopsy" in your heading, but yet talked about a job seemingly involving cadavers. They are not really the same thing at all.

 

[aspirationMD]

Um, my point was that you used the word "autopsy" in your heading, but yet talked about a job seemingly involving cadavers. They are not really the same thing at all.

Which also has me confused lol. The job title says "autopsy", but the description talked about "cadavers". Now that I realize there is a difference thanks to you kind folks () I'll be asking the friend who sent me the job info, because she has actually held the position for a short time. Either way, if they want to give me the job, I'm taking it

 

[lord_jeebus]

Aren't they called cadavers in autopsies as well? I don't think it's a term restricted to the anatomy lab.

 

[UCLAstudent]

lord_jeebus is right. In the realm of organ transplant, what do you think cadaveric organ donation is? I can assure you that those organs aren't coming from the anatomy lab.

 

[blue fire]

AspirationMD,

Good luck with the application, I think that you would get some experience that would be valuable and you seem excited about it which is great. You did ask for feedback and my feedback is a little different maybe than what you asked for.

Your description of the job sounds like you are still figuring it out as well, but as mentioned by another respondant, autopsy work can involve a lot of really difficult cases like child abuse, violent death etc. I've worked in healthcare for many years and got over the blood and guts gross out a long time ago. Yesterday I was in my hospital's library looking at reference books and they had a new textbook about forensic medicine. Because I love CSI, I started to look at it and was immediately and viscerally overwhelmed. Although working as a doctor involves death, there is something about forensic medicine and autopsies of possibly criminal deaths that is really intense and overwhelming.

I guess I'm just saying that you want to really know what you are going to be dealing with and talk with the person who has the job now. If the job seems right to you, go for it and enjoy your experience. You will definately have an advantage in medical school from your familiarity with the human body.

 

[aspirationMD]

AspirationMD,

Good luck with the application, I think that you would get some experience that would be valuable and you seem excited about it which is great. You did ask for feedback and my feedback is a little different maybe than what you asked for.

Your description of the job sounds like you are still figuring it out as well, but as mentioned by another respondant, autopsy work can involve a lot of really difficult cases like child abuse, violent death etc. I've worked in healthcare for many years and got over the blood and guts gross out a long time ago. Yesterday I was in my hospital's library looking at reference books and they had a new textbook about forensic medicine. Because I love CSI, I started to look at it and was immediately and viscerally overwhelmed. Although working as a doctor involves death, there is something about forensic medicine and autopsies of possibly criminal deaths that is really intense and overwhelming.

I guess I'm just saying that you want to really know what you are going to be dealing with and talk with the person who has the job now. If the job seems right to you, go for it and enjoy your experience. You will definately have an advantage in medical school from your familiarity with the human body.

Well any job sounds good in comparison to what I've been doing the last 7 years (well it's not bad, but the pay is)

At this point after thinking it over, I'd be okay either way getting, or not getting the job. I've also applied for a few lab positions, which I think would be a good fit for me. I'm just excited about getting a job at the med school I hope to attend, maybe I'd get some kind of glimpse as to what it would be like to be a med student there, considering I'd be working with them.

 

[GreenShirt]

I heard that getting an assistant position like that in a coroner's office is very competitive. Most people have to start in a funeral home and work their way into the position. I'm not sure if that's true for a hospital position as well. I guess if someone who works their recommended you for it, that really helps. It will be helpful for med. school in that its clinical experience and you'll be able to get LORs from the doctors you work with.

 

[blue fire]

You have the right attitude and I think that being flexible is a huge part of success in all jobs and especially in healthcare. And you are smart to look for an inside perspective that you can use to both evaluate your first choice school and then have something meaningful to say to the "Why our school?" question at the interview.

Good luck!

 

[Law2Doc]

lord_jeebus is right. In the realm of organ transplant, what do you think cadaveric organ donation is? I can assure you that those organs aren't coming from the anatomy lab.

Maybe it's a regional thing -- we call autopsy subjects corpses and anatomy subjects cadavers.

 

[epigastric]

So, I've applied for a position at the med school/hospital I hope to attend. Working with doc's, residents, and med students on cadavers. People think I'm nuts for wanting such a job! Hmmm, maybe so, but I'd be working side by side with physicians to find causes of death (and much much more), learning incision techniques and stitching procedures. Obviously I want to get as close to physicians as possible. How much could this count as experience, if any? At the very least, maybe I could get some good connections with important people, maybe I'm just overly hopeful?

It sounds interesting.

To be fair, though, the last person I knew who held this particular job (this isn't at a UC, by any chance?) went on to be a massage therapist at a spa who also worked part-time in forensic pathology. She said the dissecting made her an excellent masseuse, and wished she could make it a requirement for massage therapy. Then she went on to tell me about all the crispy bodies she'd seen in her other job...