Cadaver dissection anxiety

[osumc2014]

---

Members don't see this ad.

is this very prevalent? and how do med students deal with it?

 

[RySerr21]

I dunno how prevalent it is, but i'm sure it happens. People just handle it differently. I havent noticed anyone being overly anxious about dissection, although they may have hid it well. You kinda just dive right in. Some people are definitely more enthusiastic about dissecting than others, but I havent seen anybody freak out or not be able to handle it. I dunno, if you think you will have trouble with dissection, your school should have the appropriate resources to deal - councelors, etc.

 

[DeadCactus]

Lots of people have anxiety before and during the early stages. Some people have axiety over not feeling any sort of anxiety. Everyone's bothered by it to different levels depending on their own beliefs and personality.

You'll have the resources to help you and eventually you simply get used to it. From what I've seen, most people end up just being too busy to be bothered once things get rolling...

 

[riverjib]

I'm glad to hear this. Too many medical (or PA) students become callous so quickly that they lose site of the fact that cadavers are people! It's normal (and probably healthy) to joke a bit, but don't ever become disrespectful of a human being. At Columbia, they actually invite the cadavers' families for a beautiful ceremony at the end of the semester, and honor their lives and their tremendous contribution to medical education.

That doesn't really address your question, but I just wanted to say it because so many med students become too detached early on. You sound like you have the opposite problem. Treat your cadaver as your first patient. (Trite, I know, because that's how you're told to treat them). But it's good advice. Treat them with care and respect, and be thankful for their gift to you. In dying, they chose to pay one final and amazing service to the future of medicine, so that someday we might use our knowledge to treat their children and grandchildren. Keep that in mind, and you will appreciate their sacrifice and learn more than you ever could from a book or the hundreds of thousands of power point slides you'll see in the next few years 🙂

 

[Isoprop]

At first, it can be a little nerve-racking. But soon, you get used to it and start cursing underneath your breath about how your cadaver's xyz is too small to identify or how there's too much fascia to see anything. I think it's quite normal to distance yourself from the cadaver.

I remember how shocked I felt when I was rotating during my final practical exam when I saw nail polish on the hands of one of the other cadavers. It brought back the reality that these cadavers were human beings; that before her death, she was doing her best to look pretty and we butchered her up & played with her insides in the name of learning.

 

[Evergrey]

I remember how shocked I felt when I was rotating during my final practical exam when I saw nail polish on the hands of one of the other cadavers. It brought back the reality that these cadavers were human beings; that before her death, she was doing her best to look pretty and we butchered her up & played with her insides in the name of learning.

That's almost poetic.

 

[Haemulon]

I think there was a palpable tension / nervousness throughout the whole room on our first day of dissection. I know I was nervous, especially wondering if I would be one of those types that had a vasovagal response to the situation and pass out. Fortunately none in our class did. For what its worth, I remember that the first incision, which was through skin/fascia of the upper back, had the tactile sensation of cutting through freshly baked cookies. Soft and moist obviously, but with a toughness of the dermis that to several of us felt like cutting through the fresh crispyness of an oven-hot cookie.

You may find that many things in gross anatomy are best described with food analogies, disturbing though it may be. lol

 

[dude1344]

You may find that many things in gross anatomy are best described with food analogies, disturbing though it may be. lol

I always thought the muscles looked a lot like beef... 😛

 

[ACSurgeon]

is this very prevalent? and how do med students deal with it?

I don't think it's common, but I also don't think you should worry about it until you try it. After the skin of the face comes off, the cadaver loses a lot of what we normally consider to be human.

 

[Pinner Doc]

Definitely the hardest moment of cadaver lab for me was day 1. You walk into the room, the cadavers are covered in a sheet, and all I could think was "dead person, dead person." Then you remove the sheet, and at least for me, it was still a little disturbing and creepy. However, after a few labs, the person became more of a series of parts - organs, tendons, nerves, ligaments to memorize. As months went by, the cadavers became partitioned (quite literally), and didn't look like bodies any more.

I'm a resident now, and sometimes we go into cadaver lab, and I still find seeing the initial body (prior to dissection) a little off-putting. I know it may seem callous, but once dissection starts, it seemed more academic for me.

And, as someone mentioned above, at my medical school, we had a lovely memorial ceremony at the end of the year where the families of the donors/cadavers were invited in celebration of their loved ones' selfless donation to medicine. It puts it all in perspective.

 

[SB100]

Definitely the hardest moment of cadaver lab for me was day 1. You walk into the room, the cadavers are covered in a sheet, and all I could think was "dead person, dead person." Then you remove the sheet, and at least for me, it was still a little disturbing and creepy. However, after a few labs, the person became more of a series of parts - organs, tendons, nerves, ligaments to memorize. As months went by, the cadavers became partitioned (quite literally), and didn't look like bodies any more.

We received our cadavers after the dental students did the upper body (we started on the thigh, leg, and back, and I think what got me through that first day we seeing how there was so little human aspect of it left once the brains were in a plastic bag and the skull was cut in quadrants. Too bad we'll be doing that ourselves with new cadavers in a month or so...

 

[student1799]

Beginning dissection is a difficult experience for many people, but there's no sense worrying about it until you actually do it. Everyone's different, and you may find that your own reactions are very different than you expected. In my own case, I didn't expect to mind it much, because I'd already seen death while volunteering in a hospital. But I found that a cadaver was very different from a person who has just died, and much more difficult to deal with, precisely because it didn't seem quite human (at least initially). And the smell of formaldehyde only added to the challenge.

Having said that, though, I also think that most people adjust pretty quickly. So I don't see much point in getting too worked up about this in advance.

 

[HPSPpayissues]

who cares. Just get through it. First year isn't as important as second. A lot of pple that did well first year won't necessarily do better the following year. The second year stuff is more foreign to many, and by then you would have caught up. yall pretty much end up in an even playing field. Just work hard and stop freaking out

 

[RySerr21]

who cares. Just get through it. First year isn't as important as second. A lot of pple that did well first year won't necessarily do better the following year. The second year stuff is more foreign to many, and by then you would have caught up. yall pretty much end up in an even playing field. Just work hard and stop freaking out

so warm and thoughtful of you.

I always thought the muscles looked a lot like beef... 😛

they definitely look like beef jerkey, especially after they start to dry out.

 

[corbis11]

so warm and thoughtful of you.



they definitely look like beef jerkey, especially after they start to dry out.

esp the forearms and lower legs...mmmm

 

[osumc2014]

who cares. Just get through it. First year isn't as important as second. A lot of pple that did well first year won't necessarily do better the following year. The second year stuff is more foreign to many, and by then you would have caught up. yall pretty much end up in an even playing field. Just work hard and stop freaking out

lol nobody's freaking out, I ve taken anatomy with cadavers and stuff, I was just heard the term and wondering what med students thought about it...thanks for the advice

 

[cubssox2000]

Everyone handles it differently. Most people are able to get through it okay, and come back the next lab. Some take longer to get over it. When you start orientation, someone will probably talk to you about it and say something about how seeing dead bodies is linked to PTSD and that you will get over your fear by going back. Or something like that.

 

[Revilla]

I was extremely nervous when I walked into anatomy lab. My cadaver had pink nail polish on her well-manicured fingers. I remember feeling sick to my stomach and it wasn't just from the smell of the chemicals. Fortunately, I had amazing tank mates who walked me through the whole thing, even though it was their first time dissecting as well.

You'll get used to it, trust me. But at first, it's important to take some deep breaths and do the best you can, and if you find someone else struggling, be kind of them.

 

[J ROD]

I am actually looking forward to it.....😀

 

[Bacchus]

who cares. Just get through it. First year isn't as important as second. A lot of pple that did well first year won't necessarily do better the following year. The second year stuff is more foreign to many, and by then you would have caught up. yall pretty much end up in an even playing field. Just work hard and stop freaking out

To be completely unmoved by the experience, aka just doing it, in my opinion is impossible.

 

[Bacchus]

Everyone has their own reaction, how little or big time will tell. Anything we did with the cadaver's head I hated. It was too real. I always found myself putting the stocking on the head, even after it was skinned and bisected.

 

[Tryonetic]

I almost got throwed up the first day but now I am all about going into the lab. Since our cadavar was all cut up and didn't look like human anymore, I had to constantly remind myself she was once a person just like you and me!

 

[muireinin]

It's true that everyone has their own reaction. I would like to point out that it's okay to hate anatomy lab. It doesn't make you a crappy student. The smell, the frustration, the futility of cutting when we had plenty of atlases...especially because we had our cadavers CT'd and images stored online.
Just my $0.02 🙂

 

[7starmantis]

I am actually looking forward to it.....😀

Me too. I've seen enough death and dismemberment in my time with trauma services I think I'l be ok.

I did however have a terrible dream several months back. My cousin passed away and they donated his body to science and I had a dream I went in 1st day and my cadaver was him.

When I recovered from the dream and made sure that wasn't a possibility I was fine 🙂 I'm actually looking forward to it, academically.

 

[sunset823]

Unlike some of my classmates, the first time I ever saw a cadaver was the first day of gross anatomy lab in med school (well, with the exception of looking at one at a biotechnology camp I did in high school, but that was briefly and from a distance). I didn't generally mind, but I know the first couple of times I was in there I did not want to be alone. When I came over the lunch break to work (we all had to dissect some portion of upper extremity), I kept the body bags closed until somebody else had come in.

But that was the first week...the second week I was working, if I was the first one in, I turned on the lights, the radio (80s!!), and got to work.

I know the hardest part for a lot of people is uncovering the face. A friend in my lab group actually insisted on doing this early, and it's actually made it easier for me (humanizing the body), but I know a lot of people still haven't done so, and don't plan on it until we get to head and neck in March.

 

[DoItAnyway]

I'm also very anxious about this. Especially with the head section. Hopefully, I will have understanding lab partners. 🙂

 

[ACSurgeon]

To be completely unmoved by the experience, aka just doing it, in my opinion is impossible.

I actually tried really hard to be moved, yet wasn't. I think there is a wide range of emotional responses to being with cadavers, and until you are there experiencing it, you just can't tell where you'll fall along the spectrum.

 

[thepoopologist]

Cutting into a dead body didn't bother me as much as the smell of the lab. I skipped the last few labs and relied on Rohen/lecture notes to get me through.

Now, no more gross lab ever again! Yaaay!

 

[njbmd]

is this very prevalent? and how do med students deal with it?

As soon as they start telling you what you have to learn for the exam, the anxiety of dissection goes away.

 

[engineeredout]

I never saw a cadaver until my first day of Gross Anatomy lab, and I gotta say it didn't really bother me at all. Maybe some of the pelvis. Especially some of the slicing jobs of those penisus (peni?). You get used to it though. Even the smell I sort of got used to, though it was annoying having the smell baked into every piece of clothing you wear, down to your boxers.

Was a little odd after anatomy lab though. Part of our lab grade involved writing up an "autopsy report" with what we think killed the cadaver based upon what we could see. After anatomy, they posted the age/COD/Occuptation of all the cadavers in the lab. Made it real to see the occuptations; mine for example was a "healthcare worker". It was also sad to see that there were 40-something year olds there (who obviously looked a lot older).

 

[njbmd]

I never saw a cadaver until my first day of Gross Anatomy lab, and I gotta say it didn't really bother me at all. Maybe some of the pelvis. Especially some of the slicing jobs of those penisus (peni?). You get used to it though. Even the smell I sort of got used to, though it was annoying having the smell baked into every piece of clothing you wear, down to your boxers.

Was a little odd after anatomy lab though. Part of our lab grade involved writing up an "autopsy report" with what we think killed the cadaver based upon what we could see. After anatomy, they posted the age/COD/Occuptation of all the cadavers in the lab. Made it real to see the occuptations; mine for example was a "healthcare worker". It was also sad to see that there were 40-something year olds there (who obviously looked a lot older).

There is something about being embalmed and displayed without mortician's wax and make-up that has an aging effect.

 

[Mr hawkings]

From my experience, there are 2 levels of anxiety. Most people work through the initial anxiety especially in the schools where you start with the back or lower limb.

Eventually though, you will have to skin the face. That is the next level. Thats the portion that bothers a lot of people cos you have to look the cadaver in the face. At that point, you cant pretent its just meat anymore.
Once the skin is removed though, you get comfortable again.

 

[Mr hawkings]

I
Was a little odd after anatomy lab though. Part of our lab grade involved writing up an "autopsy report" with what we think killed the cadaver based upon what we could see. After anatomy, they posted the age/COD/Occuptation of all the cadavers in the lab. Made it real to see the occuptations; mine for example was a "healthcare worker". It was also sad to see that there were 40-something year olds there (who obviously looked a lot older).

We had the opposite. Not a single one was in healthcare

 

[Deepa100]

I was surprised how comfortable I was working on the cadavers. One of our teammates had trouble during the first lab but, after that she was ok too. Make no mistake though, this class is HARD! I am so happy to have gotten it done! No more 3 hr. Anatomy exams!👍

 

[abmd]

i personally really like dissecting and anatomy is my favorite class, but i know some people who really didn't like it for many reasons such as the smell, the fat etc. we had a stress lecture where the prof said 5% of medical students suffer traumatic stress from dissecting so i guess it really affects some people.

 

[bodonid]

I think the experience of the first dissection is so overwhelming that people tend to forget to be anxious about what they are doing. Good luck!