dissecting kit?

[rhiannon777]

I'd like some recommendations for a good dissecting kit and where to purchase it. At minimum, we're required to have scalpels with blades, forceps, blunt probes, and scissors. Thanks!

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[146233]

If your school's bookstore doesn't offer one, you can find a myriad of options at Edmund Scientific (www.scientificsonline.com) and a number of other internet vendors.

 

[ZipsPwn]

i just got mine from the bookstore. one of my lab partners had gotten one elsewhere and the bookstore didn't have scalpel blades that fit it, so that was kind of a pain.

 

[EMH]

Ask an M2 at your school. Our sold us their grease copies of books and equipment REAL cheap.

All you need is the basics, a scalpel, scissors, blunt probe, rat tooth forceps, and I like hemostats to hold stuff out of the way but not many others care for them.

 

[MattD]

You can get by without a scalpel....

 

[Red Beard]

We all bought the ones at the bookstore last year, only to find the lab was filled with greasy leftover tools from last year, along with many formaldehyde soaked copies of Netter and Grants.

 

[alwaysaangel]

Join AMA and you get a free one.

 

[Ashers]

Join AMA and you get a free one.

We got Stedman's Dictionaries for joining AMA, but that was in 05. Did they change? My school bookstore sells dissection kits for like $15.

 

[DoctaJay]

You can get by without a scalpel....

Quite true. As much as I think the scalpel makes you look cooler, you'll cut everything important if you use it. The best dissectors in my class use scissors and a forceps when they are dissecting.

 

[EMH]

If you join AMA the Steadman's is a better option. It comes with a CD copy you can load on your laptop and I have found that useful.

 

[Slide]

Join AMA and you get a free one.

However, don't join the AMA just for the free kit. When our class ordered their dissection kits from the AMA, the AMA were very short-stocked on supplies, so we had to wait a while to receive them. By the time we received our kit, anatomy lab had already started and we were already using borrowed tools from the department. Even so, the tools we received were bad quality; the scalpel handles were small and flimsy, the scissors were not too sharp and were really bad for blunt dissection, and half of the things you receive from them are practically useless, save for maybe one or two labs in head/neck. If I could do it again, I would've NOT joined the AMA and just assembled a kit from the M2s/ebay.

 

[TMP-SMX]

We all bought the ones at the bookstore last year, only to find the lab was filled with greasy leftover tools from last year, along with many formaldehyde soaked copies of Netter and Grants.

Says Toshiro Mifune. Gotta love Kurosawa. 🙂

Yeah I had a kit back from high school that I reused. I didn't have a hemostat so I bought one. The blades that came with it for the scalpel sucked so I bought new ones. They were cheap and very sharp.

 

[alwaysaangel]

If you join AMA the Steadman's is a better option. It comes with a CD copy you can load on your laptop and I have found that useful.

Hmm...we got both. Actually you got 2/3 of a 1GB memory stick, the dissection kit, or Steadmans. And a bunch of people managed to get all 3. So for us it was definitely work the 100 bucks.

 

[alwaysaangel]

However, don't join the AMA just for the free kit. When our class ordered their dissection kits from the AMA, the AMA were very short-stocked on supplies, so we had to wait a while to receive them. By the time we received our kit, anatomy lab had already started and we were already using borrowed tools from the department. Even so, the tools we received were bad quality; the scalpel handles were small and flimsy, the scissors were not too sharp and were really bad for blunt dissection, and half of the things you receive from them are practically useless, save for maybe one or two labs in head/neck. If I could do it again, I would've NOT joined the AMA and just assembled a kit from the M2s/ebay.

Well I guess thats true - but if they have them right there and hand it to you I don't see why not. They had plenty of dissection kits and stuff when we signed up. So we all got it right there.

 

[MattD]

Quite true. As much as I think the scalpel makes you look cooler, you'll cut everything important if you use it. The best dissectors in my class use scissors and a forceps when they are dissecting.

Yup. If you just HAVE to be the scalpel pimp, it works best if you cut with the dull side of the blade most of the time. 🙂 You'll still separate the fat, but snag on the structures you would have cluelessly cut through with the sharp side. Found many a nerve that way 🙂

 

[TrapperJohnMD]

Did I go to the only school that actually had a bucket of every tool you could need and a box of blades for every tank in the lab?? Honestly, I wouldnt want my own stuff. I certainly wouldnt want to touch that stuff outside of the lab, without gloves --let alone actually take it home.

 

[ANCAdoc]

Yeah, I didn't buy any of this stuff. Our campus provided these things, except for scalpel blades, but I found the drawer that the prof used and it had a stash of blades.

 

[aggiesarah2007]

we didn't really use scalpels much, as has been said before. For us, we mostly did blunt dissection. REALLY helps from destroying things. One of the says we heard was "Don't wreck it, blunt dissect it!"

one of our professors recommended electrician scissors or curved scissors you can see here. the electrician scissors have round enough ends but stay sharper MUCH longer than the AMA kit. The curved scissors, according to my prof, are really good at separating all the fascia. (curved scissors were my fave) The scissors and forceps were really the most important. But an M2 from your school will tell you the best things for your particular school

 

[coffeebythelake]

I'd like some recommendations for a good dissecting kit and where to purchase it. At minimum, we're required to have scalpels with blades, forceps, blunt probes, and scissors. Thanks!

My recommendation: get the cheapest kit possible. The only things you really need are scalpels (get lots of blades since they dull easily) and blunt probes (mostly to poke at things). You will probably do a lot of blunt dissection with your fingers once you open up the skin. Also, it might be good to coordinate with your lab members to split the cost. There might be 6-8 people but you only need 1-2 kits.