Gross Anatomy

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zebrafish

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So, be honest ...What was it like standing over a cadaver for the first time with a knife???
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It really wasn't a big deal. The hard part, for my school at least, was doing well on the tests.

I swear they were out to get me. :mad:
 
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aggie-master said:
It really wasn't a big deal. The hard part, for my school at least, was doing well on the tests.

I swear they were out to get me. :mad:
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Who? The tests or the cadavers were out to get you?
 
The first time you see the cadaver and then have to make an incision and start removing the skin off someones head is kind of intense(for about 5 minutes). It gets way easier after that, there are still times I start off a little timid and then get really into my disection. Today we opened up the abdomen, and I got to follow the phrenic down to the diaphragm, pretty cool. The smell sucks though and you won't get used to, it sucks especially when you haven't been in lab for a week.
 
Regmata said:
It won't be as big of a deal as you think. You separate yourself a bit from the situation.
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Try telling that to the girl standing next to me that passed out and fell into a bucket of formaldehyde ;)

jb!:)
 
I had a dream about it last night...the cadaver was a young man and would argue with me about what I was and wasn't allowed to do to him. He didn't want me to shave is facial hair! lol. At one point he got off the table and walked away. He was dead the whole time, but would come alive like a mummy. I never had a problem with anatomy in my undergrad working on all types of animals and organs... Umm I'm not sure what the dream means, it just got me thinking about it.
 
Our cadaver was the worst abomination I've ever seen. Weight aside (huge person), we had every exception to the exception. If some artery branches off of somewhere 90% of the time, we had the 10%. Furthermore, within that 10%, if it goes somewhere 90% of the time, we had THAT 10% as well.

By the way we started on the back/spinal cord and no one in our class knew if we had a guy or girl til we flipped it over. Some classmates the other week were surprised when they found out it was a woman. Yes, class has been over for 3 months.
 
jackbauer! said:
Try telling that to the girl standing next to me that passed out and fell into a bucket of formaldehyde ;)

jb!:)
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Haha....we didnt have anyone pass out...


Our cadavers had no hair on their heads at all and the hands, feet and face were covered till needed. We started with the back, kinda lets you get used to it
 
Don't sweat. Before you know it, you will be taking bets to see who can shove their arm the farthest down the retropharyngeal space.
 
Anatomy was definitely the best science course we took in d-school. Once you get past that initial incision, you get used to the cadavers and as you progress they look less and less like an actual person. The smell does take some getting used to and you will get some funny looks from people in the elevator (you have no idea how bad you stink). To get over the smell, I always carried some Vick's vapo and rubbed a little under my nose (hey, it worked :)). Plus, I think that you get so much more out of this class because it is hands-on. I still remember quite a bit about my cadaver four years out. Dissecting the head and neck was the most tedious, but also the most interesting (for obvious reasons). We stopped at the pelvis and of course, I conveniently called in sick when we dissected the anal triangle :laugh:.
 
Chrono1984 said:
Don't sweat. Before you know it, you will be taking bets to see who can shove their arm the farthest down the retropharyngeal space.
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Haha. I remember one lab in particular where the instructions said to put a finger through the omental foramen and "feel" the lesser sac (the space). Yeah anyone who's done that knows what it feels like. Needless to say, we got the whole class doing it on our cadaver. At one point my friend asked my other friend if he could fit three fingers in the hole instead of just the two he was using.
 
I'm actually doing one right now in undergrad for my head and neck anatomy class, and it's 100x easier than I expected it to be. I thought it would be really tough to be cutting up a human face, but I found it so interesting and actually enjoy being in lab, maybe its just because I'm a heartless person. But no one else in my class has any problems either. Nothing like taking an electric saw to a guys face and cutting his mandible up. I'm hoping this class gives me a good jump on the cadavers in dschool.
 
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My cadaver was plastinated and pre-dissected. I spent lab learning the structures instead of tearing through layers of fat and facia.
 
Streetwolf said:
Actually I've heard that's a really really GOOD thing.
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From someone promoting that system? I guess it varies from person to person, but for me, I wanted to do the dissections. When you get in there and do it yourself, it helps you delineate the relationships and really facilitates your understanding of how it all works.

Pre-dissected cadavers will enable you to move through more material faster and will allow you to see better prepared specimens, but you lack the hands on experience that helps you really learn the material.
 
Danny0230 said:
I'm actually doing one right now in undergrad for my head and neck anatomy class, and it's 100x easier than I expected it to be. I thought it would be really tough to be cutting up a human face, but I found it so interesting and actually enjoy being in lab, maybe its just because I'm a heartless person. But no one else in my class has any problems either. Nothing like taking an electric saw to a guys face and cutting his mandible up. I'm hoping this class gives me a good jump on the cadavers in dschool.
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That's awesome that you're getting that exposure in undergrad :thumbup:. Our lab section was crap when I took it.
 
Really not that bad at all. If anything, scooping all that fat gets really tiring and is a good workout.
 
anyone ever work on a cadaver that is ripped (muscle wise) In my undergrad we had 2 75+ females so they definitely did not have too much muscle. I hear ripped people are fun to see and work on. Is this true, i hope the cadaver i see is an ex body builder.
 
By the end I had a scalpel in one hand and a bag of cheeto's in the other.

As for the "ripped" guy, no luck, however we did have a guy who was mid sex reassignment. He had long painted finger nails and toes and had his testicles removed.
 
SuperC said:
By the end I had a scalpel in one hand and a bag of cheeto's in the other.

As for the "ripped" guy, no luck, however we did have a guy who was mid sex reassignment. He had long painted finger nails and toes and had his testicles removed.
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No way!
How do you keep your keep your cheetos dry.:laugh:
I agree with you I was a little timid at first, now I am only a little aprehensive about how I can start cracking up when my arms are elbow deep in formaldehyde collected in someones abdomen.
 
letsgfuad said:
anyone ever work on a cadaver that is ripped (muscle wise) In my undergrad we had 2 75+ females so they definitely did not have too much muscle. I hear ripped people are fun to see and work on. Is this true, i hope the cadaver i see is an ex body builder.
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Most cadavers are elderly people. And considering the most difficult dissections are on the head and neck and I don't how being ripped would help that.
 
Some schools do more than just head & neck dissections. We did everything but the limbs in our class.
 
all our cadavers are prosected and we only really have a head and neck anatomy class....the problem is all the brains, heads, and full bodies that we have out now are old and need replaced because you cant see much structure anymore....hopefully we get some good ones before the test because right now i am just using my imagination for a few things.
 
zebrafish said:
So, be honest ...What was it like standing over a cadaver for the first time with a knife???
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Kinda smelly.

Also, letsgfuad is right. My group lucked out and got a guy who was in really good shape. We didn't have to spend half of each lab period cutting away fat, and his muscles and vascular structures were all much easier to locate and dissect out than some of our classmates' cadavers.
 
Gosh, I can't wait until I take anatomy...

I saw in another threads that gross anatomy is easier if you have taken a medical terminology class before, has anyone done this?
 
Frederico Albin said:
Gosh, I can't wait until I take anatomy...

I saw in another threads that gross anatomy is easier if you have taken a medical terminology class before, has anyone done this?
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Don't know. I would imagine being familiar with latin will help.
 
I took a gross class over the summer, and the only thing I struggled with was the smell. It really limited my ability to hang out in the lab and study.
 
Regmata said:
From someone promoting that system? I guess it varies from person to person, but for me, I wanted to do the dissections. When you get in there and do it yourself, it helps you delineate the relationships and really facilitates your understanding of how it all works.

Pre-dissected cadavers will enable you to move through more material faster and will allow you to see better prepared specimens, but you lack the hands on experience that helps you really learn the material.
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I completely disagree. I've taken anatomy with prosections and doing the dissection myself, and I learned infinitely more from the prosections. Time is a factor, and it's hard to motivate yourslf to spend 3 hours removing epimysium from a cadavers neck when you have 3 tests to study for. I've also never seen hard to find things like a good ansa cervicalis or chorda tympani because we as students weren't careful enough to dissect them properly.

There were a good number of people in my class, and 4/7 in my lab group, who never even showed up to anatomy lab and did just fine on cadaver identifications just off of Netter's plates. Prosections would have been even better.
 
Things I do not want to see/hear in gross anatomy:

"I know this guy!" *Points at the cadaver*

Female/male classmates paying too much attention to a particular part of the male/female anatomy.

Formaldehyde parties in lab.
 
aphistis said:
This happens all the time; think of it as applied in vivo studying. ;)
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I think it's healthier for them to get an issue of playboy/playgirl instead of a cadaver.:scared:
 
You guys are going slightly of topic. ;)

Lets get back to "gross" anatomy.
 
Just give us an idea of how much info has to be assimilated in this class to pass with flying colors.

What do they do to the cadavers once you are done with gross anatomy?
 
blankguy said:
Just give us an idea of how much info has to be assimilated in this class to pass with flying colors.

What do they do to the cadavers once you are done with gross anatomy?
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I don't know how one could quantify how much info you would have to know, lets just say its quite a bit. As far as the cadavers, according to our instructor, they are cremated and the ashes returned to family or whoever. There is a memorial service for all the cadavers shortly after the semester that all the dental and med students can attend it they want, at least thats what goes on in Philly.
 
Ebull said:
I don't know how one could quantify how much info you would have to know, lets just say its quite a bit. As far as the cadavers, according to our instructor, they are cremated and the ashes returned to family or whoever. There is a memorial service for all the cadavers shortly after the semester that all the dental and med students can attend it they want, at least thats what goes on in Philly.
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Respectfull
 
Ebull said:
I don't know how one could quantify how much info you would have to know, lets just say its quite a bit. As far as the cadavers, according to our instructor, they are cremated and the ashes returned to family or whoever. There is a memorial service for all the cadavers shortly after the semester that all the dental and med students can attend it they want, at least thats what goes on in Philly.
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Same at San Antonio.
 
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