So I Dissected a Cadaver today!

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The doc I have been shadowing got new residents...and so he said it would be cool if I joined in...and it was way cool!
 
nice, I'm shadowing now as well hopefully I'll get my hands dirty
 
are you dissecting anything else? I am moving through the trunk and limbs. we aren't supposed to touch the head and neck, but we will be since our class seems to be over achievers and our professors are going to let us do head/neck. so far we have moved through the trunk, and doing back/upper limbs now. it has been a great experience since this will help a lot through first year gross anatomy in med school.
 
Wow! I bet that was something. I remember how I felt the first time I ever dissected anything- a cat. It just felt WEIRD, but interesting at the same time. When I finally had to dissect the face, I was kinda bummed out. It was the only part that actually kept it as an animal. I think I grew attached to it and started creating a character for it in my head. So, when I finally dissected it's face, I just felt awkward about it. I can't imagine what a human would have been like.

How did it go?

And, why were the residents still dissecting?
 
They are oral surgery residents and such...getting a more detailed lesson from the attending...I was extremely timid at first, but once you start cutting it takes away any fears I had.
 
It's not so cool when you have to do a four hour perineum dissection.

But overall dissection is pretty cool~

I like variations.

Edit- FYI lots of residents work with cadavers. There is a class here (optional maybe?) for surgery residents.
 
*shivers* gosh, i dont think i'm ready to cut up human cadavers yet
 
My undergrad A&P class included cadaver dissection. Our school gets one cadaver each year, and the labs are small enough to facilitate reasonable hands-on time. The cadaver last year was a 99-year old woman.
 
koko_eats said:
They might do it to learn the relevant anatomy better for procedures. I know some derm CME courses use cadaveric dissections.
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sully677 said:
They are oral surgery residents and such...getting a more detailed lesson from the attending...I was extremely timid at first, but once you start cutting it takes away any fears I had.
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Now that you mention it, I have heard of surgery residencies doing this from time to time. But usually, residents will just learn the procedures on the floors. "See one, do one (under supervision), teach one".

Head and neck was my favorite section in gross anatomy. Its one of the reasons why I'm going into neurology.
 
Something doesn't sit right with me when human dissection is done for an undergrad course. It is nothing personal, but I feel like it is a tremendous act of generosity for someone to give their body for that and many are under the impression it'll be for medical schools or to better a procedure. I feel like I'd be really discouraged if I found out that my grandmother's body was used for an undergrad course I guess. (She donated her body)

I may very well be alone in this sentiment, but after seeing the behavior of undergraduate students, med school bound or not, it concerns me.
 
MossPoh said:
I may very well be alone in this sentiment, but after seeing the behavior of undergraduate students, med school bound or not, it concerns me.
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Stereotype
 
MossPoh said:
Something doesn't sit right with me when human dissection is done for an undergrad course. It is nothing personal, but I feel like it is a tremendous act of generosity for someone to give their body for that and many are under the impression it'll be for medical schools or to better a procedure. I feel like I'd be really discouraged if I found out that my grandmother's body was used for an undergrad course I guess. (She donated her body)

I may very well be alone in this sentiment, but after seeing the behavior of undergraduate students, med school bound or not, it concerns me.
Click to expand...
Heheh, and the behavior of med students is that much better?

This one lady surgeon told us how her classmates pulled a prank on her in the gross anatomy lab. They put a remote-controlled device underneath the arm of a cadaver. When she was in the anatomy room by herself, they had the arm suddenly fly out towards her. She was the only girl in the entire class, and they hazed her mercilessly. She loved it! Go figure.
 
Terpskins99 said:
Heheh, and the behavior of med students is that much better?

This one lady surgeon told us how her classmates pulled a prank on her in the gross anatomy lab. They put a remote-controlled device underneath the arm of a cadaver. When she was in the anatomy room by herself, they had the arm suddenly fly out towards her. She was the only girl in the entire class, and they hazed her mercilessly. She loved it! Go figure.
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Dang! I probably would have fainted or had a heart attack. Merciless indeed. :laugh:
 
Yep. Most med students are 1 year removed from ugrad, so I highly doubt they are as mature as a 50 year old physician with a family.
 
Terpskins99 said:
Heheh, and the behavior of med students is that much better?

This one lady surgeon told us how her classmates pulled a prank on her in the gross anatomy lab. They put a remote-controlled device underneath the arm of a cadaver. When she was in the anatomy room by herself, they had the arm suddenly fly out towards her. She was the only girl in the entire class, and they hazed her mercilessly. She loved it! Go figure.
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That's a really good one!

That's even better than my favorite: Hiding a vacuum cleaner under someone's bed, with the power chord sneakily going out the window and into another room. Night-vision video cameras top it off perfectly.
 
MossPoh said:
Something doesn't sit right with me when human dissection is done for an undergrad course. It is nothing personal, but I feel like it is a tremendous act of generosity for someone to give their body for that and many are under the impression it'll be for medical schools or to better a procedure. I feel like I'd be really discouraged if I found out that my grandmother's body was used for an undergrad course I guess. (She donated her body)
Click to expand...

I agree. There's nothing essential to the u-grad education that demands an actual cadaver. That said, I have no problem with peopl ehaving fun with my body when I'm gone. I've thought about hiding very small tattoos around my body like a little scavenger hunt to keep them entertained.
 
Spiker said:
Pathology?
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Pathologists don't dissect cadavers, they do autopsies on non-fixed bodies.

And autopsies are actually a pretty small part of a pathologist's job, unless they do a forensics fellowship.
 
MossPoh said:
Something doesn't sit right with me when human dissection is done for an undergrad course. It is nothing personal, but I feel like it is a tremendous act of generosity for someone to give their body for that and many are under the impression it'll be for medical schools or to better a procedure. I feel like I'd be really discouraged if I found out that my grandmother's body was used for an undergrad course I guess. (She donated her body)
Click to expand...

I feel that way too. What I remember from undergrad anatomy was a good deal of book learning and some unfocused poking around on the cats/pigs used for dissection. We weren't actually expected to find anything on the bodies, and as a result, they got mauled for very little reason.

At least in medical school, students have enough time with the bodies to really learn something from them, and I think that extra focus leads to a little bit of extra respect - there was no way in hell my lab group wanted to mess anything up because, if we did, how would we see what we needed to? Not to mention the extra credit for the "best" dissection...
 
sull677 has some awesome connections. I wish I was that cool!
 
Zoom-Zoom said:
I agree. There's nothing essential to the u-grad education that demands an actual cadaver. That said, I have no problem with peopl ehaving fun with my body when I'm gone. I've thought about hiding very small tattoos around my body like a little scavenger hunt to keep them entertained.
Click to expand...

The skin comes off really early and isn't examined much before it's taken off.
 
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