Student to Cadaver ratio at NYCOM and Other Schools

The ratio at NYCOM is 6 students to 1 cadaver.

 

I think I heard that COMP has 4 students per cadaver, but I'm not sure. I'd appreciate someone confirming or correcting me.

 

At KCOM, ratio is four students to one cadaver. Dissection continues for five quarters.

At UHS, I believe, the ratio is ten to one; five students per side; one group goes deep, one superficial.

At PCOM the ratio is five or six to one cadaver. Dissection is completed during first trimester.

 

Actually, at UHS, the ratio is 8-10 per cadaver, divided into 2 groups. One group does the right side and the other does the left. Every group does BOTH the superficial and deep dissections for their side.

Dissecting can be a time consuming AND tedious work, although the entering class always imagines it to be incredibly "glamorous". Usually, until their first test block, when they have a million things left to study and aren't done dissecting yet...hehehe

 

UHS2002, please don't laugh at us until after we have taken our LAST gross exam (Wednesday...thank goodness!) After that, I'm sure I will appreciate your humor much more By the way..I hope your tests went well.

 

UHS03,

they did, thanks and I am sure glad they are over, at least for another 5 weeks...

I empatize with you, I could not wait to get the last Anatomy test out of the way, particularly the lab part. At this point last year, I felt like if I had to learn yet another obscure nerve (which invariably would look so much like that-also-obscure artery I needed to recognize too), I was going to have a nervous breakdown.

Good luck on your tests, you are more than halfway through with your first year (while we will be enjoying school through the summer). The second year is a lot easier, and a lot more fun, so there is much to look foward to.

 

Dear poster,

The University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNECOM) has 4 students per body. Gross starts August 1 and runs until the second week of November...Class four days a week....lecture one hour and lab for three. And as many students will confirm...many, many, many more hours during open lab time.

Hope this helps! Any questions drop me a line!

Good luck,
Matt

 

dlbruch,
As far as I know, that figure is right.

 

KCOM is 4/cadaver...we generally pair off with one team on the left and the other on the right. However, this is not a formal division and we free to switch partners or work in any permutation. Both sides have to be dissected completely.

Prior to my entering class, KCOM crammed anatomy into quarter 1 [12 weeks]. With the curriculum revision, anatomy has been extended to five consecutive quarters...I think that may have been going to the other extreme. In the old paradigm, there was problem with retention, especially apparent when the courses that built upon anatomy rolled around and they had to incessantly refer back to anatomy materials.

The "new curriculum" was intended to string it out a bit to hopefully improve retention by allowing the information to more effectively 'soak in'. In essence, that has translated to our dissecting a body region within a tight cluster of time and then not having anatomy/dissection for a few weeks. Then returning to lab to cut away for the region. Basicly, the pace has only minimally been reduced. They've just stuck 'breaks' between regions...How effective this will prove to be remains to be seen?

Personally, I think 3 quarters would be ideal.

------------------
'Old Man Dave'
KCOM, Class of '03

Nothing Risked, Nothing Gained!!

 

HI all

At Michigan State, the situation in the gross anatomy lab is bit different. The bodies are prosected (already pre-dissected). This means that there is NO dissection by the medical students. The bodies are "precut" and during lab, we have go around from body to body and identify the objective structures for that particular lab. Obviously, this has its advantages and disadvantages. For those who want to dissect, the department offers a dissection course.

Doc777

 

Most of us at COMP had 4, though many had 5 students/cadavor

 

As far as I remember, UHS has gross for about 7 months. Hope that helps everyone. And our ratios per body seem just fine.

 

Hey bud,

At NYCOM, the number can range from 4 to 6 per cadaver. However, while there were six in my group, two of my groupies rarely showed up, and a third just wandered around the lab in a drunken stupor. So this is something to consider. Because in your group, chances are that not everyone will show up, and those that do show up may just wander around stoned or drunk.
later alligator,
liquid steel

 

Please note that Liquid Tension's anatomy group does not reflect the majority of the first year students at NYCOM. I know or know of Liquid Tension and the members of his group. And boy, did I feel sorry for the three that actually showed up for lab because they had a lot of cutting to do.

[This message has been edited by euhsa (edited 02-17-2000).]