tell me about your anatomy class?

[iamhotok]

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how many people per cadaver, and do you have to dissect every week? what did the instructor do to help you to dissect, long lectures, or just brief introductions?

👍

 

[sacrament]

how many people per cadaver, and do you have to dissect every week? what did the instructor do to help you to dissect, long lectures, or just brief introductions?

👍

The answers to these questions are going to be wildly different at every school. We had four students per cadaver, and we dissected every day for at least two hours, sometimes three. The lab was preceeded by a 1-2 hour lecture on the structure(s) in question. The class lasted 10 weeks. (I think.)

 

[Discobolus]

how many people per cadaver, and do you have to dissect every week? what did the instructor do to help you to dissect, long lectures, or just brief introductions?

👍

We had 4 people per cadaver. We dissected 2-3 hours a day, 4 days a week. Each lab was preceded by an hour long lecture, with the occasional half hour preview lecture. The course lasted 15 weeks.

 

[Hosehead]

Prosection!! Yeah!!

 

[beanbean]

4 people per cadaver

Systems based curriculum so we disected all year - the time varied greatly - one average 2-3 times /week for 2-3 hrs at a time.

Few lectures specifically about dissections. Instructors and residents in the labs to answer questions while we followed the disection manual. Review sessions taught by a 4th year - Thank you, Greg! Prosection done by a 4th year for head and neck - Thank you, Kevin!

 

[azzarah]

we had 43 days of anatomy. 4 ppl per cadaver. 1 professor for every 4 groups. 4th year med students walked around and pointed out clinically relevant stuff. 1-2 hours of lecture and 3 hrs of dissection. Oral presentations on different regions. Imaging tests (CT, MRI, etc). Regular exams. No lab practicals. My least favorite class in med school.

 

[Kev (UK)]

how many people per cadaver, and do you have to dissect every week? what did the instructor do to help you to dissect, long lectures, or just brief introductions?

8 per cadaver (usually 2-3 were absent though as it was not to everyones liking!)
we dissect every week (systems based course so this varies)
1 instructor to 4 tables (you really need 1:2 tables, our teaching input in dissection class was not very good, very much a DIY class)
lectures were short and to the point usually

personally I found much of the musculoskeletal dissection dul dull dull 😴
an hour of cutting away skin and fat to find some obscure nerve or artery! Prosections are far more suitable for that system on the whole.

But for the thorax and abdomen I find dissection far more interesting & worthwhile.

Here in the UK some medical schools are no longer using dissection as a teaching class, others use mainly prosections and some are adament they will maintain dissection classes. Interestingly in two of our new medical schools one has done away with dissection altogether (they use models and CD ROMs) whereas another has a state of the art, brand spanking new, anatomy lab. Obviously opinion on dissection and it's relevence is strongly divided amongst medical educators! 😉

 

[Sweet Tea]

4 students per cadaver, 2-3 hours of dissection 4 days a week and 3-5 hours of lecture a week. the class lasted for a semester.

i really enjoyed it...i'm very much a hands-on learner and sitting on my butt in a class room all day does NOTHING for me while actually digging around to find the nerves and arteries helped me learn. we had prosections for certain parts of the lab (foot, pelvis), and i think there was 1 professor for every 3 groups.

 

[iamhotok]

how is he anatomy classes at yale, harvard, stanford? 🙂

i am surprised that some of you have 1 professor for 4 or 3 groups. that is really good. and at ross, we don't even dissect every week, we do it every two weeks. maybe good or bad, i get tired after dissecting for a whole week.

 

[automaton]

6 people per cadaver, sessions split into two groups, so usually 3 people per cadaver at a time.

about 2 dissections per week, each dissection preceded by 30 minute lecture, dissection itself takes 3-4 hrs on average.

entire course ran from november until april.

easily the worst class ever.

 

[Marianne11]

Why have some of you said it is the "worst class ever"? I thought everyone usually loves this class???

 

[automaton]

see for yourself in a few months. 🙂

 

[MediCane2006]

LOL. Bad memories for sure. Ours lasted 6 weeks (I think, might have been 8) and we did the thorax, abdomen and pelvis only (head/neck and musculoskeletal were done with the relevant systems later on in the year). Dissection was every other day, supposedly for 4 hours but we always stayed longer because NO ONE was done by then. We had four students per table - two were supposed to do radiology and osteology while the others cut. But it always degenerated into everybody cutting in the (vain) hope that it would make the lab go faster. We had two exams, each consisting of a written and a practical portion.

I love anatomy but I HATED that class.

 

[sacrament]

Anatomy was probably my favorite class in the first two years, partly because it was the easiest, partly because I like working with my hands.

 

[badgergirl]

ours was 9 weeks, 5 students per cadaver, 5 hours of lecture, 3-4 required hours of lab, with three large exams (1/2 written with histo, 1/2 practical), weekly cadaver quizzes, and a surface anatomy/oral exam. our dissections were explained in online videos, but 4th years and professors were in the lab to help.

the experience depends a lot on your group - how diligent everyone is at dissecting and how well you learn together. i wish my group had done more out loud teaching than chatting. all i can say is buy chung's gross anatomy (BRS) and learn as you dissect. in the meantime, rent "gross anatomy" before the class starts and laugh at how ridiculously fake the cadavers look. 😉

 

[8744]

Our school has an "Organ System" based curriculum. During the first semester of first year, we had an introductory course with one day a week set aside for lecture and dissection. Then, for the rest of first year and all of second year we had a couple of days of lab for each organ system. By October of second year, I pretty much stopped going to lab. I studied for anatomy tests with Rohen's Photographic Atlas. I have never found gross lab to be very productive or an efficient way to learn anatomy.

Other people had the same idea, apparently, because lab attendance is now enforced on the first and second years with quizes at the end of each lab which take the place of the end-of-block practical exam.

The first and second years also have to swipe their ID badges in card readers at the back of the lecture hall at the beginning of every lecture to verify their attendance.

 

[Medical123]

Our Anatomy class was a semester long course. We had 2 hours of dissection three days per week. Dissection was preceded by a 2 hour lecture on relevant structures, followed by a brief review of the dissection itself. There were always a number of faculty members available in the lab for us to consult with if we ran into questions or problems. We had 6 students per cadaver. For the first part of the year, people generally show up to every lab, but as the semester comes to a close, people started to cut the labs in favor of studying on their own. Our lab was also open to us 24 hours a day so that we could go in and work on our own if we wanted to do so. Actually, going into the lab during "downtime" was highly encouraged. Our school also had sessions on Saturdays where the 2nd year students would come in and help the 1st years with the structures and offer advice on how to take the exams.

 

[IlianaSedai]

Duration: 1 semester

Persons per cadaver: 4, a couple odd groups of 3. For long assignments, divide work in half and work in teams of two to finish more quickly. You don't need to uncover the facial nerve or whatever on both sides of the body -- just dissect / see it on one and swap to look at structures on the other side.

Dissecting time: Tuesday and Thursday, after anatomy lecture (start around noon, go until finished with the day's dissection assignment). We discovered that if you get into the lab and start right away, most dissections can easily be finished in 3 hours and we could go home before 4pm. In contrast, students who dawdled (previous years) usually had an average leaving time of 6pm - 8pm. Just get in there, roll up your sleeves and do the work, and you'll be outta there in no time!

Lecture time: Tuesday and Thursday, 90 minutes per lecture.

 

[MartinLuther]

how many people per cadaver, and do you have to dissect every week? what did the instructor do to help you to dissect, long lectures, or just brief introductions?

👍

We actually had two quarters...a total of 20 weeks...three written exams and three practical exams per quarter. Six students per cadaver and we rotated every lab so there were only four of us present on any given lab day. Our professor was actually a former surgeon who burned out on OR life and retired to become a professor...kind of a strange guy. Strange in that Ted Kaczinski mad scientist genius type way, he actually threatened to kill me twice with a .38 pistol he kept a locker in his office. Crazy canadiens....anyway, he used to do this demonstrations in class where somebody would get stabbed in a different anatomical region and then he would describe the path of injury. Anyway, during a lecture on the abdomen his pants actually fell off and we could all see his bulging tighty whities!!!!! Nothing funnier than old men in tighty whities....anyway, back to the story. The professor acually finished his anecdote with his pants around his ankles! Later he pulled his pants up, but not till at least 8 minutes later. That was a hairy man let me tell you...

 

[SaltySqueegee]

We actually had two quarters...a total of 20 weeks...three written exams and three practical exams per quarter. Six students per cadaver and we rotated every lab so there were only four of us present on any given lab day. Our professor was actually a former surgeon who burned out on OR life and retired to become a professor...kind of a strange guy. Strange in that Ted Kaczinski mad scientist genius type way, he actually threatened to kill me twice with a .38 pistol he kept a locker in his office. Crazy canadiens....anyway, he used to do this demonstrations in class where somebody would get stabbed in a different anatomical region and then he would describe the path of injury. Anyway, during a lecture on the abdomen his pants actually fell off and we could all see his bulging tighty whities!!!!! Nothing funnier than old men in tighty whities....anyway, back to the story. The professor acually finished his anecdote with his pants around his ankles! Later he pulled his pants up, but not till at least 8 minutes later. That was a hairy man let me tell you...

Holy Crap!
👍
Was this an undergrad Anatomy Prof? Or for Grad/Med School?

 

[iamhotok]

well, it seems that the anatomy classes in the us are no different from ross university.

do you actually know how to dissect for that particular area at the beginning of the class? for us, i felt that it is just "me and my cadaver." we can do whatever, no one knows how and why.

 

[azzarah]

Why have some of you said it is the "worst class ever"? I thought everyone usually loves this class???

I had gunner lab partners, I hated working with cadavers, I don't like memorizing! 😛

 

[ScottDoc]

HEEEEY!

Guess what! The night before my first Gross lab I was so nervous about cutting open a body. On fact I had a nightmare that my lab prof. caught me eating flesh in the bathroom adjacent to the lab. What does that tell you about me? And no I am not Hannibal Lechture

 

[iamhotok]

I want to announce to the world that I personally cut a dead body into half, midsagittally, and horizontally. This is a truly once in a lifetime opportunity, since none of my lab partner wanted to have "this honor."

 

[MartinLuther]

Holy Crap!
👍
Was this an undergrad Anatomy Prof? Or for Grad/Med School?

this was a grad/med school professor.

 

[SaltySqueegee]

I want to announce to the world that I personally cut a dead body into half, midsagittally, and horizontally. This is a truly once in a lifetime opportunity, since none of my lab partner wanted to have "this honor."

Very Surreal.

I'm sure it makes for entertaining cocktail party conversations.

 

[Discobolus]

When we sectioned the pelvis and removed the legs I got this twisted thought (not acted upon of course) to put a lamp shade on the top of the leg. If you've ever seen A Christmas Story you will know what I'm talking about.

 

[ericdamiansean]

darn...we only use models 🙁

 

[DendriticCell]

i think our anat. prof. is pretty laid bak.. he told us that not like other course's lab which food and drink are prohibted.. he is more than welcome to have ppl to bring food and drinks to the lab and eat it... ha ha.. but through out the year, no one brings any thing..

 

[azzarah]

HEEEEY!

Guess what! The night before my first Gross lab I was so nervous about cutting open a body. On fact I had a nightmare that my lab prof. caught me eating flesh in the bathroom adjacent to the lab. What does that tell you about me? And no I am not Hannibal Lechture

One night in the middle of anatomy I had a dream (or nightmare rather) that I was eating a sandwich, and then I suddenly realized that it was our cadaver's flesh and woke up completely horrified. 👎 👎

 

[Singh]

We had 10 x 4 hours of dissection during anatomy-teaching. As far as I recall, it was once or twice a week. We were 12 for one cadaver (2 students pr leg, 2 students per arm, 2 students per head and neck), and after three times we switched.

I think the reason why we were so many per cadaver as compared to many American schools is the Danish policy when it comes to donations of dead bodies. It is obligatory for the dying person to agree with the donation, and even then after death, family can reject. This means that the amount of dead bodies is minimal- which is dissapointing, but fully understandable.

 

[macdown]

We had 5 people per cadaver lab met 3 times a week (Mon-Wed-Fri). Lab typically went from 1:30 to 4:30, but I often stayed 'till 5:30 or 6 (the Profs seemed to give more "clinics" when the room started to clear out). Lab was usually proceeded by 1 or 2 55min lectures, or rather, "previews". All in all I loved anatomy, I was usually the only one who did anything, the other guy in my group only showed up sporatically and when he did come it was only for an hour or so, and the girls in my group thought it was "icky" so they never did any cutting.