Counting the Dead: Who is teaching anatomy to physical therapy students?
Authors: Cope Janet M , Precht Mackenzie , Klinepeter Amy , Powell Brooke 
Published: November 2023

The purpose of this research is to quantify the use of human donors in Physical Therapy (PT) anatomy education.

A list of CAPTE accredited schools was created (n=217).

An electronic survey was used to collect the demographics of the PT anatomy educators and the number, demographics, and sources of cadavers used in PT anatomy. There were 99 responses (46% return rate) representing PT anatomy educators from 40 states.

Of 92 respondents, 63% (n=58) are PT's. Of the non‐PT's (n=34), 65% (n=22) identified themselves as anatomists and many held multiple advanced degrees.

Participants report working with 0–30 donors with an average of 10.45 cadavers per course (± 6.67) and a total of 930 cadavers used in the past year. Anatomy educators (n=92) identified the sources they use to acquire human donors: medical schools 52% (n=48); in house gift programs 24% (n=22); state anatomy boards 17% (n=16); private organizations 5% (n=5); willed body program not attached to a medical school or in house 1% (n=1). Several PT programs, 11% (n=0), obtain donors from multiple sources.

Anatomy educators were asked if they knew the origin of the cadavers they teach with using the following definitions:

Registered donor: individual has consented to participate in anatomy education Next of kin: family member provided consent Unclaimed dead: neither the individual nor a family member provided consent Of 92 respondents, 78% (n=72) reported knowing the origin of cadavers used to teach PT anatomy, 10 % (n=9) reported not knowing, and 12% (n=11) were uncertain. Anatomy educators were asked to quantify the percentage of cadavers that they teach with using these same definitions, reporting that 72% (n=670) are registered donors, 3% (n=30) are next of kin donations, and 0% (n=0) are unclaimed dead. Anatomy educators categorized 75% (n=700) cadavers, while 25% (n=230) were uncategorized. Respondents were asked to identify all cadaver demographics they receive, and then asked to identify which demographics they share with students. Most programs, 85% (n=75), receive some non‐identifying information, such as cause of death and age, while 38% (n=33) of programs are provided with first name, and 34% (n=30) with last name. From those anatomy educators that receive information about donors: cause of death (89%), age (86%), and health history (78%) are the demographics most frequently shared with students, while first name (27%) and occupation (7%) are less frequently shared.

In conclusion, there are a large number of cadavers (930) working with PT students. Anatomy educators report that their non‐living colleagues are mostly registered donors and some are next of kin donations. No respondents report working with unclaimed dead. There is a difference of 230 donors whom are not accounted for as registered, next of kin, or unclaimed. As PT anatomy educators, should we be ensuring consent is obtained prior to using cadavers to teach PT anatomy? Further research is warranted. While most PT anatomy educators are provided some demographics, this information is not necessarily shared with students. Cause of death and age are routinely shared, while first name and occupation is rarely shared with students. This may be a choice or directed by the source of PT donors. Further research is warranted on the value of sharing cadaver demographics with PT students. These researchers recommend that consent be obtained from all of our non‐living colleagues and that we consider sharing information that these donors are willing to share with students.

Support or Funding Information

Elon University Graduate Research Fund