The Importance of Anatomy Dissection in a System‐Based Curriculum
Authors: Leighton Maria Ximena 
Published: June 2021

Most of medical schools in the United States have moved to the new system based curriculum. Unfortunately in this new curriculum the allocated hours to cadaver dissection have decreased notably. Many institutions have tried to replace cadaver dissections with simulators, synthetic models or only prosections. Others have implemented computerized laboratories and even virtual reality with the purpose to motivate self‐instruction and hoping to decrease the needed number of anatomy instructors.

Surprisingly more studies are coming out showing a positive perception of dissection by the students and emphasizing the importance on the way it was taught

Since I started teaching, I have incorporated medical imaging such as X‐Rays, MRI, CT scans, angiograms and photographs from prosections and prosections to complement the traditional teaching of Anatomy with cadaveric dissections. This approach has helped me to help the students understand the human body in three dimensions. Most of the students began by thinking that Anatomy was about memorization. But in the end many came to realize that Anatomy was about understanding, getting concepts and thinking critically and purposefully. Anatomy is the foundation of medicine, and understanding Anatomy makes the learning of physiology, then pathology, so much easier.

From my 20 years' experience as a medical educator I have come to realize that each student has his/her own style of learning. Therefore when I out what style applies to a specific student, I now know how to proceed and engage most optimally with that student. In prospect this perception and its application, can make the difference for the students whether they reach their full potential, or not. In addition, the students whom I taught almost 20 years ago were very different from the current students. Now everything is multimedia, and students can Google anything just using their phones. This brings new challenges as a teacher because not everything available to them is accurate. Because of such concerns, I have therefore started to produce multi‐media teaching materials at USU to be used by medical, graduate and nursing students. These high quality videos are high quality step‐by‐step dissections of the most difficult areas of the human body.

Using cadaveric dissections also gives the opportunity to show anatomical variations, anomalies and something very important: pathological findings, which I have used during these years to motivate the students to learn beyond Anatomy. This cadaver is their first patient. And none of these findings can be reproduced in anatomical models. For this reason I have also produced high quality imaging of the findings mentioned above.

The opinions or assertions contained herein are the private ones of the author/speaker and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Department of Defense, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences or any other agency of the U.S. Government.

This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.