|
|
More than skin deep: A look at UT’s Anatomical Donation Program |
| By
Jacob Corkins |
|
Jun 18, 2008
|
|
The University of Toledo has few programs that teach health-care professional students more about medicine than working in the Gross Anatomy Lab.
 |
| A production crew for the History Channel shot video this spring in UT’s Gross Anatomy Lab for a feature on how donated human cadavers can improve the human condition by educating future health-care professionals. |
The Anatomical Donation Program began at UT in 1969. Each year, it receives upwards of 100 bodies to be used for education, training and research.
“Learning about the human body by dissecting a cadaver teaches students more than anatomy … Students are introduced to concepts of humanistic care, the physician-patient relationship, and death and dying,” said Dr. Mark Hankin, professor and director of neurosciences.
Nearly 2,000 students learn anatomy at UT each year using cadavers. Dissection is used to not only teach medical students, but also students in other health-care fields, including those studying to become physician assistants, physical therapists, occupational therapists, EMS technicians and physical therapy assistants.
In addition, 1,000 high school students tour the anatomy labs and receive presentations from first- and second-year medical students.
Hankin quoted Romanian surgeon Dr. Ernest Juvara’s comment about the importance of learning with a human body: “One must start with a cadaver and end up operating on a patient, unless one wishes to start with a patient and end up with a cadaver.”
The learning experience gained from dissecting a cadaver is the “beginning not only a ‘rite of passage’ in the process of becoming a doctor,” Hankin said, “it’s also how students begin to really understand the human body … to translate book knowledge into something real and practical.”
Recently, a production team for the History Channel’s “Modern Marvels” came to the University’s Gross Anatomy Lab to talk with medical students to get their perspectives on the role the donated bodies play in their learning experience.
The episode titled “Corpse Tech” is scheduled to premiere Friday, June 20, at 8 p.m.
The segment also will highlight the computer program Anatomy & Physiology Revealed, which offers a “virtual dissection experience” in which students can “melt” away layers of skin to see what is beneath.
Hankin and co-creators Dr. Carol Bennett-Clarke, associate dean for pre-clinical medical education, Dr. Dennis Morse, professor of neurosciences, and Roy Schneider, manager of medical illustration, designed the program with the UT Center for Creative Instruction as a supplement to dissection.
“Though the program is a great learning tool, the experience offered by dissection is indispensable,” Hankin said. “It’s a very interactive experience; you’re not learning by yourself but as part of a team.”
UT’s Anatomical Donation Program does not advertise for donors. Instead, the success of the program is based on goodwill and through personal contacts between donors and their families and friends.
Each spring, a memorial service is held in honor of the donors for their families and friends. At the service, anatomy students who have been given the opportunity to dissect a body reflect on the experience.
To find out more about body donation, call Diane Durliat, coordinator of the UT Anatomical Donation Program, at 419.383.4118.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
