which universities don&#x27;t do dissections any more?

I'm pretty sure Penninsula Medical School doesn't do dissection, and I know Liverpool you only watch it being done... do not do it yourself.

As for the others, I think most of them do dissection.

Reply 3

Elles

17

I got the impression most don't have their undergrad medics dissecting as a matter of course anymore... or are potentially going that way (as with anything - perhaps best not to be too wow-ed by a specific changeable course feature alone of a medical school!)

Anyhow, Oxford's preclinical anatomy teaching is along the lines of:

Me - lazily snipping something i posted elsewhere!

Just to summarize anatomy teaching & the format at Oxford (though 1st/2nd year may have changed since i did it - so open to corrections there):

Orientating Lecture

Then practicals divided into small groups :
- Living = the clinical examination of the relevant anatomical features and their functions, plenty of pen & doing things to your fellow students = good bonding experience! :wink:

- Imaging = the more cutting edge elements of anatomy study these days - as well as X Rays in the old text books thinking about how to interpret other forms of imaging.
- Dissection room = looking a skillfully (quality variable, sometimes you move around to look at another group's if they have a particularly good example - but i reckon they'd all be better than I could do!) specimens pre-dissected by the demonstrators ("prosection"). & sometimes teaching on models which can better show functional arrangements.
- CAL = Computer Assisted Learning = consolidating material, with Case Studies & test yourself questions etc. Some people love & some people hate...

For the 1st two years I'd say there was a morning a week of pure anatomy? Most of the body in Year 1 & Neuroanatomy in Year 2. There there are also some histology/embryology practicals that are related to Anatomy in a way I suppose...

Year 3 - you could do an embryology/anatomy-esque research project/dissertation if you were especially interested - expected to devote 6-8 weeks full time to the project, but many probably did more & the dissertation was worth the same.

& there's the Clinical Anatomy Course - which is a 3 week intensive refresher type course after 3rd year exams for before you start clinicals. Studying after finals was depressing at times but I think it will be useful...

Don't feel like I've missed out by not doing dissection in the core anatomy teaching, TBH. :smile:

Reply 4

friendlyneutron

Edinburgh, or if they do it's limited as I have a friend there who's just finished first year and was moaning about how he'd been taught anatomy.

Reply 5

Angelica

10

Most don't do dissection anymore. At Leeds, they have dissection although they are thinking of scrapping it.

Reply 6

Helenia

20

Cambridge still do it - you do a lot of it yourself although they use prosections for some of the fiddlier bits (head and neck, mainly.)

Reply 7

scruffs

1

Glasgow still do it from first year onwards, a lot of dissection and a bit of prosection.

Reply 8

We have prosections, although you can do an SSM in 'Upper and Lower Limb Dissection' in year one and in 'Abdomen and Thorax' in year rwo.

Reply 9

kpg

As part of main teaching, Imperial are having to resort to prossections now because of a "shortage of cadavers throughout London" although extra classes are trying to be arranged for actual dissection.

Reply 10

I think its a shame personally. I would have thought there was nothing better than first hand experience in anatomy. But that's only my opinion.

St. Andrews seems to be very highly respected for its anatomy department, so I'm looking forward to it :biggrin:

Reply 11

Elles

17

First hand as in cadavers & living anatomy on human bodies? I thought the vast majority of unis used them, I've only heard of one place that apparently entirely uses models/computers, but that might have been an anti-new-medschool-vicious rumour!

So it seems more to be whether you cut yourself or not - I'm not convinced I would have gained any more anatomical knowledge from cutting myself, but can anyone who's dissected tell me what i've missed out on? :wink:

Maybe it's hard to explain them - but prosections are just like sections of pre-done dissections (our demonstrators are in surgical training) = still a cadaver, you still get to touch & move & explore. They don't dissect everything out to tiny individual parts or anything but there are various different specimens so you can still see the relationships between structures so it all still feels fairly "first hand" learning to me, you just save on time on the not cutting & preparing yourself to get to what you're studying in that session - which for core teaching makes in my opinion. :smile:

Reply 12

Yeah, I think Pennisula is the only medical school that doesn't use cadavers at all. But I just think more is to be gained from doing the dissecting yourself. Of course, I wouldn't be entirely sure due to not starting medical school yet... but I always find doing a task myself, as opposed to just looking at, always helps :biggrin:

Reply 13

Elles

17

Our Demonstators definitely don't let us just stand there & look... the latex gloves & DR coats are for a reason! :wink:

Reply 14

Solid_L

I think its a shame personally. I would have thought there was nothing better than first hand experience in anatomy. But that's only my opinion.

To be fair preparing a specimen takes too long for you to actually get much of use from a session - other than it being a 'rite of passage', and it is like asking a day one, year one student to make a perfect wedding cake. It ain't going to happen!

There's nothing wrong with an expertly sectioned prosection and a pair of non-latex gloves!

Reply 15

Elles

Our Demonstators definitely don't let us just stand there & look... the latex gloves & DR coats are for a reason! :wink:

Latex gloves??? Have Oxford sacked all their H&S peeps???? Shocking :wink:

Reply 16

Ah okay, suppose I'm wrong then... if you do dive in and get dirty despite not preparing specimens ureself I can see no problem with that :smile:

As for latex gloves...you just mean because of people with allergies? I hate the non-latex gloves we had at work... vinyl ones are awful!

Reply 17

Aye - if you work in research, the Health and Safety guys get a bee in their bonnet about latex allery and will splash out on Biogel or nitrile gloves. No one cares about undergrads though.

It pisses me off no end that there are NEVER any latex free (or latex free, power free) gloves placed out for our praticals. I can usually get some, but have to waste the first 20 minutes of a session trying to track some down.

May be I should go for anaphylaxis and a massive law suit...

Reply 18

Helenia

20

Fluffy

To be fair preparing a specimen takes too long for you to actually get much of use from a session - other than it being a 'rite of passage', and it is like asking a day one, year one student to make a perfect wedding cake. It ain't going to happen!

There's nothing wrong with an expertly sectioned prosection and a pair of non-latex gloves!

But there's nothing like getting in there and doing some yourself, I think. Having done both prosection and dissection, both have their merits, but I'm very very glad we got the chance to do a lot of it ourselves. If we screwed up, there were usually ideal specimens around, or we could go and look at someone else's - the demonstrators were very good at going "Come and look at the gall bladder on table 37!" It definitely gives it a different feel to be doing it yourself, starting with a whole body and working through it, than to just be presented wiht a different section each week.

Reply 19