ARTICLE #2 | 25
ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF THE CULTURAL BELIEFS OF MEDICAL STUDENTS ON
THE CADAVERIC DISSECTION IN GROSS ANATOMY
Discussion
The majority of our study subjects reported their recollection of
the dissection experience as largely positive, which corresponds to
other reports that used similar research techniques (O’Carroll et al.,
2002; Smith and Mathias, 2010). Overall, both groups in the present
study reported more positive than negative perceptions, similar to
other reports (Dempster et al., 2006; Mulu and Tegabu, 2012). In
our study, and as reported before by others, a minority of students
experienced some adverse consequences like nausea (Dempster
et al., 2006). Negative feelings include fear and nausea which
decrease over time (Mulu and Tegabu, 2012). The few students who
reported high-stress levels were most probably under academic
stress rather than emotional stress (Evans and Fitzgibbon, 1992) or
it may have been due to chemical odors and eye irritations (Mulu
and Tegabu, 2012).
Despite cultural disparities among the students, both groups
(cultural and non-cultural) agreed that only a little cultural
consideration should be part of the gross anatomy course. This
may be a characteristic of the “melting pot” phenomenon in the
United States, where social forces of culture and religion can have
effects that bring people together for cooperative success, while
cultivating inherent positive attitudes and perceptions regarding
important subjects like dissection in medicine.
It appears that the student populations in the present study,
like the majority of students applying to medical school, were
somewhat prepared for the dissection experience (Evans and
Fitzgibbon, 1992). Indeed, students applying to medical schools
in the US perform shadowing or community work that can lay
the foundation for such an exposure (Dempster et al., 2006),
and if not, simply showing a movie or images of what to expect
in the dissection room can be enough to decrease the first-time
anxiety (Arráez-Aybar et al., 2004; Dempster et al., 2006). Prior
experience with exposure to prosections was also shown to be
effective in reducing the stress of first exposure (Böckers et al.,
2012). A study of students at Mayo Medical School that assessed
whether the assistance of a 3rd year medical student on the first
day of anatomy dissection decreased the physical and emotional
stress among 1st year medical students showed that students had
significantly fewer negative physical reactions and reported lower
levels of anxiety when having an upperclassman at the dissection
table (Houwink et al., 2004). A discussion of death and dying with
students was also found to be helpful in this regard (Druce and
Johnson,1994; Tschernig et al., 2000), as was encouraging students
to name their cadaver and providing more information to them