Emotional reactions of medical students to dissecting human bodies: a conceptual approach and its evaluation.

In recent years, the medical curriculum has been changed in many institutions worldwide. New concepts such as problem-based or evidence-based learning have consequences for teaching anatomy (Drake, 1998). Various papers have been published, for example, on the effects of self-directed learning on teaching anatomy (Peplow, 1990), small group case-based learning programs (Hansen and Krackov, 1994; Peplow, 1992), multiple choice testing in anatomy (Nnodim, 1992), or using computerized representations of anatomy (Rosse, 1995; Walsh and Bohn, 1990). Dissection has also been compared with prosection (Nnodim, 1990). In other articles, the hours available for teaching anatomy have been compared between medical schools in Great Britain, and aspects of teacher training for anatomists have been discussed (Fitzgerald, 1992). One aspect, however, has seldom been discussed (Putz, 1999) and has rarely been the subject of scientific interest. How do we prepare our young medical students to touch and dissect a human body? Irrespective of whether it is the classical dissection course or problem-based learning using prosected material, it will probably be the first time that students will come into close contact with a dead body and thus be confronted with issues of dying and death. Articles on this topic have been published in journals but not often read by anatomists (Bertman and Marks, 1985; Horne et al., 1990). In our experience, the vast majority of first year medical students have seldom had contact with dying relatives or friends, nor have they actually seen a dead person.