Benefits of Using Cadavers in Surgical Training
With the pressure of public awareness towards surgical competence, surgical training continues to emerge complexities. To be a successful surgeon, one must be technically proficient as well as diligently meticulous. Cadaver training offers medical students the necessary components needed to become a well-trained surgeon.
Cadaver training offers many benefits to medical students. When properly used, cadavers mimic the human anatomy. Some say the cadaver is the first patient medical students will operate on. Relying on cadavers as instructional instruments rather than using diagrams or slides, allows students to firsthand experience the uniqueness that exists from person to person. Most importantly, it helps a novice experience the unexpected variant of the human anatomy. Through cadaveric dissections, students have the opportunity to see anatomical variations, anomalies and pathological findings. Many human bodies are quite similar but also quite different. For instance, an older individual may have firmer tissue than a younger individual. This may result in a surgeon using different tools or approaching a surgery using a different technique. The variety of cadavers allows students to understand the depth and features of body systems. When dissections and prosecutions are used as part of anatomical teaching, it helps medical students visualize the relevant anatomical structures. The spatial relationship between the structures is much easier to understand after having a complete view of the area, rather than only seeing it in on dimension.
Students will also see the effects of disease firsthand. Pathological processes as well as patients’ past traumas can affect the surgery at hand. Lastly, cadaver training offers students the practical experience of medical procedures before stepping foot into an operating room. They will have the capability of stitching human skin together and cutting through muscle with cadaver training. It would be inhumane if the first body a surgeon operates on is a real person. Medical students must master the craft of surgeries like appendectomies on cadavers before performing their first real surgery.
Unfortunately, some medical schools have eliminated cadaver models altogether since cadaver dissection is very time consuming compared to computer stimulation. However, many studies have shown that medical education with cadaver training has resulted in better surgeons. Medical students were clearly able to identify the correct body parts which resulted in better marks than surgeons who were only afforded computer technologies. Additionally, the actual dissections of cadaver enhanced medical student’s learning techniques.
Most medical students think of anatomy as solely a memorization technique. But once they practice on a cadaver, some may realize that anatomy is more about understanding concepts and thinking critically and purposefully. Students have a better appreciation for visualizing the human body in three dimensions and assess the physiology and the pathology at hand rather than purely memorizing the organ they will be operating on.
Cadaver training is critical to advancing science. Most surgeons experience their desire to be a surgeon once they have their first cadaveric dissection. Cadaveric teaching should never be replaced in a school’s curriculum, but always act as a supplement to medical education.
