DEMONSTRATION

POSTER

The Cadaver as the First Patient: The Cadaver Medical History Project.

Thomas R. Gest
University of Michigan Medical School
Presented by G. Durka-Pelok

ABSTRACT:

During the dissection exercises performed by our first year medical students for the gross anatomy course, the cadavers often reveal evidence of previous clinical procedures and unsuspected pathologies, variations, and anomalies. Such findings can be very interesting for the student, but interpretation of these findings may be difficult without a medical history. We felt that medical histories of our body donors could add significantly to student understanding of the correlation between anatomy and medical practice.

Beginning three months prior to the fall medical gross anatomy course, medical records of the cadavers to be used for dissection were collected. These medical records were summarized and organized into a database that is accessible within the gross anatomy laboratories through the lab computer network. A gross lab map provides easy, intuitive access to the medical history of the cadaver on any dissection table. The cadaver medical history database is organized into three "pages": "Medical Record", "Surface Anatomy", and "Dissection Notes", the latter of which is editable by the students.

The Medical Record page displays two panels of information harvested and distilled from medical histories: "Pathology & Variations" and "Procedures". Surface Anatomy presents the results of a visual inspection of the body for scars, bruises, and variations or deformities. The Dissection Notes page allows students to enter notes concerning their findings during dissection. The database has flexible and intuitive search capabilities, so that students may easily locate a body displaying a certain pathology, variation, or procedure. By allowing students to view and add to the donor records, students' powers of observation and perception of the cadaver as their first patient, rather than an inanimate object, are heightened and encouraged.

BENEFIT TO PARTICIPANTS ATTENDING SESSION:  

Our presentation on cadaver medical histories may stimulate others to create similar techniques of bringing clinical relevance into basic medical science course.

Thomas R. Gest
Division of Anatomical Sciences
Office of Medical Education
University of Michigan Medical School
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0608
Phone: 734-764-4389
Fax: 734-615-8191
Email: gest@umich.edu
Website: http://www.med.umich.edu/anatomy/

CO-AUTHORS:
S. Anilesh, W. Burkel, G. Durka-Pelok, D. Kay, A. Raoof University of Michigan Medical School