Dissection Versus Prosection: a Comparison of Laboratory Practical Examinations
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SHORT COMMUNICATION
Dissection Versus Prosection: a Comparison of Laboratory Practical Examinations Mehak Aziz 1 & Edward T. Kernick 2 & Gary L. Beck Dallaghan 3
&
Kurt O. Gilliland 3
# International Association of Medical Science Educators 2019
Abstract There is insufficient evidence supporting complete dissection as essential for medical student education. Due to physical constraints, we employed a hybrid teaching method. Gross anatomy practical examinations from two medical student classes were analyzed to determine performance on dissected versus student-prosected material. Overall, student performance on questions pertaining to personally dissected material was similar to performance on questions learned by studying studentprosected material. We found dissection time can be reduced without impacting medical student examination performance. Keywords Dissection . Prosection . Medical students . Anatomy
Introduction For centuries, cadaveric dissection held a central role in the student doctor’s investigation of the human body and its pathology [1]. In recent decades, the need for medical students to perform cadaveric dissections has been reevaluated [2–4]. There is a nationwide trend in medical schools to decrease the time spent in dissection for various reasons including a general decrease in qualified anatomy instructors, a desire to maximize resource allotments, the introduction of new computer simulation models as teaching tools, and space constraints [5]. Additionally, the explosion of knowledge in the basic sciences is constantly putting pressure on medical schools to compress aspects of their curricula [4, 6]. There is widespread debate in the literature as to which anatomy teaching methods are most effective [7, 8]. Some argue that complete cadaver dissection by all students is the best approach to learning gross anatomy [9–12] while others
* Gary L. Beck Dallaghan [email protected] 1
Department of Ophthalmology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
2
Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
3
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, 108 Taylor Hall, CB 7321, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
have implemented programs in which students learn solely from bodies already dissected by faculty [13, 14]. Another common teaching method is a combination of dissection and “student-prosection,” a method of peer-teaching anatomy [6, 7, 15, 16]. A prosection is the dissection of a cadaver by an experienced anatomist in order to demonstrate for students anatomic structure, but in this study, the onus was on the student group to perform and demonstrate the dissection to the other student group. There are various other teaching methods including computer-assisted learning, case studies, surface anatomy, and radiological imaging sessions that are used to different degrees by programs across the country [4, 17]. Over the last two decades, anatomical education at UNC has undergone curricula
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