Gross Anatomy Plays Important Role in Medical Students’ Education
HOUSTON–(Aug. 21, 2007)–Two by two, the first-year medical students descended a series of steps and lit their candles before placing them in a neat row on a table covered with a long white tablecloth.
Against the background of instrumental music during this memorial service, the gross anatomy students paid their respects to 31 individuals who played a unique role in their education at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
In fact, without the donated bodies, these medical students would not be as prepared to someday take care of their patients.
“You can’t get as good an education if you don’t have access to cadavers for gross anatomy,” said Len Cleary, Ph.D., senior lecturer and course director of gross anatomy and director of the Human Structure Facility. “The problem for medical schools is that all programs have anatomy courses and all have to be supplied with cadavers. The situation around the state is that the number of donations for the willed body program is decreasing.”
A year ago, the class at the memorial service was being introduced to their cadavers. Yesterday, Monday, Aug. 20, a new class began that journey into the human body in a way that no amount of technological wizardry can replicate.
“You can only do so much with a computer. To train properly, there is no substitute for a cadaver,” said Eric Reichman, Ph.D., M.D., director of the Surgical and Clinical Skills Center and associate professor of emergency medicine. “Some medical schools are supplementing cadavers with computers and reducing the number of cadavers, but it’s not good–especially for spatial training. You can look at a cadaver and see where a muscle starts and ends and what’s around it. You need to be able to see it 3-D and feel it.”
One of the candle holders, Mauricio Salicru, was among students who allowed KTRK-TV to document their experiences last year as a way to tell the public about the importance of the willed body program. Other team members were Kyler Barkley, Kathleen Hayes, Joseph Childs, Harrison Epps, Catherine McCoy, Margaret Ryan Markham and David Straughan. For months, a television crew, including health reporter Christi Myers, watched and interviewed the students during days when major organs, including the brain and heart, were removed and studied.
“One of the most mysterious things that people ask about is gross anatomy,” Adam Dao, class president, said in his closing remarks at the memorial. “There’s really no way to explain it. You just have to experience it for yourself.”
The memorial service is a tradition but not required. If students want to do it, they take on the responsibility of planning it. Taylor Wootton, who organized last February’s memorial, said 50 students were involved in its planning, including musicians Jamie Gautreau, Ryan Tatum, Enjoli Benitez and Arielle DuBose. Synda Vandenmooter, accompanied on the piano by Benitez, sang Angel by Sara McLaughlin just before students lit their candles.
“We are here to reflect upon the amazing opportunity afforded us as medical students to peer into the human body,” Wootton said in her remarks at the memorial. “And to remember the remarkable gift given by these precious people, who when their time on earth was through, continued to contribute to humanity.”
The people who willed their bodies to the program, Wootton said, “would tell us to go forth and become great physicians. Not average, not just competent, but exceptional, compassionate physicians who will do our best to improve the quality of life of our patients.”
Cleary and Wootton said the memorial is a way for the students to deal with the issue of death and the challenges they will face as physicians.
“It’s crucial to understanding that medicine is not just facts, it’s a humanistic endeavor,” Cleary said.
Wootten said, “This service is really an opportunity to reflect once again on the human aspects of what we’ve done and to come to peace with what we took part in last semester.”
The state shortage of willed bodies, Cleary said, is due in part to out-of-state tissue companies who recruit for donated bodies in hospices and nursing homes. Private companies will sometimes offer financial incentives to the deceased person’s family. UT-Houston does not pay for cadavers, but does provide transportation and cremation. Ashes are scattered in the Gulf of Mexico.
“I hope people will realize they can make a very powerful, altruistic gesture by donating their body to the program,” Cleary said.
To learn more about the willed body program, please call 713-500-5603 or visit http://nba.uth.tmc.edu/willedbody/index.htm.