Importance of a single observation of dissected cadavers for nursing students

• Published in: Structure and Function Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 12 - 21
• Main Authors: Kawamata, Seiichi, Aoyama, Hirohiko, Kurose, Tomoyuki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: Co-medical Research Society of Structure and Function 07.09.2015
• Subjects: anatomy practice; cadaver; education; health professional; nursing student
• ISSN: 1347-7145; 1884-6084
• DOI: 10.11172/keitaikinou.14.12

This study surveyed the educational effects of a single observation of dissected cadavers (observation practice). Before the observation practice, nursing students were requested to draw contours of various human anatomical structures on a sheet of paper, corresponding as closely as possible to their actual sizes. After the observation practice, the students were requested again to draw new contours of these structures. The students were also asked about their subjective impressions of the actual sizes of various organs compared with the sizes they had imagined. The heart, ascending aorta, lung and liver were usually larger than they had imagined. In contrast, the trachea, spinal cord and uterus were generally smaller. The spinal cord was almost always drawn very large before, and occasionally after, the observation practice. The largest diameters of drawings before and after the observation practice, respectively, were as follows: the heart, 92.7±14.5 vs. 105.8±16.3 mm (mean±SD, n=187); the ascending aorta, 17.3±8.1 vs. 26.4±6.3 mm (n=185); the trachea, 22.9±10.1 vs. 18.1±6.7 mm (n=184); and the spinal cord, 41.4±28.1 vs. 13.4±10.3 mm (n=111). This study clearly demonstrated that the majority of nursing students had misunderstandings about the sizes of various human anatomical structures, either smaller or larger, and observation practice was very useful to correct such misunderstandings. Presumably, these educational effects could also be expected for other health professional students. Observation practice is very useful as shown above; however, a considerable proportion of Japanese nursing students have few opportunities to access dissected cadavers. Taking anatomical and other educational effects into consideration, exposure to cadaveric materials should be more widely conducted, at least once for nursing students, and probably also for other health professional students, in a manner depending on the needs of their specialties.