School of Medicine

Department of Cell Biology & Anatomy

Course Description
 

This course consists of lectures and a laboratory where students in groups of four dissect an entire embalmed cadaver.  The course is divided into three Units.  Unit 1 consists of the Back, Upper Extremity and Chest.  The second Unit is Head and Neck.  Unit 3 is comprised of the Abdomen, Perineum, Pelvis and Lower Extremity.

The objectives of this course are to provide the first year medical students the opportunity to learn the foundations of medicine and to introduce them to aspects of professionalism.  The students learn the basic concepts of anatomy and the clinical applications of such concepts.

Didactic lectures and the dissection of a cadaver are supplemented by clinical correlations and hands-on exercises conducted by clinicians in different specialties.  A radiologist from the community gives six lectures on imaging of the different areas of the body.  A physician-surgeon who is a member of our teaching staff presents a weekly clinical survey of important clinical issues related to the area of dissection for the week.

There are Cadaver Procedure Labs in which each student has the opportunity to perform emergency procedures such as lumbar puncture, oral intubation, insertion of thoracostomy tubes and urethral catheterization.  Members of the Department of Orthopeadics perform demonstrations of dissections of the major joints of the upper and lower extremities.  These are broadcast live to the students on the new flat screen monitors located throughout the Gross Anatomy Lab.  Faculty and residents of the Department of Otololaryngology instruct each of the students in performing an emergency cricothyrotomy on their cadaver.

In summary, a significant part of this course is designed to demonstrate to the students the clinical importance of the anatomy they are learning.