Cadaver based Gross Anatomy

Just out of curiosity, how many of you have taken undergraduate gross anatomy or advanced anatomy in a cadaver based program vs. plastic models and picture books. Im majoring in biology at a small state college in UT and we have cadaver based programs including a senior level disectional course (which I'm taking right now). Is this as odd at the undergraduate level as they would have us beleive. Figured I'd ask others in the trenches. Thanks all.

QUOTE (spongemonkey @ Sep 2 2003, 09:53 PM)
Just out of curiosity, how many of you have taken undergraduate gross anatomy or advanced anatomy in a cadaver based program vs. plastic models and picture books. Im majoring in biology at a small state college in UT and we have cadaver based programs including a senior level disectional course (which I'm taking right now). Is this as odd at the undergraduate level as they would have us beleive. Figured I'd ask others in the trenches. Thanks all.

Hi there,
Dissecting cadavers is not at all rare at the undergraduate level if facilities and proper staff are available. Howard had undergraduate anatomy classes that use cadavers. I also had cadavers at Mary Washington College when I was an undergraduate there too.
When human remains are involved, there are lots of state regulations that govern storage and disposal. At Howard and MWC, we had several liscenced morticians on staff to insure that these regulations were carried out. Many colleges do not go to such expense but those who have medical schools, dental schools will have dieners and the like to take care of the cadavers. Sometimes these services can be provided for colleges by an outside contractor.
Natalie

I don't think getting experience on cadavers at the undergrad level is that unusual. My school gets 4 of them every year (3 in the fall, the 4th for spring time) for their anatomy and physiology course. We have a very reputable nursing program though in addition to the biology program it's listed under. I wish we had an upper level dissection course! That would have been fun! We had the opportunity to come in on the day the lab instructors/lecture prof dissected and help out if we wanted to tho during the fall at least.
–Jessica, UCCS

Wow. Cool! I always thought only medical schools would have cadavers. Guess I was wrong. I wish I had taken anatomy when I was an undergrad (if this had been the case at my alma mater)…but that was before the pre-med bug bit me. laugh.gif
Love,
Stacy

I had cadavers in my undergrad A&P class at the university of NM and there were also cadavers at Central Washington Univ where I got my masters at. Interestingly, there the PE department had the cadavers. The grad students in exercise science did the dissections and the undergrads would then use the cadavers for reference.

I had a 6 semester hour anatomy class as an undergraduate nursing major, at a small private Catholic college in Iowa ( Mount Mercy College). We did all of our own dissections. The class was awesome! We spent mega hours in the lab dissecting, reviewing or presenting, but it was worth every minute. My physiology course was a separate 4 hour course. I feel very fortunate to have had this opportunity.
Even anatomy courses in medical schools vary widely. wink.gif

i took human anat with cadavers (prosected) in the mid-70's and TA'd the course a term or two later. you can learn alot. they also offered a prosection course that I didn't take. But this was as a pre-physical therapy human anat course- not the pre-nursing A&P. Recently, my previous comm coll began to offer an anatomy/dissection course - once they worked out the storage issues.

I imagine that its got to be pretty expensive… I know in Maryland at the State Anatomy Board, you can go into their lab and extract organs from fresh cadavers (deceased in the last 24 hours). I know the state anatomy board supplies 4 or 5 med schools in the area including USUHS, UMaryland, and Hopkins.
Each organ extraction costs $100, so you can do the math to find out how much it is for the whole body.
I'm surprised that the undergrad gross anatomy classes dont put a big surcharge on the class due to the expense involved. I imagine its not going to be cheap to get an intact cadaver, no matter which part of the country you are in.