title: Reactions of first-year medical students to cadaver dissection and their perception on learning methods in anatomy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to investigate the reactions of medical students to cadaver dissection and their preferred learning methods in studying anatomy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were 110 first-year medical students 57 from a pre-medical course and 53 from the graduate entry level. A self-reported questionnaire survey was used to assess students' emotional and physical reactions to their encounters with cadavers in the dissecting room and their preferred teaching and learning methods and materials. Frequency, paired t-test, and cross-sectional analyses were conducted.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most students experienced negative physical symptoms, such as eye soreness (72%), mile headache or dizziness (40%), headache (18%), decrease in appetite (17%), nausea (15%), and disgust (10%), in the first encounter with a cadaver in the dissection room. They also experienced adverse emotional responses, such as surprise (38%), depression (37%), sadness (23%), fear (23%) and feelings of guilt (19%), anxiety (17%), and crying (2.7%). However, most of these reactions decreased significantly 8 weeks later, except for nausea. Regarding teaching and learning methods, students reported that lectures and cadaver dissections were the most helpful methods in studying anatomy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results shows that initial encounters with a cadaver in the dissecting room caused emotional and physical distress to first-year medical students, but most students adapted gradually to the stressful learning environment. In addition, students regarded cadaver dissection as one of the most helpful learning experiences in studying anatomy.
authors: Department of Medical Education, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors: Young Hee
authors: YH
authors: Lee
authors: Department of Medical Education, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors: Young-Mee
authors: YM
authors: Lee
authors: Department of Anatomy, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors: Soonwook
authors: S
authors: Kwon
authors: Sun-Hwa
authors: SH
authors: Park
keywords: Anatomy; Dissection; Medical student; Perception; Reaction