EFFECTS OF CADAVER DISSECTION ON THE ATTITUDES OF MEDICAL-STUDENTS

A study was conducted to determine whether the attitudes of medical st udents to death and caring changed during the 3 months following expos ure to cadaver dissection. All first-year students were invited to com plete a questionnaire immediately before their initial cadaver dissect ion experience, after 6 weeks, and after a further 3 months. The quest ionnaire reflected attitudes to death, violent death, death of someone known to the respondent and caring when someone known to the responde nt is seriously injured. Ethnicity and previous exposure to dying has no effect on responses, but overall men students' reactions were signi ficantly less than for women (P < 0.001). The responses given on the f inal part of the questionnaire after 3 months were significantly lower than those to most questions in the first part of the questionnaire. The exceptions were those questions where the subject in the given sce nario was known to the respondent, where reactions were rated signific antly greater (P < 0.001) in the follow-up questionnaire and can be ex plained on the basis that they were a personal referent. Students rapi dly develop a coping mechanism which enables them to view cadaver diss ection as an occupation quite divorced from living human beings. Durin g these early months of training solicitude decreases for those who di e who are unknown to them, but concern for personal referents increase s. Educators should be aware of the dramatic change of attitudes among students and the process of professionalization which might influence their caring of future patients.