Dissection: A positive experience

First-year medical students were surveyed by questionnaire to assess levels of stress and physical symptoms resulting from their experience of the ana tomy room. There was a 100% response rate from the 188 students. Most stude nts (95%) found the prospect of their first visit to the anatomy room excit ing. A small number initially experienced physical symptoms, but these had improved significantly 10 weeks later. Most students suffered very little o r no stress (80%) on their first visit with only 2% of respondents rating t heir stress levels as high. Ten weeks later, 87% experienced little or no s tress with only 1% stating that they had high stress levels. The anatomy ro om was rated to be less stressful than workload and assessments. Students r eported that the anatomy room provoked thoughts of mortality, and 27% sugge sted that there should be more preparation before the first visit to the an atomy room. Our findings support previous studies suggesting that American/ Canadian students in particular find anatomy stressful. However, the wisdom of interpreting adverse reactions as symptomatic of post-traumatic stress disorder is questioned. This study shows the anatomy room to be a positive learning experience for the students of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ir eland. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.