Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine - Marshall University, Huntington, WV

GENERAL COMMENTS

Course

The lecture sequence follows as closely as practical the laboratory sequence. Lectures are designed to:

explain selected anatomic concepts and details illustrated in a particular region,
aid students in the identification of structures to be visualized in the lab
emphasize relationships and structures of clinical importance, and
explain how certain structures and/or relationships develop embryologically.

Several times throughout the semester, clinicians give presentations concerning some aspect of the region under consideration. These lectures contribute to the above listed functions and emphasize the value of anatomy to the practice of medicine. Material from these clinical lectures may be included on examinations.

Please visit the Gross Anatomy home page at: http://musom.marshall.edu/anatomy/grosshom/course_info.html

Laboratory

Cadavers must be treated with respect at all times! You are the beneficiary of a gift to assist you in your development as a physician. The Gross Anatomy Laboratory is a restricted area and the Rules and Regulations of the West Virginia Anatomical Board STRICTLY apply to this laboratory. Read these Rules and Regulations carefully (Gross Anatomy home page and posted in the laboratory). You are expected to attend and actively participate in each laboratory period you are assigned. A schedule will be posted in the laboratory after you have signed up for the dissections (see page 10).

NO CADAVER MATERIAL IS TO BE REMOVED FROM THE LABORATORY! PHOTOGRAPHY (digital or conventional) IS PROHIBITED!

Any potential visitors to the gross anatomy laboratory MUST be cleared in advance and in writing by Dr. Rhoten. Only persons with some health care background and a legitimate reason for being in the laboratory will be considered for granting access. Requests for permission for entry to the laboratory must be made in writing to Dr. Rhoten. If an unauthorized person enters the dissection laboratory, ask them to leave and notify Mr. Cook or one of the instructors.

Laboratory coats with long-sleeves, name tags and gloves are to be worn at all times. It is recommended that you wear eye glasses or other protective eyewear, e.g., safety goggles. Wearers of contact lenses, especially soft lenses, may experience some additional eye discomfort; therefore, students who wear contacts may want to wear their eye glasses in the lab. Open-toed shoes or sandals are not allowed because of the possibility of a foot being impaled by a dropped sharp instrument.

If you cut yourself, remain calm and immediately see the Anatomy Laboratory Instructor Assistant, Mr. Cook. A superficial cut may be treated by rinsing the cut very well under running water and applying antiseptic and an adhesive bandage. After hours, a first aid kit can be found in the upper right drawer on the white-board side of the center island table. Deeper cuts may require you to go to the VA Hospital Emergency Room and complete an accident report.

Cadaver material to be discarded MUST be placed in the plastic tissue pails at your table and transferred to the labeled tissue receptacles (Tissue Only), NOT in waste paper baskets (unlabeled). Conversely, waste paper is NOT to be discarded in tissue receptacles.

Drying out is the biggest threat to the condition of your cadaver. Keep your cadaver moist with the preserving fluid in the spray bottles, NOT with tap water. When finished studying cadavers and prosections, be sure to moisten the material and cover it properly with moist towels. Dried out cadaveric material is virtually useless. Refill the spray bottles as needed with the fluid in carboys above the sinks.

Cover the dissection field with the skin at the end of the laboratory. The skin and moist towels retard desiccation.

Treat all skeletal materials and laboratory models with great care. Most are fragile and all are expensive.

DO YOUR SHARE OF A DISSECTION! Actually doing a dissection is an excellent way to learn anatomy. We expect you will be interlocutors with us and each other in the laboratory. When not actually dissecting, assist in the dissection by reading instructions to the dissector, looking for appropriate illustrations in the atlas, and generally paying attention to the dissection in progress. Often, structures are best seen when they are first revealed! Attempt to make aesthetically pleasing dissections. Little is gained from poor dissections.

Maintain the area around your cadaver. Immediately clean up spills with paper towels. The floor becomes extremely slippery with fluid or tissue debris! At the end of a laboratory session, ensure that the area around your table and the prosections is clean.

Study other dissections! This will improve your observation skills and expose you to the wealth of anatomical variation in the human body. Also, you will be asked to identify structures and answer other questions on other cadavers during laboratory exams (practicals). By attending lab during the regularly scheduled hours, you will be able to observe and learn from other cadavers and the various prosections (expertly prepared dissections) that are made available to you during the course.

If you have questions concerning procedure or structures, ask an instructor for assistance. For maximal learning, however, it is beneficial for you to attempt to determine the answer prior to asking for verification.

Spend part of your time in lab studying the examples of non-invasive imaging techniques, such as radiographs, CT and MRI scans, angiography, etc. These images comprise part of the laboratory examinations. A limited number of bone boxes with disarticulated skeletons are available for being signed out – see Mr. Cook if you have a group that wants to borrow a bone box for study.

If you need supplies or have problems related to your cadaver, see Mr. Cook.

Remember that this course provides most of you with the only opportunity you will have to actually see and study most of the structures and relationships that will be important to you in the practice of medicine. Hence, it is important for you to devote as much time to the laboratory as possible. Hopefully, you will be able to acquire an ability to "see in your mind's eye" the anatomy of a region when all you will actually see is the surface of the patient.

Laboratory examinations (practicals) will be based upon those structures listed in Grant's Dissector and dissection lists you will be given. You should be able to identify and briefly discuss these structures as seen in the cadaver, on skeletons and models, and as seen by imaging.

When you are through dissecting for the day:

reposition tissues and structures in their proper anatomical positions
moisten the cadaver
cover all dissected areas with skin flaps
cover the cadaver with the towels
moisten the towels with preserving fluid if needed, but don't flood them
clean and dry your instruments, the table and the surrounding area
close the vault safely and securely
clean, dry and return to the central island any general use equipment

Enter and leave via the south lab door (214B), and make sure doors are kept closed and locked except when entering or leaving the laboratory.

Remember to READ the assigned pages in Grant's Dissector BEFORE CLASS.

DISSECTION EXPERIENCE

hic locus ubi mores gaudet succurrere vitae *

   The dissection laboratory is the place to learn Human Gross Anatomy. If you make full use of the laboratory experience, the amount of time required for outside of class study will be considerably reduced. The material covered in Grant's Dissector represents the syllabus for the gross anatomy course. Your dissection group should always use Grant's Dissector and one or more atlases while carrying out the dissection.

   On Tuesday afternoon (1:45), you will be introduced to the Gross Anatomy Laboratory, receive a key to the laboratory, and complete required forms. You will need to bring a total of $15 (cash or check) to this Introduction to Gross Anatomy laboratory session. This $15 is payment of a $5 laboratory key replacement fee (refundable at end of the first year with return of your key), a $5 usage fee for a skull (non-refundable), and $5 for the rental of 2 dissection kits, atlas and dissector (non-refundable). The skull must be returned before your grade for the course will be submitted to the Registrar.

   As you become acquainted with your fellow students, decide who you are going to work with as dissection partners. Each dissection group of six students must complete a "Dissection Group Assignments" form posted on the bulletin board outside the Gross Anatomy laboratory, 214B Medical Education Building (MEB), and deliver the completed form to Mr. Cook in 214 on or before Tuesday afternoon's, "Introduction to Gross Anatomy" session. It is imperative that each student have a dissection group prior to the first lab on Monday. However, if you do not have a dissection group, we will assign you to one. When you report to the laboratory (214B MEB) at 3 p.m. on Monday, August 15^th, look on the bulletin board for the number of the cadaver vault assigned to your dissection group. This vault contains the cadaver assigned to your dissection group.

   You must provide your own gloves for dissection. Disposable examination gloves are available at the bookstore or from the Department ($6-$8 depending on type). You can purchase these on Tuesday afternoon or during the first lab on Monday.

   Be sure to read the assigned pages of the dissector (1-11) in preparation for the first laboratory!

* here is the place where death enjoys helping life

Notable Quotes:

"What we learn from the dead is for the benefit of the living." unknown

"You will have to learn many tedious things … which you will forget the moment you have passed your final examination, but in anatomy it is better to have learned and lost than never to have learned at all." W. Somerset Maugham, Doctor of Medicine (1874-1965)

"Doctors without anatomy are like moles. They work in the dark and the work of their hands are mounds." Tiedemann (1781-1861)