The value of postmortem experience in undergraduate medical education: current perspectives

Advances in Medical Education and Practice
Andrew R Bamber, Thelma A Quince

Abstract

The autopsy has traditionally been used as a tool in undergraduate medical education, but recent decades have seen a sharp decline in their use for teaching. This study reviewed the current status of the autopsy as a teaching tool by means of systematic review of the medical literature, and a questionnaire study involving UK medical schools. Teachers and students are in agreement that autopsy-based teaching has many potential benefits, including a deeper knowledge of basic clinical sciences, medical fallibility, end of life issues, audit and the "hidden curriculum". The reasons underlying the decline in teaching are complex, but include the decreasing autopsy rate, increasing demands on teachers' time, and confusion regarding the law in some jurisdictions. Maximal use of autopsies for teaching may be achieved by involvement of anatomical pathology technologists and trainee pathologists in teaching, the development of alternative teaching methods using the principles of the autopsy, and clarification of the law. Students gain most benefit from repeated attendance at autopsies, being taught by enthusiastic teachers, when they have been effectively prepared for the esthetic of dissection and the mortuary environment.

Citations

Jun 18, 2016·Teaching and Learning in Medicine·Guenevere RaeWilliam Swartz
Nov 28, 2017·Journal of Forensic Nursing·Emily J Cannon, Renee N Bauer
May 12, 2018·Virchows Archiv : an International Journal of Pathology·Philip EichhornTilman T Rau
Dec 7, 2018·Pediatric Critical Care Medicine : a Journal of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies·Claire Stewart, Richard J Brilli
Jun 11, 2019·Medicine, Science, and the Law·Arjun TandonAbhishek Tandon
Oct 13, 2017·Anatomical Sciences Education·Guenevere RaeJeffrey Green
Dec 10, 2020·Journal of Clinical Pathology·Massimo RuggeFranco Locatelli
Mar 18, 2021·Anatomical Sciences Education·Lasse PakanenPhilippe Lunetta
Aug 17, 2021·SAGE Open Medicine·Anders RosendahlLennart C Eriksson

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