Physical and emotional impact of cadaver dissection on innovative medical education students: a survey in Ethiopia

Abstract

Objectives: Although many studies have been conducted worldwide to investigate the positive and negative experiences ofthe cadaver room, there is no documented research in medical schools delivering the new innovative medical education(NIME) curriculum which involves teaching students who already receive a bachelor degree in any natural science includinghealth sciences and having at least two years of work experience. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the effect of cadav-er dissection both physically and emotionally on NIME students.Methods: A survey was done on 82 first and second-year NIME students using standard structured questionnaire. The studentswere evaluated according to gender, religion and ethnicity.Results: Students experienced multiple symptoms in the dissection room. The most prevalent physical symptoms were nausea(32%), palpitation (20.7%) and sweating (17.1%). In addition to these, sadness (41.5%), fear (34.1%) and worry (29.3%) weremostly reported emotional experiences. Females were more significantly nervous than males (p=0.03). Students of Oromo eth-nicity reported a significantly higher degree of fainting (p=0.03), dizziness (p=0.02), and palpitation (p=0.02) than other ethnicstudents. Sweating and breathlessness were significantly decreased in year two compared to year one students (p