Perceptions of medical student regarding the use of cadavers for medical education in Turkey

Aim: The aim of our study is determine the perceptions of medical school students and what kind of approach they have adopted for use cadavers in medical education. Method: 19 expression was used for students' perception of cadavers and determine the approaches on the use of cadaver training in a data collection form which is desired to give one to five points according to the degree of adopt from students. The data collection form used by Ögenler et al before, had used was revized by us. And it was performed to 511 second grade students in eight different medical schools in the Aegean Region. The collected data has been assessed at the average and standard deviation and t test and chi-square tests have been used to compute the subgroups. The approval of ethical committee has been obtained for this study. Results: 511 students were participated in this research, and the data were analyzed on the only 492 form. 92% of respondents have been used cadavers in anatomy education. 57% of participants are female and most participants are from Adnan Menderes University with 23%. The opinion which is adopted by most of the participants "Human is valuable asset. Therefore; value and respectmust be given to the human body. While person was both alive or afterdeath" (4,27 ± 1,04). At least adopted opinion " Whatever the purposes are, a dead person's body shouldn't be used for training" (1,90 ± 0,86). Within the framework of the right to privacy, to cover the face of cadaver during the dissection is a humanitarian curtousy (p=0,008). During the dissection-demonstration, cadaver is only an object. Cadaver is supposed to be adopted and seen only as an object (p=0,012). Students who have received training with human cadaver has adopted much more than students have received training without human cadavers all of the above opinions. On the contrary, students who have received training with human cadaver don't have adopted opinion " The studies on cadavers do not provide a significan contribution to the medical students in terms of improving their medical-surgical skills" much more than students have received training without human cadavers (p=0,010). And It is unnecessary to attribute an extreme value to the cadavers who have completed the training function. Males adopted this opinion more than females (p=0,035). Conclusion: Medical school students regard to cadavers for in terms of human aspect and value and attribute to him a special value in terms of contribute to education. Students working on cadavers in anatomy education see cadaver as an educational material is the dominant trend. Students respect cadaver as the body of a dead person and the issues related with its use as an education material are considered partially different from the anatomists. Key words: Anatomy, Medical Education, Cadaver, Perception of Students, Ethic