Examination of the attitudes of anatomy department faculty members towards cadaver donation in Turkey

The aim of this study is to examine the attitudes of faculty members of the department of Anatomy towards cadaver donation and also to address the existing problems in the procurement of cadavers, which have a very important place in medical education. The survey questions of our study, which was prepared by using qualitative research methods, were created with Google Forms and delivered to anatomists working actively in Turkey via WhatsApp and email. A total of 176 anatomists, 48.3% of whom were female and 51.7% of whom were male, participated in our study. Fisher's Exact Chi-Square Test was used in statistical analysis. It was found that 34.0% of the participants did not donate their bodies as cadaver, and 30.1% did not plan to donate their bodies. According to 63.1% of the participants, there was no effect of religion on their thoughts about donating bodies. In terms of their choice between cadaver donation and organ donation, it was found that 65.3% chose organ donation, while 1.7% chose cadaver donation. It was found that a great majority of the faculty members who participated in the study were aware of the importance of medical education and thought that education could not continue without cadavers and that the methods used instead of cadavers could not replace cadavers. However, it was found that although they thought cadaver could not be replaced, they did not plan to donate bodies. According to our participants, the most important reason for the insufficient number of cadavers is that people are not conscious enough about donation. It was determined that they thought one of the most suitable methods to increase cadaver donation is to raise awareness through media. Another important approach was that they stated they would feel more comfortable conscientiously if the consents of cadavers they used in education were taken before they died. Anatomists have a great responsibility to overcome the existing problems in the procurement of cadavers. Anatomists' donating their bodies by being aware of the importance of cadavers will both increase awareness and also be a big step for medical education.