107 - Reflection on Whole-body-Dissection as a Mechanism for Personal and Professional Development

Poster Board Number: 107
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Abstract Body : Introduction/Objective: A holistic approach to anatomy education encompasses the humanistic, empathetic, and often “hidden” aspects of the learning environment in addition to the formal acquisition of content knowledge. This approach often focuses on promoting non-traditional discipline-independent skills (NTDIS) such as empathy, professionalism, and emotional intelligence. While a lack of certain NTDIS has been attributed to medical errors in surgery, few anatomy curricula formally evaluate the impact of a holistic approach to human anatomy on professional development. Therefore, we designed the First Patient Project (FPP) as a component of a pre-professional undergraduate anatomy course to formally integrate NTDIS as a pathology- and humanism-focused project to enable students to explore through reflection their developing sense of professionalism, empathy, gratitude, and emotional intelligence. Therefore, the aim of this multi-method study was to explore the impact of the FPP on the students personal and professional development.

Material and Method: Participants included students (n=59) from three cohorts (Spring 2020; Spring and Fall 2022) who enrolled in a dissection-based gross anatomy course. All students completed five reflections as part of their course grade, where they reflected on their understanding of self and their first patient: on the first day of lab and after each of four course units. Students also submitted four patient reports regarding impacts of pathology and evidence of lifestyle which culminated in a final presentation of their collective efforts. The 2022 cohorts also completed a voluntary survey exploring their perceptions of the FPP, with 10 Likert items and 4 free response items. Thematic analysis of all written reflections and free responses was conducted using the framework method. Descriptive statistics was performed on Likert items.

Results: Three themes were identified to encompass the impacts of the FPP on professional development and include: Socialization, Humanistic Qualities, and Content and Skills. Socialization encompassed their initial encounters with the donor via experiential learning, shared experience, and reflection upon those experiences to develop a community of practice; humanistic qualities allowed students to reconcile the dissection through introspection of pathology to develop a holistic perspective of donor dissection; and content and skills manifested as both anatomic knowledge and NTDIS acquisition. The survey demonstrated all respondents (n=13) agreed the FPP enabled them to develop a sense of respect, humanize the donor, and promote camaraderie among dissection team, thus corroborating the results of the thematic analysis.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates a formal focus on humanism in gross anatomy can promote professional socialization through conscious self-reflection of the students experiences with mentors and the donor dissection experience. Furthermore, the project aided in the acquisition and development of NTDIS such as respect and empathy.

Significance/Implication: Building a community of educators who model humanistic and empathetic professional qualities in the context of a dissection course, and who using pathology as a point of self-reflection, will expand opportunities for socialization and the development of nascent NTDIS in learners.