Use of Cadavers for Procedural Education in the Didactic Curriculum

This session demonstrates a unique utilization of human cadavers to teach procedural skills during the didactic phase. ARC-PA requires PA programs to include procedural skills training in their curricula.1 In a 2018 survey, 33.8% of certified PAs reported that “performing procedures is a service provided to most patients.”2 Studies have shown that medical students feel unprepared to perform medical procedures upon graduation.3 Our program’s graduate surveys contain similar sentiments: graduates desired more procedural skills instruction during the didactic phase. We hypothesize that our innovative cadaver-based procedural workshop will improve student confidence in performing procedures as they enter clinical rotations and clinical practice. Our procedural skills training includes a cadaver workshop during the Emergency Medicine course, near the end of the didactic phase. The students observe procedural demonstrations performed by skilled PAs, then engage in supervised procedural practice. We selected procedures commonly performed by PAs in Primary Care and Emergency Medicine: digital block, joint aspiration/injection, tube thoracostomy, cricothyroidotomy, and trigger finger injection. This method allows students to develop the psychomotor skill of performing procedures in a safe, low-pressure setting, where mistakes can be corrected without potential harm to a patient. Procedural practice on cadavers is more realistic than other methods of instruction, such as models, manikins, or computer simulations. 4 Student feedback regarding the workshop was overwhelmingly positive, with multiple students stating it was the highlight of the course. A cadaver-based workshop is an opportunity for PA programs to expand their procedural instruction using currently available resources. Our presentation will begin with 5 minutes of small group discussion, during which each attendee will outline their program’s current methods of procedural education. We will then present our cadaver-based approach, including pictures and videos taken during the workshop. We will incorporate student feedback, particularly how the workshop contributed to their confidence and preparedness for clinical rotations. The presentation will close with our ideas for expanding this workshop in the future, followed by a 10-minute question and answer session.At the end of the session, attendees should be able to:Explore commonly-used methods of teaching clinical proceduresOutline steps to create a cadaver-based procedural skills workshopEvaluate the advantages of cadavers in procedural educatio