Cadaver dissection:attitude and perception of its importance among medical and health science students in learning anatomy

Introduction: Anatomy continues to be an important basic subject in medicine and other related health sciences which is delivered by method of either through lectures or demonstration. Thus, having a gross anatomy practical with cadaver is a crucial phase for the students to have a deep understanding about anatomy of human body. The objective of this study is to explore the attitude and perception of medical and health science students in the importance of cadaver dissection in learning anatomy. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted by distributing closed structured questionnaires to 270 respondents consisting of socio-demographic in part one, frequency on practical with dissected cadaver in part two, the attitude of student towards the dissected cadaver in part three, suggestion for improvement during practical with cadaver in part four and the value of cadavers during practical in part five. The collected data were processed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0. Result: Descriptive statistical evaluation shows majority of the students perform practical with cadavers. They find cadaveric dissection exciting with no feeling of stress and anxiety. Many of them never had an emotional shock when exposing themselves to the cadavers for the first time accepting the cadaveric dissection ethically. The students recommended keeping cadaveric dissection in the health science curriculum. Conclusion: The cadaveric dissection helps in grounded understanding of anatomy. It promotes and develops psychomotor skills in students. The findings of the study discovered dissection to be a motivating tool in learning anatomy.