Abstract
The new technologies available for teaching anatomy and the shortage of human bodies for anatomy classes in Brazil make it necessary to discuss the use of bodies in anatomy education nowadays. Thus, this study aims to assess the views of health sciences university students about the use of human bodies in practical anatomy classes. Students were asked to fill out an online questionnaire about the use of bodies in anatomy teaching and its impact on their academic training. Two different questionnaires were applied to two groups of students based on their experience with dissection in the course of gross human anatomy. The questionnaires were available from July, 2013 to August, 2014. A total of 723 students from 83 universities around Brazil participated in the study. Of those, 53% had never performed human dissection, among which 96% think that dissecting a body might improve their anatomical knowledge. Among those who had performed dissection, 0,3% agree that dissection could be replaced by virtual training in 3‐dimension models, and 89% believe that dissecting made it easier to learn anatomy. Of all the students who participated in the study, 94% believe that the use of human bodies is essential in anatomy education and 89% disagree that the learning of anatomy using only anatomical models is enough. Finally, 93% believe that anatomical models complement but do not replace the use of human bodies in anatomy classes. Data analysis showed that students believe that the use of bodies has a positive impact on their learning of anatomy and on the quality of their academic training. Moreover, the students' opinions might reflect their will to learn anatomy using human bodies in spite of the technologies available these days.
Published Version
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