Mind and Body Donors: Can Meditation Help Students Maintain Empathy During Cadaveric Dissection?

Abstract

The adoption of humanistic practices in anatomical education is increasing with studies identifying educational practices that foster empathetic responses as a crucial aspect of pre‐clinical education. However, there has been little research evaluating the implementation of novel curriculum in pre‐clinical anatomy courses that help students maintain empathy during cadaveric dissections. Specifically, we hypothesize that implementing compassion training (CT) offered by trained professionals during a pre‐clinical anatomy course will help students maintain their empathy towards body donors. We implemented five training sessions run by the Sanford Institute of Empathy and Compassion in the pre‐clinical anatomy thread at the University of California, San Diego in this IRB‐approved study. We sought to assess baseline empathy and prior experience with meditation/mental training among both first and second‐year medical students. We specifically used the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) to evaluate empathy, which is broadly used in medical professions to assess this attribute. Interestingly, prior to the start of the course, the mean experience with contemplative compassion practices was 0.840 ± 1.042 (n=81) with zero being no experience, but the mean interest in participating in compassion exercises was 2.954 ± 1.422 (n=87) with five being highly interested. Among the 137 students that initially responded to the pre‐survey, 47 students chose to participate in a longitudinal study where students’ connection to the body donor was assessed with the Inclusion of Other in Self (IOS) scale. The emotional state of students was assessed using self‐reported scales of both pleasure and arousal. Students in the longitudinal study completed 10 anatomy sessions with five including CT. There was no significant difference in IOS scores between anatomy labs with CT and those without intervention. However, there was a significant difference between total mean levels of engagement during compassion practices with students showing higher levels of engagement in laboratory sessions with CT (With CT: 2.509 ± 1.089 n=106; Without CT: 1.500 ± 0.927 n=54, p<0.001). In conclusion, students are more likely to engage in compassion practices when training is incorporated into laboratory sessions. The question remains how engaging in these exercises affects students’ ability to navigate complex emotions during cadaveric dissection. Further investigation is needed to determine if higher levels of engagement are associated with increased empathy towards body donors. In the future, we plan to evaluate whether increased engagement with compassion practices correlates to increased empathy after completion of pre‐clinical anatomy. We ultimately hope that this research will help educators design educational initiatives that help students navigate between empathy and clinical detachment during cadaveric dissection.