The Awareness of Medical Students in Nigerian Universities about the Use of Plastinated Specimens for Anatomical Studies

Abstract

Over the past decade, the role of anatomical teaching in the undergraduate medical curriculum has changed considerably. At some medical schools, active dissection of cadaveric specimens is gradually being replaced by prosection-based methods and other resources such as e-learning, use of plastinated materials and models. Academic faculties in some of our medical schools are recently obtaining necessary skills in plastination technology which would aid in the future production and usage of plastinated prosections. The latter would be used as adjunct to wet cadaveric specimens in undergraduate anatomy teaching. The aim of this study was to examine students’ views on the use of plastinated prosections for their anatomical learning. This was a cross-sectional study using questionnaires and focus group for data collection. The questionnaire was completed by 280 undergraduate medical and anatomy students out of 300 (response rate 93%). The majority of students (70%) have never heard of plastination before while 40 % of the remainder heard through the internet. Also, 94.29% rated plastinated prosections as a valuable resource for their anatomical learning and would want to learn about the technique. While 75% of respondents felt that students would benefit immensely from plastinated prosections, more than 78% said it should be used alongside other cadaveric materials. We conclude that plastinated prosections are an adequate resource for the early stages of undergraduate training, but that the learning experience may be further enhanced by providing opportunity for the study of wet cadaveric material.