Impacts of body donor non-anonymization on students' educational and humanistic development: A systematic review

Abstract

A recent trend in healthcare education has been the increasing emphasis on the development of humanism and empathy in students. Within anatomy education, some institutions have implemented curricular innovations such as donor non-anonymization to facilitate this development. This systematic review aims to evaluate the existing literature on donor non-anonymization, with a particular focus on its potential humanistic and educational impacts on students. A comprehensive search was conducted across eight databases on the 27th of June 2024, yielding 3516 studies after duplicate removal. Following a two-stage screening process and independent review, 11 studies met inclusion criteria. These were assessed for quality using the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument and the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme Qualitative Checklist. Given the qualitative nature of the data, a thematic analysis was conducted, identifying three overarching themes: students' emotional responses, reciprocity to the community and empathy, and the impact of non-anonymization on learning. Of the included studies, nine were deemed high quality, one medium, and one low quality and were weighed accordingly during analysis. Overall, non-anonymization was associated with positive outcomes, including greater emotional engagement, enhanced empathy, and deeper motivation to learn. Optional participation in non-anonymization anatomy programs appeared beneficial for accommodating varied emotional responses among students. However, due to limitations of included studies and potential cultural variability, findings should be interpreted with caution. Further longitudinal research is needed to better understand the long-term educational and professional impacts of donor non-anonymization in anatomy education.