Cadavers in anatomy classes: opinions of the students of Bursa Uludağ University School of Medicine

Objectives: Informing the medical students about the ethical aspects related to human cadavers has been an important issue that should be taken into consideration by anatomists. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the opinions of the students of the School of Medicine of Bursa Uludag University, Turkey on the cadavers, prior to the anatomy education, and to determine the changes in attitudes towards the dead human body after basic and compulsory anatomy courses. Methods: The first-year class students of the School of Medicine of Bursa Uludag University were included in the study. The questionnaire was applied before and after the education on cadavers in Topographic Anatomy Committee. The on-line survey form was created and the link address was shared with e-mail and social media. Statistical analyses of the obtained data were performed using the SPSS 22.0 program. Results: The first questionnaire was answered by 297 students and the second questionnaire by 212 students. In the survey applied before the anatomy education in Topographic Anatomy Committee, the percentage of positive opinions (agree and strongly agree) on “Human is a valuable asset. For this reason, the human body must be valued and respected during life and after death” was found to be 83.8% and this percentage increased to 95.3% in the later survey. Conclusion: Anatomy education can not be effective without cadavers. We believe that the current study will be useful for educators in order to contribute to the medical students’ awareness of humanity and privacy.