How Cadaver Dissection Impacted My OT Experience

During the first semester of OT school, I became more interested in getting out of my comfort zone and diving headfirst into summer dissections. Due to a busy schedule during my undergraduate program, I was unable to take the opportunity of being a cadaver dissector when it was offered. I never thought I would be able to get that opportunity again, until my lab professors approached me about joining the team for summer dissections.

Although it may sound strange, being a cadaver dissector has been such a rewarding job for me as an occupational therapy student. A cadaver dissector works diligently to prepare the bodies graciously donated as teaching tools for all incoming students. At Samuel Merritt University, cadaver dissectors pair up with professors or other anatomists to work on specific bodies. The student dissectors are then given a list of all the important structures that must be exposed on the specific bodies they are working on. The physician’s assistant and podiatry students are given their own bodies to dissect and study throughout the semester. Occupational therapy, physical therapy, and nursing students are given already dissected bodies with all the needed structures exposed and ready to be learned. Our job is to locate and uncover specific muscles, arteries, veins, and nerves within the body in accordance with the anatomy and physiology course curriculums at Samuel Merritt. A skilled occupational therapy practitioner must have an understanding of anatomy. Working as a dissector is a great way to refresh your memory, reinforce what you learned in class, and build an even deeper understanding of anatomical structures. Working alongside my former anatomy professor, I can ask questions that go deeper than what I learned in my regular anatomy classes.

Dissecting not only reinforces important anatomy topics, but it also pushes me out of my comfort zone. Initially, I was very nervous about the dissection process. I felt anxious about seeing the untouched cadavers. There is a sense of invading one’s privacy as you uncover them for the first time. This is one of the reasons why I give so much respect to the bodies that have been donated to us—we are peeling back the layers of skin ad looking deeper into their lives.

For many students, myself included, the face of an individual who has passed is unnerving, and it is often covered during anatomy lab sessions. The face is the part of the body that most reminds us that this cadaver was once a living person with thoughts, hopes, and loved ones. I felt a great sense of responsibility to respect both my anatomy professor and the cadavers. Participating in dissections presents you with an untouched, perfectly preserved body, and I did not want to accidentally cut through an important structure.

Being a dissector also teaches you the importance of communication. There are times when I am too shy to ask my professor if I found the correct structure, or if I’ve cut too deep, but those are the moments when I’m most likely to make a mistake. My professor has always been willing to help me correctly identify a nerve versus a vein or teach me different techniques for how to remove layers of fat. As a student occupational therapist, I’ve learned that it’s always better to ask the question and make sure I understand the answer than to take a chance and worry that I’ve done something wrong.

Dissecting makes me appreciate the human body so much more. It also makes me appreciate all the medical interventions we’ve developed to improve people’s quality of life but also reminds me of how much we endure throughout our lives. Seeing visual indications of what people have gone through, like hip and knee replacements or pacemaker implantation, reminds me that everyone experiences and deals with pain differently. As occupational therapy practitioners, our patients entrust us with their pain—both physical and emotional. Dissecting teaches me respect for not only those who have donated their bodies for educational purposes, but also for those who are alive and need us to be present with their pain.

Overall, this opportunity has sharpened my anatomy skills and deepened my respect for both teachers in the room—the anatomist and the individual who gave their body for our life-long learning. A selfless individual who gave their body so students can learn is someone who should be treated with utmost respect, and being a meticulous dissector is giving them that respect. I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to work in this environment and give back to my school and community as a student OT.

Sabrina Lee is a first-year occupational therapy student at Samuel Merritt University. She is an anatomy dissector, President’s Ambassador, and peer tutor. She is interested in acute care and pediatric practice settings. Sabrina likes reading books, playing video games, and lifting weights. She has three rescue animals (two chiweenies and an orange tabby) and loves teaching them tricks!