One area of medicine that hasn’t changed much over the centuries is anatomy. Yet it’s a subject each new generation of health care providers must master before they can pursue their specialties. Dominican University offers a unique course in Advanced Human Anatomy that not only allows students to observe surgery on patients at RUSH Oak Park Hospital.
They can also dissect cadavers.
Dr. David Craig, chairman of the Department of Natural Sciences at Dominican, launched the program five years ago. “Many universities have cadaver labs,” Craig said, “but most don’t provide such a high quality program.” He wasn’t referring just to the school’s state-of-the-art lab in the new Parmer Science Building. He was speaking of the internship program, which gives students access to an operation.
Donald Nash, M.D., a general surgeon, at RUSH Oak Park oversees interns in the O.R. and performs dissection of the gastrointestinal tract at the cadaver lab. Dr. Louis Scannicchio, clinical professor of Biology, also conducts classes at Dominican in cadaver dissection.
“Some of the students are a little squeamish at first,” Scannicchio admitted, “But they adapt very well.”
The university purchases the cadavers for $2,000 apiece from the Anatomical Gift Association of Chicago. “When people donate their bodies to science, they’re providing a wonderful gift that offers tremendous learning opportunities for students,” Scannicchio said.
The cadavers contain preservatives and are stored in the university morgue, prior to being dissected in the lab. Students attend lectures three times a week about various anatomical structures, in addition to doing the actual cutting to expose these structures.
During lab sessions, two cadavers are on hand for dissection. “The students study regional anatomy,” Scannicchio explained. “The abdomen, the head and neck and the limbs are each a separate region.” When they are studying the abdomen, for example, students make incisions through the skin and muscle to expose and identify the organs. They then dissect each organ individually.
Sometimes the students discover some surprising secrets in the cadavers. “They’ve found feeding tubes, chests that have been wired shut after heart surgery and healed broken bones,” Scannicchio said. The students document their findings with photographs, which they include in Power Point presentations.
Tests take place in their lecture classes, as well as in the lab. “We test them in practical anatomy in the lab,” Scannicchio noted. “They have to identify specific tissues and nerves.”
The Dominican program has provided a launching pad for students entering all branches of the health care field. Some have advanced into the school’s Pre-Medical Science Program, while others have matriculated into medical school.
Dr. Scannicchio is obviously proud of the program and appreciates fellow physicians who donate their time to assist students in their dissections. So far, there has not been a single mishap-or fainting student-during the lab sessions.
The advanced Human Anatomy course may not be for the faint-of-heart but it provides crucial hands-on experience for those who have a heart for health care.