As an educator, I strive to help students understand the subject of anatomy. However, so much learning happens without me, and that’s a wonderful thing. Our body donors contribute so much more to our students learning than I ever could; we therefore call them ‘silent teachers’.
Whilst an appreciation of the 3D organisation of the body is the most obvious benefit, working with a body donor helps to develop an important set of skills and attributes, which transforms our students academically, personally, and professionally.
Medical Humanities
Each year our students reflect on their experiences with their donor and write or create something that demonstrates their gratitude. These pieces show the profound appreciation and demonstrable impact that working with their donor had on them.
They write letters of thanks, poems to express their emotions, and create artwork that symbolise their thoughts and feelings. Nature (including trees, butterflies, and flowers) usually feature heavily in these pieces, highlighting their educational and individual growth.
Artwork created by students to demonstrate their gratitude and the impact on their learning.
This creative work is displayed at our University Memorial event, which is our chance to say thank you to the donors and their relatives. We also invite students to read their poems or letters and talk to the relatives about their loved ones. Through these opportunities and experiences, students become grounded, they recognise the selflessness of their donors and the sacrifices made by their relatives.
“I really do now appreciate how much I have gained from anatomy that just can't be replicated in any other way and speaking to the families and being involved in the event gave me the opportunity to, I hope, convey that the selfless thing their loved ones had done was immensely worthwhile and appreciated.” - First Year Medical Student
Teamwork and Leadership
While working with body donors, our students work as a team, with specific roles to fulfil each time. This emulates the future multidisciplinary teams in which they will work. One of the most important roles is the dedicated ’carer’ who has the responsibility to ensure that the donor they are working with is looked after throughout. Through this collaborative approach to learning, students start to appreciate that more can be achieved by learning and working together, but also the importance of leadership and clear communication.
Anatomical Variation and Pathology
An additional benefit of learning with body donors is raising an awareness of possible anatomical variations, both externally and internally. While anatomical variations (brought about through embryological development) are unlikely to have a significant impact under normal circumstances, they can have potential implications during patient examination and treatment, for example when drawing blood or during nerve anaesthetisation. By learning with body donors, students have experience of these variations and are better prepared for them in their patients.
Sadly, during their lives, many of our generous body donors have experienced pathological conditions such as osteoarthritis, heart disease, or cancer. Students are in the privileged position of being able to see these conditions and their consequences first hand. At Cardiff, our medical students complete a group project, where they are tasked with identifying and investigating pathology or anatomical variation in their donor and presenting this as a patient case. They discuss the cause or development of the condition, together with the impact, signs, and symptoms their donor may have experienced. This project helps to develop important observational and diagnostic skills, essential for patient examination.
Supporting Surgical Training
It is not only undergraduate students who benefit from the opportunities provided by body donation. Like many other centres across the UK, Cardiff provides postgraduate training opportunities for surgeons, from courses to enhance their knowledge in preparation for exams, to learning and refining surgical approaches or techniques. These opportunities are invaluable and provide real hands-on experience to support those training and working in the NHS.
In addition to these specialist training opportunities, we also invite surgical and other specialist trainees to support our undergraduate teaching. This collaboration is extremely valuable for our students, but the trainees also benefit significantly through the chance to refresh their anatomical knowledge and develop their teaching skills, which is an essential part of medicine.
“This relationship has been multifaceted; it allows surgical trainees to share their knowledge and clinical experiences with medical students but also allowed the Wales trainees to hone their teaching techniques and most importantly further their academic knowledge of anatomy through teaching. This has been invaluable in the preparation for surgical exams and interviews and even more so for appreciating clinical anatomy…” - Core Surgical Trainee
The learning opportunities provided by body donors reach beyond the acquisition of factual anatomical knowledge and are valued deeply by students, trainees and educators across the country. We are so grateful to the generous and altruistic individuals who make such a difference to our anatomical education.
Dr Hannah Shaw, Cardiff University