Cadaver Work

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Mar 5, 2014

Wow....I am surprised that you have a cadaver. They are usually only saved for medical school. We had one YEARS ago at my college. It was weird at first but an amazing learning tool.

GoodnessFlows · Mar 5, 2014

My professor told us that we were especially lucky to get a cadaver, especially because we are a CC. We are near a prominent university that has a willed body program and my professor has been around for so long that she has great connections. :) You are correct, a most amazing learning tool! I will never forget this experience, that's for sure. We are learning muscles and I get to see/touch the actual muscle. Cool!

BusiestBSN · Mar 5, 2014

I went to a cadaver lab and got to "play around" on different bodies. It was a very odd feeling but after 10 minutes, I was fine & found it interesting. Enjoy your opportunity!

vettechtoRN · Mar 5, 2014

HA! we don't even dissect a cat! LAME!! in animal science we at least got to dissect a rabbit.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Mar 5, 2014

WOW, I'm jealous! We never had a cadaver, we even had to double and triple up on CATS! Couldn't even get my own cat....much less a chance at a cadaver.

We asked, and of course got told that they were just far too expensive...got to go to med school for that.

Very lucky!

space monster · Mar 5, 2014

The CC I attend also has cadavers, and it was wonderful to be able to learn Anatomy through them. Our lectures were held in the lab, so we had ready access to the cadavers and viscera during class. We were given some background info on each one, including age at time of death and cause of death. It was fascinating being able to see the effects of certain lifestyles (e.g., heavy drinkers) and environments (city living/smog) on the cadavers. At first it is difficult not to think about the actual person behind the cadaver, but eventually you start to get over thinking about the families they left behind and your own mortality -- it becomes clinical but in a respectful sort of way.

NurseGirl525, ASN, RN · Mar 6, 2014

We had cats. 4 people for 1 cat. I wasn't real into the cat. The smell of the formaldehyde gave me migraines so every time I worked with that damn cat I got a splitting headache. I would have loved to work with a cadaver and seen what a human looks like.

caligirl7 · Mar 6, 2014

I went to a CC and we had cadavers, as well as pro-sections. It was an experience I am grateful I got to have, and very thankful for the people who decide to donate their body to science. For our school we have 4 cadavers for 6 sections of the class and each student gets assigned a specific dissection.

Ella26, BSN, RN · Mar 6, 2014

I am in anatomy and we have been gifted a cadaver for the semester. Seeing the body was a tad rough at first, however I've grown to love the work that we do on him. What an amazing last gift that someone would donate their body to Science to help me become a nurse. I'm totally appreciative that I have been given this opportunity. Anyone else work with a cadaver in their anatomy class?

No we did not get a cadaver thank heavens. I had a hard enough time working on a baby pig. That would have been too weird. Good for you to feel comfortable working on it though.

efda2rn · Mar 6, 2014

My CC has 4 cadavers right now. There is even a class for the dissection of the cadavers. I believe they go back to the local prominent teaching university after a year, but then, I believe we get more. I wish I had the time to take the dissection class. It must be fascinating!

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Mar 6, 2014

The community college I first went to had (maybe still does) cadavers for their A&P classes. We did most of the dissecting as well. It was an amazing experience it was, especially compared to the cats we had to use in a course I took as a refresher a few years later. What was very interesting is that we had a male and female cadaver, and the difference in subcutaneous fat was quite striking. The female had very little muscle compared to what I would have expected her to have. Unfortunately, we were never told of the cadaver's activity level in life, so she very well could have been sedentary. One of them, I forget which one, had a CABG, so that was interesting to see how it was done over 20 years ago. On the whole, I would say that if your A&P classes can get a cadaver (yes, I know they're expensive), they're very much worth it to your own education. Cats, Pigs, and other animal models are nice but they're not quite the same as being able to see actual relationships between systems in an actual human.