What is everyone dissecting for Anatomy Lab?

kstec, LPN · May 11, 2007

In my A & P class we disected an aborted pig. Needless to say I did not go to class that day. I love animals to much. I still received an A in the class. The neatest and saddest thing I did get to do two weeks before graduating from the LPN programs was two autopsies. I watched the whole thing on a 80+ year old woman but when it came to the 10 year old little girl, I watched them wash her and look at her injuries but did not stick around due to the fact that I have two small children and I thought I was going to faint. While observing the elder lady, it was totally cool to have the coroner show each individual organ and come to the final conclusion of the cause of death. The weirdest thing is all you can think about is how much pain they feel going through the autopsy even though they are dead, and of course you wait for them to breath and of course they don't do that either. It was an experience I will never forget and encourage any nursing student to contact their local coroner and ask to observe in small groups.

chococroissant · May 11, 2007

had a chance to dissect cadavers for a year of anatomy before. Many shapes and sizes! We had a lecture hall right next to an enormous lab full of cadavers on gurneys. The first day of anatomy lab then were various cuts of the human head--so shocking to see the conchae!! The air reeked of formaldehyde and peppermint (no more mentos for me). all of the cadavers had their brains taken out for a the neuroanatomy lab so it was interesting. During violent dissections s(such a exposing the mediastinum) the skull caps would pop off. Before this anatomy class, I had a comparative anatomy class where we dissected going up the animal kingdom... from the salamanders to the lampreys, to birds, to cats!!!! I hear some dissect baby pigs. We had these mini cat bags and sometimes, we'd "study" in halls or at home to freak people out!!!

Sigh. Those were the fun anatomy days. My current A&P has sheep eyes and heart and mostly models which are really really relatively easy. Some cadavers we had were really small, the blood vessels were collapsed... the muscles looked like plastic. And there were so many! So practicals were definately a challenge.