101 - Respect and Empathy for Anatomical Donors: Five Core Themes to Incorporate in Human Anatomy Laboratories

Poster Board Number: 101
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Co-authors:

Jeremy Grachan, PhD - Assistant Professor, Office of Education, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School; Rhiannon Robinson, MS - Research Specialist, Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience within the Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine; Julie Doll, MS - Instructor, Biology, University of St. Francis in Joliet; Kelsey Stevens, MS - Assistant Professor, Department of Health Sciences, Briar Cliff University

Abstract Body : Introduction: Treating human body donors ethically throughout a dissection- or prosection-based course provides donors with the dignity and respect that they deserve for the altruistic gift of their donation. Ethical practices also provide students with opportunities to develop and enhance humanistic and professional qualities. We propose that institutions consider the incorporation of 5 easily-implemented, clearly delineated ethical themes for working with human body donors into daily practices: 1) Human Dignity, 2) Honoring the Gift, 3) Recognizing the Family, 4) First Patient/Silent Teacher, and 5) Inclusivity.



Methods: Previously published ethical guidelines for working with human body donors (n=15) were reviewed for common themes that could describe practices that can be incorporated into a course to preserve donor humanity and to foster humanistic qualities in students. Additionally, we reflected on practices at our current and previous institutions, common pedagogical practices, and published practices from around the world. The institutions considered ranged from small, religious-based universities with 5 or less donors to large, non-religious institutions with their own willed body donor program.



Results: Based on the guidelines reviewed and our own experiences, we propose 5 core themes that are incorporable to classroom practice: 1) acknowledge the donor as possessing human dignity, 2) recognize the donor’s role as the ‘First Patient’ or ‘Silent Teacher’, 3) honor the gift of human body donation, 4) recognize the donor’s family, and 5) consider inclusivity in memorialization practices. Human Dignity was the most common theme evident in the published guidelines (100%), then Honoring the Gift (60%), Recognizing the Family (33.3%), and First Patient/Silent Teacher (13.3%). Inclusivity was not present in any of the published guidelines.



Conclusions & Significance: Despite not all of the proposed 5 core themes appearing in the previous guidelines, they are all valuable in courses utilizing human body donors. The Inclusivity theme is especially important for donor autonomy and student comfort when honoring donors, as well as to provide an opportunity to teach about diversity. This proposal summarizes “best practices” on how the 5 themes can be feasibly incorporated throughout an anatomy course to reinforce the ethical treatment of the donors. Practices that follow these themes provide means to maintain donor humanity and to further foster empathy, respect, and professionalism in students. Future studies should explore how, or if, institutions incorporate these themes into their laboratory courses.