.png)
By Sanjana Ravi
Human cadaver labs are an essential tool for any pre-health student’s mastery of anatomy and physiology. They bridge the gap between textbooks and real life, offering a hands-on way for students to better understand the bodily functions they are tasked with comprehending. However, medical schools and hospitals are finding it more and more unsustainable to maintain such an economically and environmentally impactful lab. Recently, virtual cadaver labs are replacing traditional human cadaver labs—are they effective, or a disservice?
The Pros
According to Heizenrader, a mixed reality education platform, medical schools are only able to provide a cadaver per group of students, rather than for each individual. The lack of individual focus in human cadaver labs is due to the steep cost, where “each whole body cadaver can cost between $2,000 – $3,000 to purchase.” However, building a virtual cadaver lab costs a much smaller one time fee, and even with the student VR license fee, the school and student spend a lot less than they would if they were to maintain the human cadaver lab. The economic pros of a virtual cadaver lab in turn allows students and professionals a more unique learning experience while lowering costs for the institution itself.
There is also a declining trend in the number of human cadavers being donated in the name of science. Consequently, the stakes of working on a non-reusable, group-owned human cadaver leads to higher stakes and greater anxiety. Heizenrader notes the opposite aura within a virtual cadaver lab, as the digital aspect allows mistakes that can be reviewed and erased. The ability to repeatedly practice skills without the fear of error, as medical VR simulations provide, allows students to spend more time learning and exploring.
Students and professionals are also able to build stronger and more complex understandings of procedures and structures at any stage of their career. Stanford talks about the flexibility of using a virtual lab, where it can “...train residents, assist surgeons in planning upcoming operations...educate patients... [and] helps surgeons in the operating room.” Along with multi-use, the virtual labs allow for hyper-realistic interactions with the body. The Scientific American explains how virtual labs “can connect structure with function by watching a beating heart or moving joints…[and] select views that add other organs or the entire circulatory and nervous systems.” As a reusable, complex, and multi-functional lab, virtual cadaver labs seem to be able to replace as well as progress anatomical learning.
The Cons
While these virtual cadaver labs are on the rise and promise a cost-friendly, individual based learning schematic, they tend to lack an important part of anatomical and procedural learning: human touch. While virtual cadaver labs are not only life-sized but also provide access to all planes in ways a dead cadaver cannot, pre-health students miss out on the feeling of operating on real, human bodies. Michael Denham, a second year medical student at Columbia University, states, “The physical body is messier, but it’s also easier to manipulate...I could dig around, pin things back, explore their depth. Perception is lost without that physicality.” The raw, physical touch of operating and anatomy as a whole felt lost on those missing their human cadaver labs.
Virtual cadaver labs are already augmenting healthcare programs at colleges such as the Mayo Clinic, University of Connecticut, Stanford, University of Iowa, and much more. Overall, many administrations are turning to virtual cadavers as an economic and education-friendly apparatus that fulfills one of the most important aspects of donning that white coat. While human cadavers may never fully be replaced, it seems like blended learning is the mechanism of the future.
What do you think of virtual cadaver labs? Leave a reply below!
References