Simulation exercise using cadavers to train bone marrow aspiration technique – Second year undergraduate medical student’s perspective

Simulation exercise using cadavers to train bone marrow aspiration technique – second year undergraduate medical student’s perspective. Introduction: Simulation is “the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time”. The main goal is to significantly reduce the margin of error in real life situations. Cadaver had been used to train psychomotor skills for medical students. We attempted to find out the student’s perspective of bone marrow aspiration training by simulation technique using cadavers to second year undergraduate medical students while teaching hematology. Methods: 127 students from second year MBBS with four faculties participated in this study. The students were divided into groups and facilitated by faculties. Bone marrow aspiration was done in cadavers from Anatomy department. A survey was taken through feedback. Results: All the students appreciated the facilitator for their encouragement, interaction and preparations (99.9%). 82.65% of the students appreciated the clarity, relevance and usefulness of the skills learned and 63.17% of the students felt the organization, facilities and atmosphere was good for learning. Discussion: Various studies in the past corroborated with our study results. Newer and better methods of embalming like Thiel embalming has emerged which makes the cadaver more real life-like. In developing countries like India, cadaver can be an economic alternative to other methods of simulation.