Utility of cadavers for health professional’s skill training- a 2 year experience

Introduction: Medical education aims at training of health related professionals predominantly in cognitive, psychomotor and attitude domains. The psychomotor domain is important and needs good infrastructure and resources to deliver skilled professionals to the community. Our experience on the cadavers as a resource for the surgical skill development of the health professionals and its impact on the student learning has been a successful journey. Material and Methods: Data was collected regarding the age, gender, time of death, time to mortuary, time to cold storage, number of procedures done, number of times thawed to explain the utility, advantages and disadvantages of cadavers in surgical skill training. Results: The main mode of preservation of the cadavers used for surgical skill training is cold storage at -20◦ C. The advantage of frozen cadavers for skills training is the organoleptic properties being maintained as in a living human except for the dynamic circulation. The cadavers are being used for continued professional development of all surgical specialities Allograft tissue of cadaveric origin is a very useful asset in the armamentarium of the present day surgeons. Conclusion: The frozen cadavers have proven to be useful for psychomotor skill training. Surgical skill training centers need to be developed at all medical colleges to cater to the needs of our medical graduate students in terms of patient safety and competencies.