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Donor-centered education offers students the opportunity to not only acquire visual and tactile experiences for applying anatomical knowledge but also a chance for students to reflect upon fundamental humanistic principles. The exploration of differences in students' viewpoints on body donation and the utilization of body donors in their education remains unexplored across various healthcare professional programs, which has an impact on student learning and experience. This study aimed to qualitatively examine the similarities and differences in student perspectives regarding body donation across three healthcare professional programs. One-page reflections from nursing (n = 37), physical and occupational therapy (n = 49), and medical students (n = 66) regarding their experiences in the anatomy laboratory at McGill University were collected and analyzed using a deductive approach based on themes and sub-themes outlined by Stephens et al. in 2019. Despite differences in their curricula, there were few discrepancies across the programs' reflections suggesting that donor-based learning had similar effects on each user group. Most students across the healthcare professional programs mentioned that their positive laboratory experiences motivated them to donate their bodies, extending the privilege they had to future generations. Nursing students did not reflect upon the notion that working with body donors provided unique learning experiences in the anatomy laboratory. Likewise, physical and occupational therapy (PT/OT) students did not address the importance of maintaining the privacy of body donors by covering certain body parts during lab. These findings show that prosection- and dissection-based exercises encourage reflective practices associated with these of medical ethics, highlighting an important advantage to including donor-based learning in anatomical education., (© 2024 The Authors. Anatomical Sciences Education published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Association for Anatomy.)

Background: In medicine, dissecting human cadavers is vital for learning anatomy, developing professional skills, and fostering a relationship with the body. This opportunity has received little pedagogical attention in nursing. The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of nursing students in the human anatomy laboratory to inform strategies that may be implemented to optimize learning., Method: A qualitative descriptive study was conducted to analyze reflective assignments completed by undergraduate and graduate nursing students following participation in a required session in the human cadaver anatomy laboratory., Results: Overall, 168 assignments were included in the analysis. Three themes were identified: Coping With the Initial Shock, Reflecting on the Salience of Death and Dying, and Acknowledging Impacts on Future Practice., Conclusion: The students' reflections support the integration of a human anatomy laboratory session into the nursing curriculum and inform strategies to foster learning and development. [ J Nurs Educ . 2021;60(4):221-224.] .