REACTIONS OF FIRST YEAR MEDICAL STUDENTS IN THE DISSECTION ROOM, WITH PROSECTED CORPSES, AND THE INCIDENCE ON OWN BODY DONATION.

Student's perceptions in the dissection-room and the relationship with the teaching staff determine their affinity with Anatomy and their introduction in the medical career. Our objective was to evaluate three different instances of the relation student/dissectionroom during the Anatomy course, the importance students assigned to the corpses, symptoms and emotions associated to the dissection-room, their causes and also participants' attitudes to the own body donation. Three surveys: initial perception, reactions by the first contact with the corpses and further evolution were performed to 237 first year students. Sixty three per cent were women and 97% argentine, of whom 59% were from Cordoba province and the rest for nearly all the country provinces. Hundred per cent considered very important Anatomy for the career and corpses for Anatomy. For 91% dissection should be compulsory for first year medical students. Most often physical reactions were ocular and nasal irritation, while the most frequent emotions were enthusiasm and surprise, due mainly to corpse and dissection-room smell. Coping strategies to those reactions were: to focus on the topic, to watch the corpse as an object, to relax, humor and others. The will to donate the own body varied from 57% to 49% and 52%. Those percentages were not statistically different (p=0.1606), but higher than others in the literature. Influence of the corpse exposition on the attitude to donation seems to be less important than other articles; probably because our students do not dissect by themselves or because they recognize a great need of corpses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]