A short course of dissection for second-year medical students at the School of Medicine of Padova

A "Short course of dissection" was introduced in 1999 for the second-year medical students at the University of Padova. The course aims to offer a direct experience of practical anatomy despite a shortage of time for anatomy courses and lack of availability of cadavers. The course is optional and is planned for 40 students, subdivided into eight working groups. It consists of five sessions on the following topics: the viscera of the male pelvis; the viscera of the female pelvis; the kidney, the testis and spermatic cord; the thorax and abdomen; the brain. Each session lasts 3 hours and is organized as follow: (A) Theory: Teacher: concise review of the systematic and topographic anatomy of the selected topic (20 min); Students: analysis of a dissection guide (20 min). (B) Practice: Students: identification of the viscera and vascular and nervous structures, through inspection and palpation (15 min); step-by-step dissection following the worksheet (80 min); presentation of the visceral blocks as prosections under a closed-circuit telecamera (anatomical variability) (30 min); Teachers and students: three-dimensional conceptualization tests (15 min). At the end of the 2000 and 2001 courses, a questionnaire was administered to the students and the results confirm the usefulness of dissection for developing a three-dimensional knowledge of anatomy. In our opinion the main guidelines in planning a short course of dissection are: (1) selection of the topics, aimed at allowing experience of the gross anatomy of single viscera, fascia and serosa as well as the evaluation of the topographical relationships between parts of different systems including the local vessels and nerves; (2) preparation of a worksheet, presenting in 10–15 points concise instructions for the step-by-step progression from inspection to palpation and dissection of the anatomical structures of the visceral block; (3) direct dissection, brief and selective, by students; (4) clinical correlation; (5) motivational teachers, who stimulate the active involvement of students in "learning by doing" and also "learning how to do".