Dissecting a cadaver is certainly scientific. But no body is the same, with nature creating a unique canvas students can use to enhance their understanding during training.
On the technical side, medical students learn the structures of the human body. But anatomy also offers students exposure to the value of teamwork in medicine and the importance of developing productive professional habits. Experts in medical education offer these tips for medical students as they begin their anatomy training.
Nerves are normal
The first foray into the anatomy lab typically uses a skin examination and observing and recognizing various skin conditions to help medical students adjust and adapt to their new learning environment. Before beginning dissection, medical students are made aware of what the cadaver laying before them represents.
In addition to being one of the more challenging aspects of pre-clinical training, anatomy may represent a sensitive point for many medical students, according to David Henderson, MD, the AMA’s vice president of medical education and workforce development.
“Meeting your cadaver is, in some ways, similar to seeing your first patient,” said Dr. Henderson, a former medical school dean for student affairs and professor of family medicine. “You’re with that cadaver for an extended period of time. You may see your first patient once and never see that person again, but your cadaver you see on an ongoing basis for a long time.”
“It helps many students who may never have experienced a death develop some relationship with death, which I think is an important part of the learning process.”
Anatomic mastery comes with time
Learning human anatomy is different from many experiences a medical student has encountered in their undergraduate studies.
“They need to develop and use visual and kinesthetic skills,” said Cathleen C. Pettepher, PhD, a biochemistry professor at a medical school in Tennessee. “Those are skills that students may not have used often in their studies before, so it takes some time to adapt and to perfect this skill set. Students are also used to learning things very quickly. So, it can be frustrating to them that it takes more time to use this new skill set effectively to learn each structure and its function, and then integrate that knowledge with other materials that they are studying.”
Like medicine, anatomy is a team sport
Several students work together at a lab table. At her institution, Pettepher said, dissection teams typically consist of four medical students. Working together as a cohesive unit will help them be successful with completing their dissections and learning from the structures that they have just uncovered.
“One of the things that we observe during lab is how they [students] work together as a team. Throughout their careers they will be a member of a healthcare delivery team,” Pettepher said. “They are accountable to the team, and they are responsible for their own learning as well as the entire team’s learning.
“It’s important that you learn to share the workload and balance your learning with the strengths of others. When there’s a member who is weak or struggling in learning a given area, you should take the responsibility to help [them] learn the material through review and quizzing as well. Helping and teaching others enhances your learning, and when you have a strong team, you work better together and are able to accomplish more.”
Use all available learning resources
Success in human anatomy means you can apply the knowledge beyond the lab. That means doing the prelab reading, attending lectures and watching any videos that can prepare you for your next dissection.
The modalities of anatomy education have changed significantly in the past decade. Most notably, that shift has included a move to digital tools and virtual reality simulations as part of the process.
For a 2025 study, researchers surveyed first-year medical students enrolled in a primarily cadaveric anatomy course. They found that nearly 70% of respondents said virtual resources were more effective than traditional methods, and more than 92% rated them as at least slightly useful.
Dr. Henderson said that digital tools can be particularly useful for students during their individual anatomy review.
These tools do “a good job of simulating 3D images,” Dr. Henderson said. “If I’m looking at something on the front of the body, but I decide I want to look at something that’s on the back of the body, if I have access to digital image, then it’s easy to change the image.”
Mistakes are OK
There’s a level of resilience that is necessary to succeed in anatomy, Pettepher added.
“Students have to be up to the challenge to dissect and discover the unknown. They need to not be afraid to make mistakes,” she said. “Often, students are reluctant to begin a dissection, especially early on, because they are afraid they are going to cut something [they aren’t supposed to]. The whole experience is about uncovering and identifying structures, observing how these structures are in association with other structures nearby and then based on those observations, determine function. You can’t do this without cutting and exposing structures. So, it’s OK when mistakes are made.”
