First time in the DR

DR - otherwise known as the Dissecting Room...

It is one of those aspects of learning medicine which strikes a mix of fear and curiosity into the heart of all medical students. I will never forget the first time I ever saw a dead body. I was in a room with other students expecting a talk on anatomy and there was a table with a sheet over something. It was when I saw fingers peeping out of the sheet that I realised with a shock that it was an arm. The skin was old and frail but the fingernails were painted a delicate baby pink. That was unexpected...

I remember too when we were first shown internal organs and passed around a human liver. One of the lads very nearly fainted (the girls were fine!). The smell is quite overwhelming - its sickly sweet formaldehyde that makes you catch your breath and cough with streaming eyes. It has a tendency to cling to whatever you wear so not the best precursor to a lunch date unless you are seeing a fellow medic!

These days there is a lot of discussion over what sort of anatomy teaching should be used. I still think that cadavers have an important role in medical education. Its not easy but it is an amazing thing to see. I don't think I've ever been entirely comfortable with cadavers in the room but its important for a medical student to experience because anatomy books don't show you what things truly look like. In real life nothing is colour coded and neatly separated and labelled. Seeing a real body gives you a sense of the immensity of the surgeon's skill. To accurately dissect through tissue planes, without causing damage, whilst allowing for the vagaries of individual anatomy and to be able to tell everything apart is a mammoth task.


You never really find out much about the people who donate their bodies. They are to an extent depersonalised and I guess that's necessary for the average student to be able to deal with looking at what is beneath the skin.It gets tricky when you see faces and get a sense of their features and expression, it make the bodies more real and then it can be harder to touch and to learn. After a set period of time the bodies are sent for burial and they hold a memorial service which students can attend. Its a lovely idea, a chance to say thank you to those people.


The DR room is a difficult but special experience. It made me feel awed that someone would be generous enough to let their body be used for students to study and learn from.

What an amazing gift.