Learning gross anatomy: dissection and prosection.

The gross anatomy course at St. Louis University School of Medicine consists of 40 regions or units covering the entire body and utilizes peer teaching in which students do every fourth dissection. One-fourth of the students learn each unit by dissecting; three-fourths learn from predissected material. Four multiple choice tests were studied to determine whether students scored better on questions on units they dissected than those who learned from predissected material. Results were adjusted on the basis of students' scores on whole tests. There were four teams of students and four tests resulting in 16 sets of questions. Dissectors scored better than nondissectors in 13 sets, but the overall differences were small (67.80 vs. 66.70). It is concluded that there is a small advantage gained from dissecting and demonstrating to their peers, but that learning from dissected cadavers is a satisfactory method of study, since our students traditionally score above the national average on the anatomy portion of the National Board Examination.