Background
One of the most important objectives of modern medical education is to empower medical students to become humanistic clinicians. Human anatomy plays a crucial role in this mission by using cadavers to cause reflections on death, dying, illness, and the role of medical practitioners in humanistic care. The objective of this study was to introduce, describe, and evaluate the impact of a ceremony in honor of the body donors on ethical and humanistic attitudes of medical students.
Methods
We used a phenomenological research approach to explore and understand the lived experiences of the anatomy teachers as they teach anatomy in the context of humanism and ethics. A separate survey of third-year medical students was carried out to understand their perceptions of changes in themselves, respect for donors and donor families, and their relationship with patients. Data were collected in two phases: a desktop review of teaching materials followed by in-depth interviews of the main anatomy teachers followed by a self-administered, 5-item Likert scaled questionnaire given to students.
Results
In the present article, we describe the rituals conducted in honor of body donors at our School of Medicine. We also describe the lived experiences of anatomy teachers as they work on improving humanistic education quality through the introduction of the concept of “silent mentor” which refers to a cadaver that quietly allows medical students to learn from it. In turn, a ceremony in honor of body donors who have altruistically donated their bodies so that learning anatomy through dissection would be possible is also introduced. A survey of the impact of the ceremony in honor of body donors on medical students revealed positive responses in terms of promoting studying anatomy (3.96 Vs 3.95) as well as reflections on own death (4.44 Vs 4.35), the life of body donors (4.07 Vs 4.04), and how to humanely view future patients and their significant others (4.32 Vs 4.24) relative to those that did not attend the ceremony (5-item Likert scale). The majority of the students that attended the ceremony also indicated that it had a positive impact on their future doctor-patient relationship, thinking about the possibility of donating their body for teaching as well as about medical ethics. Most of them also think that attending the ceremony helped reduce their anxiety, fear, and disgust of seeing corpses or dissecting and 90% insisted that memorial ceremonies should continue being conducted at Zhongshan Medical School.
Conclusion
The combination of the anatomy component of the basic medical curriculum and gratitude ceremonies as well as activities to promote body bequeathal programs might help to accomplish the goal of cultivating high-quality medical students and professionals for the future. The long-term benefits would be a medical graduate who exudes empathy, relates well with patients and their significant others, leading to a productive doctor-patient relationship.
The vapor−liquid equilibrium (VLE) of the aqueous solutions of two imidazolium-based hydrophilic ionic liquids (ILs), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([Emim]-Ac) and 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([Hmim]Cl), were experimentally studied. An activity coefficient model extended for correlation of the VLE data of the aqueous solutions of the hydrophilic ILs was proposed by taking into account the aggregation effects of IL molecules in aqueous solutions. It was shown that the model can effectively present the VLE characteristics of the strong hydrophilic IL solutions in a wide range of temperatures and full range of mole concentration. The vapor pressures of the two binary systems were measured at (283.15 to 403.15) K and (283.15 to 423.15) K, respectively, and in a range of (20 to 80) IL mol %. The tests were performed by using a static constant-volume apparatus with the temperature uncertainty < ± 10 mK and the pressure uncertainty < ± 0.04 kPa for the low-pressure range (0 to 40) kPa and < ± 0.3 kPa for the high-pressure range (40 to 300) kPa. The experimental data were correlated well with the proposed activity coefficient equation and show a good accuracy and consistency.
Postgraduate fellowship training programs are expanding at Chinese universities. This growing cadre of advanced trainees calls for the development of new learning and training models wherein postgraduate fellows have an ample opportunity to teach more junior learners, thereby expanding their own knowledge base and competitiveness for future employment. Educational reform at Sun Yat-Sen University has recently allowed postgraduate fellows to act as teaching assistants for undergraduate anatomy courses. This model is common in western countries but is novel in China.
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