Breaking taboos and steadying the self in medical school

Harper, Gordon

doi:10.1016/0140-6736(93)91952-i

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…This intellectualism removes character previously associated with the person of the cadaver. A similar process of habituation, and thus reduced reaction, may occur in the clinical setting, for example with the delivery of a baby (Harper 1993). This special life event soon becomes clinical and routine.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…The largest change in response was in the personal reaction to cadaver dissection, and thus attitude towards death, which dropped more than three points during the 3‐month period, clearly demonstrating the rapid acquisition of coping mechanisms to death. Students get used to the extraordinary: ‘Here I was all afternoon, working on my cadaver, and I wasn't even aware that I had spent the afternoon in a room of dead bodies!’ (Harper 1993).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is further evidence to suggest that after a few days, the dramatic impact of cadaver dissection starts to diminish (Harper 1993) and a routine is established. It was reported in 1985 that 21% of a surveyed group suppressed their feelings in order to be objective and 67% of the students reported changes in attitudes (Penney 1985).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of cadaver dissection on the attitudes of medical students

et al. 1994

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A study was conducted to determine whether the attitudes of medical students to death and caring changed during the 3 months following exposure to cadaver dissection. All first-year students were invited to complete a questionnaire immediately before their initial cadaver dissection experience, after 6 weeks, and after a further 3 months. The questionnaire reflected attitudes to death, violent death, death of someone known to the respondent and caring when someone known to the respondent is seriously injured. Ethnicity and previous exposure to dying has no effect on responses, but overall men students' reactions were significantly less than for women (P < 0.001). The responses given on the final part of the questionnaire after 3 months were significantly lower than those to most questions in the first part of the questionnaire. The exceptions were those questions where the subject in the given scenario was known to the respondent, where reactions were rated significantly greater (P < 0.001) in the follow-up questionnaire and can be explained on the basis that they were a personal referent. Students rapidly develop a coping mechanism which enables them to view cadaver dissection as an occupation quite divorced from living human beings. During these early months of training solicitude decreases for those who die who are unknown to them, but concern for personal referents increases. Educators should be aware of the dramatic change of attitudes among students and the process of professionalization which might influence their caring of future patients.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of cadaver dissection on the attitudes of medical students

et al. 1994

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“…Perhaps the most universal and recognisable step in making the transition from lay-person to doctor-in-training is the process of conducting human dissection in the gross anatomy laboratory (Dyer & Thorndike, 2000). An important aspect of the laboratory is that it requires students to break taboos surrounding the desecration of human remains and Harper (1993) and Good (1994) have argued that such an act has the effect of setting the medical student apart from others. Hence, in exploring identity change in first year medical students, it appears important to examine this in parallel with their experience of conducting human dissection.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Identity change and the human dissection experience over the first year of medical training

Madill

Latchford

2005

Social Science & Medicine

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“…This capacity has been called ''clinical binocularity'' (Harper, 1993). Clinicians have always had to attend not only to what the patient knows and feels but also to possibilities and processes (genetic, physiological, or psychological) beyond the patient's view.…”

Section: Evidence In the 21st Centurymentioning

confidence: 99%

Being With the Patient

Harper

Becker²,

Copans³

et al. 2013

Journal of Nervous &Amp; Mental Disease

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Our objective was to review the use in psychiatry of data arising from interaction with the patient, here called "clinical evidence." We conducted a clinical and historical review. Data from interactions with patients are increasingly marginalized in psychiatry, even as interactional data have an increasing role elsewhere in healthcare. Recommendations for training, clinical care, and administration are made.

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Breaking taboos and steadying the self in medical school

Cited by 12 publications

References 5 publications

Effects of cadaver dissection on the attitudes of medical students

Effects of cadaver dissection on the attitudes of medical students

Identity change and the human dissection experience over the first year of medical training

Being With the Patient

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