In death there is life: perceptions of the university community regarding body donation for educational purposes in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Human body dissection is the traditional instructional method for anatomy education worldwide, providing a kinaesthetic learning experience that is often challenging to achieve with other teaching techniques. However, due to lack of body donation programs in Middle Eastern medical schools, dead bodies are imported from abroad. Since literature suggests that the body shortage is influenced by reluctance to donate one's body, this study aimed to determine the perceptions of faculty, staff, and students regarding body donation for educational purposes at a new Dubai-based medical school. An online dually translated questionnaire was administered to the target population (322), of which 150 participants representative of faculty, staff, and students, responded. Although 111 (74.0 %) of participants considered body donation to be appropriate for educational and research purposes, only 44 (29.3 %) of participants expressed willingness to donate their bodies. Reluctance to donate 106 (70.7 %) appeared to be mostly influenced by religion, psychological barrier, and familial reasons. The emergence of four themes (i.e., resource, barrier, humanitarian, and awareness) and the identification of a potential donor group within the group that was willing to donate provided insight into the level of awareness within the university community. Furthermore, such findings may assist to establish future body donation programs and strategize recruitment approaches, especially when there is an ensuing dearth of anatomical donations.

Altruism in death: Attitudes to body and organ donation in Australian students

“…Possibly, participants were more positive about gross anatomy and the use of donated bodies for research and education because of their choice to pursue vocations requiring training in anatomy, rather than their exposure to anatomical examination per se. The value participants place on their anatomical sciences education may also be reflected in positive attitudes to donation, as reported by others (Cahill & Ettarh, 2011;Ciliberti et al, 2018;Kumar et al, 2020;Lee & Lee, 2021;Naidoo et al, 2021).…”

“…The lack of factual knowledge about donation, particularly the process of procurement, is thus a barrier to donation and inhibits the capacity of the commu- receptive to thinking about them as a consequence of the exposure to the donor body, and the inherent altruistic qualities of donation (Cornwall & Stringer, 2009;Flack & Nicholson, 2017). It would be important, however, that any program about donation included in anatomy class was constrained to the provision of information, not promotion; the issue of donation is very personal and, as shown here and elsewhere, (Rumsey et al, 2003;Shaheen, 2009;Wong, 2010;Wakefield et al, 2011;Phillipson et al, 2015;Ralph et al, 2016;Naidoo et al, 2021) reflective of cultural, religious beliefs and other factors. Students should not feel pressured to support donation but could be better informed about it, with the provision of facts about the legal and ethical frameworks in which donation is enabled and the implications of donation, equipping them with the knowledge to address misconceptions, including their own, those of their family and friends, and the community.…”

One year of anatomy teaching and learning in the outbreak: Has the Covid‐19 pandemic marked the end of a century‐old practice? A systematic review

“…Moreover, since Covid‐19 might not disappear for a long time, it is likely that body donations are going to dwindle even more (Singal et al, 2020). Therefore, a “cadaver less” era might be on the brink (Brassett et al, 2020; Oyeniran, 2020; Pushpa & Ravi, 2020; Singal et al, 2020; Singh & Pakhiddey, 2020; Lemos et al, 2021; Naidoo et al, 2021a, b; Skok et al, 2021).…”

Fewer medical students are open to body donation after dissecting human cadavers

“…Likewise, the majority of physicians, particularly those in surgical specialties, look favourably on their experiences with cadaver dissection 5,6 . Despite this, a disproportionately small number of physicians donate their bodies to medical school Willed Body Programs 7–9 …”

“…5,6 Despite this, a disproportionately small number of physicians donate their bodies to medical school Willed Body Programs. [7][8][9] The discordance between the proportion of physicians who claim to have benefited from cadaver dissection and the proportion willing to donate their own body for medical education remains poorly explained. It is reasonable to posit that physicians, having directly experienced the positive impact of cadaver dissection on their…”