UBC Medical School is facing a shortage of corpses for medical students, researchers say as they appeal for donations. The UBC Body Donation Program has been operating since 1950, with an average of approximately 80 to 110 donations per year. However, this number has shrunk to 45-50. And while some medical schools may move away from studying corpses in anatomy and anatomy classes, for UBC medical student Armaghan Alam, the experience is crucial. “The human body is precious in its own way,” he said. “It’s important to learn from that.” Learning medicine using a body donation is something that textbooks, virtual learning or models cannot approach, Alam told Glacier Media. “You do not understand that the detailed layers of tissues interact with each other. You lose that particular piece of knowledge. “ Dr. Ed Moore, Professor and Head of the UBC Department of Cell and Physical Sciences, oversees the body donation program. He told all the students that corpses are their first patients and should be treated with dignity and respect. “There is no fun in the lab. No nonsense. Without phones, laptops, cameras “. Maximum use of training or research is made from every gift of a body, he added. Surgeons will come to try new techniques, others to try such a technique before using it in the operating room. Moore said any donation could improve the lives of many for years to come. “It’s a remarkable gift to the next generation,” he said.

The program handles the acquisition of corpses used in teaching and research. Medicine, biomedical engineering, dentistry and other students use corpses and tissues to learn basic anatomy, practice surgical techniques, test innovative new devices, among other uses. Moore said donations may have been reduced due to the pandemic, which led to the program being temporarily shut down to ensure the safety of staff and students. But now there is a need for corpses. Donor consent is a key part of the program, Moore said, noting that consent can be revoked at any time by either the donor or his family. “It is completely voluntary.” And while the practice of the past may have been the use of unknown bodies, that practice stopped decades ago, he said.

“A special experience for everyone”

The program emphasizes that students studying for careers in medicine, dentistry and related professions respect donated bodies. This respect is something to which Alam has repeatedly returned. He said that when students first enter the dissection lab, it is a clinical, sterile environment. “There is a special kind of life that comes into the room,” Alam said. “This is a very special way to celebrate a person’s life. I think it is a special experience for everyone “. Alam said that each body is unique and, therefore, each offers unique teaching experiences to students. He said his body had a significant hernia while another had cancer. Students would learn about these conditions by looking at other corpses in the dissection room, he explained. Such learning situations may be on the way in some schools and be replaced by virtual teaching. Alam does not believe that the practical experience for young doctors in the dissection laboratory can be effectively reproduced.

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“The body donation is a very special gift to the future health professionals of our community,” the program’s website said. “Students … are fully aware of the special privilege granted to them and the obligation they have to behave in a professional manner during their education. “People who donate their bodies to medical school can be sure that all human remains are worthy of the dignity and respect that our society usually bestows on the dead,” the website said. UBC officials said the shortage was not unique to UBC. other universities across North America are experiencing the same trend. Each year, students organize a memorial service for the donors – usually in September – who were cremated the previous year. Alam said one reason for the drop in donations may have been the lack of a physical ceremony due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The drop in referrals could be another factor, he said. “Word of mouth may be lost.” Moore said anyone interested in becoming a donor can visit the program’s website. [email protected] twitter.com/jhainswo