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Last update: August 9, 1999 - HGW
Anatomy can be one of the most grueling times in your first year at Cornell Med. As opposed to biochemistry and such, most people have never taken a scalpel to a cadaver before. That being said, Cornell Medical has one of the shortest anatomy courses in the U.S. -- if not *the* shortest. Further, the lab is run in rotation, such that if you're not a real fan of dissecting, you could conceivably get away with doing less than your share. The risk you run, however, is the eternal annoyance of your group mates. Above all, even though anatomy can be fun, please try to maintain a sense of propriety throughout your lab days. Not only is it respectful of the donors who have given their bodies to science, but you'll incur the wrath of your course director if you don't demonstrate that you're not a loser.
Here are some imaginary questions and answers for dissection.
"Oh, wow, it smells bad in here. What can I do?"
Suck it up. I mean, not literally. But get used to it, because the more time you spend down there getting your dissection right and identifying key structures, the better prepared you'll be. But if you're really offended by the smell, don't try what one first-year once did, which was to douse himself and his scrubs liberally with cologne in the lockerroom before going into the actual lab.
Now, the cool trick that our anatomy TA's have taught us in the past is this (which may or may not work for you): number one, always double-glove. Number two, and this is the trick, after you put on the first pair of gloves, get some of that dishwashing soap they keep in the lab and squirt some into the second pair before you put them on. For some reason -- and the chemists in your class may be able to explain it -- it seems to reduce that gnarly smell from your hands. And yes, your hands will smell if you do any dissecting that day, so beware. By the way, first day of anatomy lab is not a good time to discover that you have a latex allergy.
"Hm. Yeah, so where are you supposed to get scrubs?"
Well, technically, you're not supposed to be using the ones from the hospital, since it runs up a huge tab. In reality, most students wind up going through the rite of borrowing scrubs from one of the surgical lockerrooms, e.g. in the Greenberg Pavillion, where the combination is rumored to be some combination of 3, 4, and 5, but not in that order. (C'mon, that's practically giving it away.) Or, better yet, chances are that someone else will go and scare up a pile of scrubs -- be sure to catch him/her before they go, and let them know what size you want. By the way, your scrubs will start to smell formaldehyde-y after a while. Not just from being in the lab, but eventually you'll accidentally lean up against a particularly soiled surface, and *boom*. Oily crud all over your scrub top. Here's the thing: even if you wash them, it won't go away, so don't try washing them with your real clothes.
"So Iit's my first day. Should I plunge in with a scalpel?"
RULE #1: You can never go wrong with BLUNT DISSECTION. The urge on your first day will be to plunge in with a scalpel. DO NOT PLUNGE IN WITH A SCALPEL. Use the scalpel only when you are certain no important structure underlie the area you will be incising. For instance, scalpel through the skin, but once you're through that and into the fascia + fat underneath, go with your scissors.
"What do you mean, go with your scissors?"
First of all, stop holding scissors the way you used to. For much more control, hold your scissors between the thumb (duh) and your third or fourth finger (not so duh). This way, you can point your index finger along the back of the scissors and guide them as precisely as you can point with your index finger.
Next, and this is not intuitive, scissors are not for cutting. Rather, you should keep them closed and explore the undissected areas by pointing them into the area, exploring a bit, and then SPREADING the scissors. This way, you use the BLUNT edges of the scissors to spread apart the structures, important or not, so you can see what you're about to cut through. After you're absolutely sure that you don't need to preserve a structure, go ahead and cut it.
If you really feel like practicing this technique before you get to anatomy (I have no idea why you'd want to), get an orange, and try to remove the peel without cutting into the pulp using scissors vs. a scalpel. Then try to separate the slices using scissors vs. a scalpel. You get the idea. Scissors = POPEYE, scalpel = BLUTO (or BRUTUS, depending on which name you prefer).
Incidentally, this med student went plunging through several layers and bagged nearly every important vessel and nerve before someone taught him blunt dissection technique.
"What do you mean by bagged?"
To bag - to render a structure unretrievably dissected beyond recognition. This can be a good and a bad thing. Eventually, you'll need to bag a few important vessels and nerves -- after you've cleared them out and unequivocally identified them. But more often than not, you'll accidentally "bag" a nerve, or a lymphoid structure, or other things which either you weren't aware of or else are located in a less-than-average anatomical position.
Okay. So now my personal anatomy atlases are all messed up with anatomy crud. I paid good money for these!
Wow, that sucks, knucklehead. Maybe you should've thought of getting a used copy of Netter's and Shearer's from an upperclassman, for your dissecting group. Better yet, you might be able to rustle up used copies that have been left behind in the anatomy lab by previous classes -- try looking through the drawers. But remember -- it's an anatomy lab, so don't get freaked out if you find weird stuff in there. Just remember: count on stuff you bring into the lab getting messed up at some point. It's not necessarily always going to happen, but the odds are stacked against you.
Hey, who's that weird guy?
Bill Giddings? I'm not going to give away that experience. Find out on your own.
To be continued...
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