Dissection and the perception of medicine students about the importance of comparative anatomy in the basic-clinical integration and in teaching and extension

Abstract

Anatomy is considered one of the most important contents in medical training, to understand the body's physiology and the pathophysiology of diseases. Thus, comparative anatomy, through dissection of animal organs, is essential for the development of clinical reasoning. This paper reports a dissection event, performed by an academic league of the medical course, for the anatomical comparative study. The students were divided into groups that had and did not have topographic anatomy of the thorax and after the dissection they were submitted to a questionnaire and 100% of the students reported that the dissection of the heart contributes to a greater understanding and that the practice of dissection, even through of comparative anatomy, helps in the understanding of cardiac structures and physiology. This form of teaching decreases the learning gaps that occur due to the theoretical-practical dissociation of the discipline and the lack of human pieces in the universities collections.