Gross anatomy

You know what is awesome? Gross anatomy.

Cadaver dissection is an excellent way to learn anatomy.

I have Gray's Anatomy for Students, Netter's Atas, and flashcards on order from Amazon. I've even read Grays, but nothing has been as useful as hands on anatomy lessons. Time spent teasing muscles apart along the langer's lines is time spent reinforcing which muscle it is exactly we are reflecting. Want to be able to visualize a vena cava? Stick your finger in one and follow it to the right atrium.

I love it! We are encouraged to go around and look at other groups' cadavers, and it has been really interesting to see the variations in "normal" and the impact of different diseases/pathologies.

Our group is taking its time to ensure everyone is comfortable with all the parts of the day's dissection and can identify the structures. It means we take a bit longer to go through everything but so far no one has had any problem with going in during non-lab time to catch up. Our group is probably a bit more enthusiastic than the others about the whole thing, I'm sure you can imagine ;-)