My First Anatomy Lab Practical
Today is Friday. But it’s not just any old Friday. Today is my very first gross anatomy lab practical. In exactly four hours, I will be sitting in a room, waiting to be “sequestered” by a lab TA and escorted into the anatomy lab. In the lab there will be, I think, around 20 stations. At each station, there will either be a cadaver, some sort of bone, or a radiograph, MRI, or CT Scan. I will have 45 seconds to look at the object, figure out what is tagged, decide what that thing is, and fill in my answer on a scantron sheet. Yes, it is multiple choice. It wasn’t in the past, but because there are so many students, they didn’t want to grade hundreds of sloppy medical students’ handwriting. You might be thinking that multiple choice is easier. Well, you’re wrong.
I will walk from station to station, at the sound of a buzzer, and after around 20 minutes, it will all be over. That’s right, I spent incalculable hours of studying for this sucker, yet it will all come down to 20 minutes of identification.
In my first 5 weeks of medical school, I’ve learned a lot. Not only basic science stuff, but also about myself. One of the important things I’ve learned is how I learn, especially how I learn something like gross anatomy. I watched all the gross anatomy lectures, did my assigned dissections, read the books, studied the atlases, and even went to the special TA sessions, yet I still couldn’t quickly identify the thoracoacromial artery on a random cadaver within 45 seconds.
This week I learned what it takes for me to understand how the human body is put together. I have to spend hours in the anatomy lab, walking from body to body, identifying each and every muscle, nerve, artery and vein. I found out that I really do love the human body, and I can learn it, but it takes a lot of time and dedication.
I also realized that medical school is not a good place for unmotivated people. I guess this is obvious, but what I’m trying to say is that if you only just go where people tell you to go and do what people tell you to do, you might not end up learning everything. You really have to figure out what works for you, and be motivated to do it. I didn’t have to spend 7 hours a day in the anatomy lab. In fact, I had to take time away from studying my other subjects to do so. But let me tell you, I can find the thoracodorsal nerve branch off of the brachial plexus on any body, in under 10 seconds.
Yes, I am proud of my accomplishment. And yes, I’m going to kick that anatomy lab practical’s gluteus maximus.
My name is Kendra and I am a fourth-year medical student attending