# Paramedic Training - with cadavers



## ffemt8978 (Apr 27, 2011)

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/apr/27/paramedics-cadaver-training-rare-welcome-opportuni/


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## BEorP (Apr 27, 2011)

Excellent story. I wish that cadaver labs would become a standard part of EMS training. It isn't practical to allow everyone to do procedures on them, but even just for learning anatomy it would still be beneficial.


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## STXmedic (Apr 27, 2011)

I just got done with a cadaver procedure lab yesterday


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## Tommerag (Apr 27, 2011)

We do cadaverlabs in my medic class


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## exodus (Apr 27, 2011)

The school I'm in offers cadaver airway labs.


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## firecoins (Apr 27, 2011)

I am sure that cadaver can be as a good a medic as anyone.


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## Akulahawk (Apr 29, 2011)

I actually enjoy a good human cadaver lab. IMHO, every Paramedic course should have it as part of the curriculum, even if only for gross familiarization. Every good A&P course/series should have a cadaver for dissection and should start with a complete body and end with a well-dissected one. 

I think a good cadaver lab also gets people over any personal issues about "dead bodies."


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## LucidResq (Apr 29, 2011)

I agree. It should be the standard. I think a lot of people in this field are tactile learners, and you could show me diagrams of muscles all day or tell me what they do, but letting me actually tug at one and watch the action and trace the course of the tendons and such is what will really solidify the knowledge for me.


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## usalsfyre (Apr 29, 2011)

Unfortunately there's far too few cadavers available for this purpose. It's one reason I plan on donating my body when I'm done with it...


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## medicRob (Apr 29, 2011)

usalsfyre said:


> Unfortunately there's far too few cadavers available for this purpose. It's one reason I plan on donating my body when I'm done with it...



I look forward to seeing you one day.. ha ha. I am going to start a business where I talk elderly people in nursing homes into donating their bodies to science. My brochure will say in big white letters, "Wanna go to college?"

For those who are not fortunate enough to live in an area that offers cadaver anatomy (graduate or undergrad). Make sure to check out my cadaver dissection post of a real cadaver dissection. 

http://emtlife.com/showthread.php?t=21770&highlight=cadaver+dissection

Cadavers (especially when more than one is used in a class) give us the opportunity to exam the wide range of variations in human pathology, as opposed to that healthy 20 year old we have become so accustomed to in our anatomy books. Moreover, if you get lucky enough to get an individual who died of a condition which would alter their anatomy, it is an excellent opportunity for you to observe the end result of that, up close and personal. 

As usalsfyre said, cadavers are in short supply. If it wasn't for that stupid Anatomy Act, I would be diggin up people today and selling them to medical schools. Instead, I am forced to loom overhead like a vulture at nursing homes, looking for a fresh kill.


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## LucidResq (Apr 29, 2011)

medicRob said:


> Cadavers (especially when more than one is used in a class) give us the opportunity to exam the wide range of variations in human pathology, as opposed to that healthy 20 year old we have become so accustomed to in our anatomy books. Moreover, if you get lucky enough to get an individual who died of a condition which would alter their anatomy, it is an excellent opportunity for you to observe the end result of that, up close and personal.



One of the fellers I worked with had a heart that was nearly basketball-sized. It was so large it was impossible to hold in one hand alone. I was in high school at the point so I didn't get a very sophisticated explanation, but IIRC it started with renal failure and somehow ended in the cardiomegaly.


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## medicsb (Apr 29, 2011)

I'm hoping to put together a 4 hour class for paramedic students in the cadaver lab at my school.  It's been pretty cool to see some of the pathologies.  My cadaver had a dual chamber pacemaker, hernia repair, hip replacement, and though not a result of pathology, he also was missing the middle lobe in his R lung.  A few had unrepaired abdominal aortic aneurysms.  A few with cysts of the kidney.  Brains with old infarcts.  And one that was cool was a repaired thoracic aneurysm.  Oh and top things off we have a post-op male to female  transsexual (yes, complete with a vagina).  She died of COPD; lungs were pretty gnarly.


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## 18G (Apr 29, 2011)

The Paramedic program I graduated from had a cadaver lab as part of the clinicals. We went to the University of Maryland School of Medicine for the cadaver lab and also got to observe anatomy during autopsies at the Medical Examiners office in Baltimore which was a great experience. 

One of the deceased being autopsied died in an MVC and we were able to see the brain being dissected and the area of the brain that sustained a hemorrhage. It was very nice to see first hand. 

In the cadaver lab we practiced intubation, IO insertions, surgical airways, and chest decompression. Our Medical Director also demonstrated retrograde intubation.


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