Using the physical exam to promote a patient‐centered approach to the cadaver

Conducting a physical exam of the entire body prior to dissection creates an integrated surface anatomy exercise and a holistic introduction to the unique human being whose corporeal remains provide evidence of its vital medical and personal history. The exam has four objectives: to value surface anatomy, to observe the cadaver's unique characteristics, to document medical conditions and procedures, and to create a hypothetical patient‐centered psychosocial narrative that reflect inferred medical and personal history. Initially, students meet the nude supine cadaver and observe, palpate and record its appearance and unusual features. Before dissecting, each team completes an “ARI Day‐1 Report” describing its findings along with plausible explanatory hypotheses and a first‐impression narrative about the cadaver's medical and personal history. As they dissect and discover underlying and new conditions, each team updates its Day‐1 Report to include the new findings and revises its hypotheses and narrative history. Faculty, anatomists and clinicians, regularly comment on the updated regional reports. The newly revised ARI program with this exercise encourages students to think about the cadaver's uniqueness in medical, psychological, and cultural contexts and to reflect upon the significance of their findings to the human being who lived with them. Beginning anatomy with a holistic exam of the cadaver promotes awareness and appreciation for the individual and closely parallels a fundamental first step in patient evaluation: taking a history, conducting a physical exam and linking them in a patient‐centered care context.