Digital Feast and Physical Famine: The Altered Ecosystem of Anatomy Education due to the Covid‐19 Pandemic

This article explores the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid‐19) pandemic on the evolution of both physical and digital cadavers within the unique ecosystem of the anatomy laboratory. A physical cadaver is a traditional and established learning tool in anatomy education, whereas a digital cadaver is a relatively recent phenomenon. The Covid‐19 pandemic presented a major disturbance and disruption to all levels and types of education, including anatomy education. This article constructs a conceptual metaphor between a typical anatomy laboratory and an ecosystem, and considers the affordances, constraints, and changing roles of physical and digital cadavers within anatomy education through an ecological lens. Adaptation of physical and digital cadavers during the disturbance is analyzed, and the resiliency of digital cadaver technology is recognized. The evolving role of the digital cadaver is considered in terms of increasing accessibility and inclusivity within the anatomy laboratory ecosystem of the future.

• Publication year

  2021

• Venue

  Anatomical Sciences Education

• Publication date

  2021-05-07

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Education

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1002/ase.2098PMID 33961346PMCID 8239895
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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