Evaluating the Attitude of Nigerian Anatomists Towards Body Donations for Medical Education

Ogan Christopher Akanaku; Odey Paul Anyiom; Ikpa James Onah; Asomugha Precious Remigius

doi:doi:10.11648/j.bs.20190504.16

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Evaluating the Attitude of Nigerian Anatomists Towards Body Donations for Medical Education

Ogan Christopher Akanaku, Odey Paul Anyiom, Ikpa James Onah, Asomugha Precious Remigius

Published in Biomedical Sciences (Volume 5, Issue 4)

Received: 23 September 2019 Accepted: 12 October 2019 Published: 25 November 2019

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Abstract

The use of dissection in anatomy has long been considered a cornerstone in medical education irrespective of nation, racial background or medical school. Anatomy education in Nigeria is faced with the challenge of insufficient supply of cadavers. Body donation could be a possible solution to the inadequate supply of cadavers for medical education in Nigeria. Very little is known about body donation in Nigeria as well as the attitude of Nigerians towards body donation. In this study the attitude of Nigerian anatomists towards body donation was evaluated. Questionnaires were sent to anatomists in three universities in Nigeria covering three geographical zones in Nigeria. A total of fifty-eight (58) responses were obtained. The use of unclaimed bodies (58.6%) and the use of 3D models (46.6%) were the major solutions proposed for cadaver insufficiency. 85.5% of the participants thought that body donation campaigns could increase people’s willingness to donate their body for anatomical study. Only 47% of the participants were willing to campaign for body donation while 53% of the participants were not willing to campaign. Only a few of the participants (25%) were willing to donate their bodies for anatomical study. Their unwillingness was mainly due to religious reasons (26.5%), culture and tradition (12%) and also restrictions from family members (18%). Some even had reasons they would not disclose (28.5%). They could recommend body donation to others but will not recommend it to their relatives.

Published in	Biomedical Sciences (Volume 5, Issue 4)
DOI	10.11648/j.bs.20190504.16
Page(s)	71-75
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Anatomy, Anatomical Study, Medical Education, Body Donation, Nigerian Anatomists

References

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[10]	Mwachaka, M. P. & Saidi. H. (2016). Repeated exposure to dissection does not affect student’s attitude towards human body for Anatomy teaching.
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[15]	Rajkumari, A. B. and Y. I. Singh, (2007). Body donation and its relevance in anatomy learning - A review. J. Anat. Soc. India, 56 (1): 1-6.
[16]	Riederer B. M. (2016), Body donations today and tomorrow: What is the best practice and why? Clin. Anat., 29: 11-18. Doi: 10.1002/ca.22641
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APA Style

Ogan Christopher Akanaku, Odey Paul Anyiom, Ikpa James Onah, Asomugha Precious Remigius. (2019). Evaluating the Attitude of Nigerian Anatomists Towards Body Donations for Medical Education. Biomedical Sciences, 5(4), 71-75. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.bs.20190504.16

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ACS Style

Ogan Christopher Akanaku; Odey Paul Anyiom; Ikpa James Onah; Asomugha Precious Remigius. Evaluating the Attitude of Nigerian Anatomists Towards Body Donations for Medical Education. Biomed. Sci. 2019, 5(4), 71-75. doi: 10.11648/j.bs.20190504.16

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AMA Style

Ogan Christopher Akanaku, Odey Paul Anyiom, Ikpa James Onah, Asomugha Precious Remigius. Evaluating the Attitude of Nigerian Anatomists Towards Body Donations for Medical Education. Biomed Sci. 2019;5(4):71-75. doi: 10.11648/j.bs.20190504.16

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@article{10.11648/j.bs.20190504.16,
  author = {Ogan Christopher Akanaku and Odey Paul Anyiom and Ikpa James Onah and Asomugha Precious Remigius},
  title = {Evaluating the Attitude of Nigerian Anatomists Towards Body Donations for Medical Education},
  journal = {Biomedical Sciences},
  volume = {5},
  number = {4},
  pages = {71-75},
  doi = {10.11648/j.bs.20190504.16},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.bs.20190504.16},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.bs.20190504.16},
  abstract = {The use of dissection in anatomy has long been considered a cornerstone in medical education irrespective of nation, racial background or medical school. Anatomy education in Nigeria is faced with the challenge of insufficient supply of cadavers. Body donation could be a possible solution to the inadequate supply of cadavers for medical education in Nigeria. Very little is known about body donation in Nigeria as well as the attitude of Nigerians towards body donation. In this study the attitude of Nigerian anatomists towards body donation was evaluated. Questionnaires were sent to anatomists in three universities in Nigeria covering three geographical zones in Nigeria. A total of fifty-eight (58) responses were obtained. The use of unclaimed bodies (58.6%) and the use of 3D models (46.6%) were the major solutions proposed for cadaver insufficiency. 85.5% of the participants thought that body donation campaigns could increase people’s willingness to donate their body for anatomical study. Only 47% of the participants were willing to campaign for body donation while 53% of the participants were not willing to campaign. Only a few of the participants (25%) were willing to donate their bodies for anatomical study. Their unwillingness was mainly due to religious reasons (26.5%), culture and tradition (12%) and also restrictions from family members (18%). Some even had reasons they would not disclose (28.5%). They could recommend body donation to others but will not recommend it to their relatives.},
 year = {2019}
}

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TY - JOUR
T1 - Evaluating the Attitude of Nigerian Anatomists Towards Body Donations for Medical Education
AU - Ogan Christopher Akanaku
AU - Odey Paul Anyiom
AU - Ikpa James Onah
AU - Asomugha Precious Remigius
Y1 - 2019/11/25
PY - 2019
N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.bs.20190504.16
DO - 10.11648/j.bs.20190504.16
T2 - Biomedical Sciences
JF - Biomedical Sciences
JO - Biomedical Sciences
SP - 71
EP - 75
PB - Science Publishing Group
SN - 2575-3932
UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.bs.20190504.16
AB - The use of dissection in anatomy has long been considered a cornerstone in medical education irrespective of nation, racial background or medical school. Anatomy education in Nigeria is faced with the challenge of insufficient supply of cadavers. Body donation could be a possible solution to the inadequate supply of cadavers for medical education in Nigeria. Very little is known about body donation in Nigeria as well as the attitude of Nigerians towards body donation. In this study the attitude of Nigerian anatomists towards body donation was evaluated. Questionnaires were sent to anatomists in three universities in Nigeria covering three geographical zones in Nigeria. A total of fifty-eight (58) responses were obtained. The use of unclaimed bodies (58.6%) and the use of 3D models (46.6%) were the major solutions proposed for cadaver insufficiency. 85.5% of the participants thought that body donation campaigns could increase people’s willingness to donate their body for anatomical study. Only 47% of the participants were willing to campaign for body donation while 53% of the participants were not willing to campaign. Only a few of the participants (25%) were willing to donate their bodies for anatomical study. Their unwillingness was mainly due to religious reasons (26.5%), culture and tradition (12%) and also restrictions from family members (18%). Some even had reasons they would not disclose (28.5%). They could recommend body donation to others but will not recommend it to their relatives.
VL - 5
IS - 4
ER -

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Author Information

Ogan Christopher Akanaku

Department of Human Anatomy, Cross River University of Technology (Crutech), Okuku-campus, Nigeria
Odey Paul Anyiom

Department of Anatomical Sciences, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria
Ikpa James Onah

Department of Human Anatomy, Cross River University of Technology (Crutech), Okuku-campus, Nigeria
Asomugha Precious Remigius

Department of Human Anatomy, Cross River University of Technology (Crutech), Okuku-campus, Nigeria

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APA Style

Ogan Christopher Akanaku, Odey Paul Anyiom, Ikpa James Onah, Asomugha Precious Remigius. (2019). Evaluating the Attitude of Nigerian Anatomists Towards Body Donations for Medical Education. Biomedical Sciences, 5(4), 71-75. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.bs.20190504.16

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ACS Style

Ogan Christopher Akanaku; Odey Paul Anyiom; Ikpa James Onah; Asomugha Precious Remigius. Evaluating the Attitude of Nigerian Anatomists Towards Body Donations for Medical Education. Biomed. Sci. 2019, 5(4), 71-75. doi: 10.11648/j.bs.20190504.16

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AMA Style

Ogan Christopher Akanaku, Odey Paul Anyiom, Ikpa James Onah, Asomugha Precious Remigius. Evaluating the Attitude of Nigerian Anatomists Towards Body Donations for Medical Education. Biomed Sci. 2019;5(4):71-75. doi: 10.11648/j.bs.20190504.16

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@article{10.11648/j.bs.20190504.16,
  author = {Ogan Christopher Akanaku and Odey Paul Anyiom and Ikpa James Onah and Asomugha Precious Remigius},
  title = {Evaluating the Attitude of Nigerian Anatomists Towards Body Donations for Medical Education},
  journal = {Biomedical Sciences},
  volume = {5},
  number = {4},
  pages = {71-75},
  doi = {10.11648/j.bs.20190504.16},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.bs.20190504.16},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.bs.20190504.16},
  abstract = {The use of dissection in anatomy has long been considered a cornerstone in medical education irrespective of nation, racial background or medical school. Anatomy education in Nigeria is faced with the challenge of insufficient supply of cadavers. Body donation could be a possible solution to the inadequate supply of cadavers for medical education in Nigeria. Very little is known about body donation in Nigeria as well as the attitude of Nigerians towards body donation. In this study the attitude of Nigerian anatomists towards body donation was evaluated. Questionnaires were sent to anatomists in three universities in Nigeria covering three geographical zones in Nigeria. A total of fifty-eight (58) responses were obtained. The use of unclaimed bodies (58.6%) and the use of 3D models (46.6%) were the major solutions proposed for cadaver insufficiency. 85.5% of the participants thought that body donation campaigns could increase people’s willingness to donate their body for anatomical study. Only 47% of the participants were willing to campaign for body donation while 53% of the participants were not willing to campaign. Only a few of the participants (25%) were willing to donate their bodies for anatomical study. Their unwillingness was mainly due to religious reasons (26.5%), culture and tradition (12%) and also restrictions from family members (18%). Some even had reasons they would not disclose (28.5%). They could recommend body donation to others but will not recommend it to their relatives.},
 year = {2019}
}

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