Medicine is a course which requires its students to study a wide amount of knowledge regarding the human body, from basic anatomy, physiology to advanced clinical skills and knowledge in order to understand the underlying pathophysiology of a disease and the management of the disease.
In order to help students become familiarised and proficient with the fundamental knowledge taught in first year, UCD offers a more hands-on approach in educating its students. Apart from attending lectures, students are also required to attend lab sessions to enhance their learning experience.
These sessions are weekly and are usually each focused on one segment of human anatomy, with several stations during each session. For example, a session on the lower limb involves stations where you would have guided teaching using an anatomy model, followed by a station with prosected lower limbs (prosections are parts of cadavers that have been already dissected by an anatomist for the purpose of teaching students), followed by a station in which students themselves can attempt to dissect the part of the body being studied in groups of 4 or less. These cadavers are real patients who had donated their bodies to science, and are hence a privilege for us UCD students to work with.
