The importance of surgeons teaching anatomy, especially by whole-body dissection

To the Editor: The reduction in anatomy teaching by whole-body dissection in medical education is a critical matter that has received substantial attention in the medical education literature.1,2 Where anatomy teaching by whole-body dissection has remained, there has been a marked move away from the tradition of such courses being taught by surgeons. A recent review of anatomy education in Australia and New Zealand showed that teaching of gross anatomy is now predominantly undertaken by non-clinical staff, including medical students, science graduates, physiotherapists and technical staff.2 Speculation has arisen that the teaching of anatomy by non-clinical staff may lead to a lack of depth in understanding of topographical clinical anatomy among medical graduates.2