Special ArticleThe Role of Postmortem Examination in Medical Education
Section snippets
Past
The autopsy had an important role in the development of modern medicine. It was the central means by which scientists gained an understanding of anatomy, pathology, and clinicopathologic correlation. Despite its importance, the autopsy has been criticized throughout history.
Hippocrates described it as “an unpleasant, if not cruel, task.”2 Thomas Sydcnham, a 17th-century English physician, said, “Some physicians pompously and speciously prosecute the promotion of medicine by search into the
Requesting Permission
Residents are often the first medical person to be notified of a death in the hospital. Requesting an autopsy, although often low on the list of priorities, is the most important way for residents to influence the autopsy rate. In one study, 45% of families who had “denied autopsy consent” reported that they had never been asked.13
Recently, a resident-based intervention was successfully used to increase autopsy rates at a public hospital.1 Medical residents were trained in a 2-hour didactic
The Program Director
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education requires all internal medicine residency programs to incorporate pathology into the teaching program:
All deaths must berevie wed,…autopsies should be performed on at least 15% of deaths on the medical teaching service. Residents should be present at autopsies or should review the gross pathologic specimens at the time the autopsies are performed on their patients and should review the autopsy reports. Formal teaching sessions with
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