School of History, College of Arts, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2021;1317:163-179. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-61125-5_9.
Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in digitising museum collections. Among the objects of interest are anatomical and pathological specimens found in medical museums. As researchers increasingly produce digital replicas of these preparations, ways of integrating these resources into the medical curriculum must be explored. This article takes a medical humanities approach to this topical question, comparing the historic use of anatomical specimens to modern intentions, and exploring the potential for using digital anatomy to help integrate humanities into the curriculum. The use of anatomical specimens by William Hunter (1718-1783), whose collection is now kept at the Hunterian in the University of Glasgow, provides a key historic focus. The teaching intentions for his private courses of anatomy are examined, to investigate how specimens were used in an eighteenth-century "curriculum". The motivations behind digitisation and the use of digital anatomy in modern curriculums are then examined and compared. Many of these motivations are shared with Hunter's: the desire to maintain a unique anatomical resource, the need to provide multisensory engagement in learning, and a desire to attempt to show "natural" anatomy without the interference of human processes. The balance between fostering empathy and maintaining detachment is also key for both. Using digital replicas of historic specimens to teach anatomy also opens up a unique opportunity to educate students in the medical humanities in a fully integrated way. Understanding the full story of the specimens they use, as explored in the first half of the article, allows students to place themselves, their dissection subjects, and healthcare as a whole in a historical context. As well as fostering empathy in the dissection lab, the stories behind the specimens can be used to introduce key humanities topics, including ethics, institutional bias, and social aspects of health and disease. It is essential that this potential is explored now while digital anatomy is still a relatively young field, and therefore collaborations between anatomists and medical humanities practitioners can be built and included from the ground up.
近年来，人们对数字化博物馆藏品产生了浓厚的兴趣。其中，医学博物馆中收藏的解剖学和病理学标本引起了广泛关注。随着研究人员越来越多地制作这些标本的数字复制品，必须探索将这些资源融入医学课程的方法。本文从医学人文学科的角度探讨了这个热门话题，比较了历史上使用解剖标本与现代意图，并探讨了使用数字解剖学帮助将人文学科融入课程的潜力。本文以威廉·亨特（William Hunter，1718-1783 年）的解剖标本为例，他的藏品现藏于格拉斯哥大学的亨特博物馆。亨特的私人解剖课程的教学意图被作为关键的历史焦点进行了考察，以探讨在 18 世纪的“课程”中如何使用标本。然后，考察并比较了数字化的动机以及数字解剖学在现代课程中的应用。这些动机中有许多与亨特的动机相似：保持独特的解剖资源的愿望、在学习中提供多感官参与的需求，以及尝试展示“自然”解剖而不受人为过程干扰的愿望。在培养同理心和保持超然之间保持平衡也是两者的关键。使用历史标本的数字复制品来教授解剖学，也为以完全综合的方式在医学人文学科中教育学生提供了独特的机会。正如本文前半部分所探讨的，通过了解他们使用的标本的完整故事，学生可以将自己、他们的解剖对象以及整个医疗保健置于历史背景中。除了在解剖实验室培养同理心外，标本背后的故事还可以用于介绍关键的人文学科主题，包括伦理、制度偏见以及健康和疾病的社会方面。现在，数字解剖学仍然是一个相对较新的领域，因此有必要探索这种潜力，并从基础开始建立和纳入解剖学家和医学人文学科从业者之间的合作。
