General Lab Rules
Laboratory Setting
A set of tools is provided for each dissection group. They will be found in the tray below your table or on counter space. Please keep your tools clean and handle them with care. When not in use, keep them in the tray. Wooden blocks are provided as supports. Keep these under your table when not in use.
Care of the Cadaver
At the completion of the each day's dissection, the following procedures should be carried out. Remove all non-bony tissue fragments and place them in the tan fiber bucket on the tray below the cadaver. Clean the table with the sponges provided with your table kit. Moisten dissected regions with Biostat as needed, completely cover the cadaver with the muslin sheet, and moisten the sheet with Biostat. Book stands should be placed on the tray beneath the table between the drain bucket and tissue bucket. The white table cover should then be replaced, taking care to cover the table completely. Instruments should be stored in the tray beneath the table, at the head end. Do not leave instruments on the table, as these present a safety concern. Sharp instruments may become lost beneath the cadaver, and may be encountered much later when the cadaver is being turned, with injury resulting. Care of your table and your cadaver stems from the reverence and respect our body donors deserve.
Dispose of all soft tissue removed from the cadaver (skin, fat, tissue fragments, etc.) in the tan fiber bucket under your dissecting table. Do not put paper, gloves, or other waste in these tissue buckets. All bone fragments, major parts, organs, and limbs are to be kept as a unit with the remains of the cadaver.
Dispose of gloves and paper waste in the large green or gray wastebaskets near the sinks. Do not put glass bottles or tin cans in these containers. They may cause serious injuries to the custodians. Used scalpel blades are to be removed by hand and placed in the sharps containers near the sinks. Band-aids are found at the sinks, and eyewash stations and emergency showers are located at the center sink in each room.
It is necessary to expose only those areas of the cadaver that are being dissected. This reduces dehydration from the air conditioning and maintains a cleaner and more orderly appearing laboratory. The above procedures should maintain the proper moisture level of the cadaver. If the cadaver shows signs of dehydration, moisten the cadaver with Biostat found in plastic jugs at the sinks. It is especially important to maintain those parts of the body that are not currently being dissected, as you will come back to them later. Occasionally mold may form on a cadaver, usually in an area previously dissected. If you detect any mold, inform the Faculty so that it may be treated.