UConn's Human Anatomy Learning Laboratory (HALL) is a state-of-the-art cadaver facility that provides educational opportunities for UConn students, health care professionals, and those aspiring to enter the medical field
UConn's Human Anatomy Learning Laboratory (HALL) is a state-of-the-art cadaver facility that provides educational opportunities for UConn students, health care professionals, and those aspiring to enter the medical field ()
For thousands of years, doctors and scientists have used human cadavers to help the living. From gaining knowledge of the human body to training future clinicians, this practice has been critical to the advancement of medical science. UConn's Human Anatomy Learning Laboratory (HALL) continues this tradition in a state-of-the-art facility for UConn students and current health care providers seeking to hone their skills.
Located in the Department of Kinesiology in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR), the 700-square foot facility provides a space for the study of human anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, and pathology through real cadaver dissection with simulation support.
"We orient current and future health care providers to the way the body is put together and give them the chance to have direct encounters with the tissue, so they experience things at a level you can't experience through simulation," says HALL director Jeffrey Kinsella-Shaw. Kinsella-Shaw is Livieri-Endowed Professor of Physical Therapy and associate professor in CAHNR's Department of Kinesiology.
The specialized facility has a filtration system that turns the air over in the room 12 times in one hour, ensuring the air quality always remains high. HALL can house up to six cadavers and offers students unique opportunities to teach and master a variety of techniques through experiential learning.
"We can comfortably hold classes of 30 in this facility, and we have remote functionality as well with cameras that allow recording and streaming video," says Kinsella-Shaw.
Unlike traditional human cadaver labs, HALL is also more comfortable for students.
"You know that formaldehyde smell? You don't get that in here," says Kinsella-Shaw. "This is a very safe facility, with low humidity keeping the cadavers safer to work with for longer periods, and it means they're prepared with far less chemicals."
UConn students in the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program and health care providers in the Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (AGACNP) degree and certificate programs in the UConn School of Nursing (NURS) frequently use HALL for classroom instruction.
"For physical therapy students, we give them the chance to practice their skills on the cadavers that they'll use for real patients. We're able to unwrap the layers and they can visualize it," says Kinsella-Shaw.
Physical therapy students are expected to learn the roughly 206 bones in the human body, the approximately 1,200 named sites on those bones, and, depending on how they are counted, 600 to 800 muscles, along with blood supply through the veins.
"To get hands-on and feel those tissues and see the actual muscle fibers, the tendons, the ligaments - it really changes the way you think about the human body," says Noah Tedeschi '21 (CAHNR), a DPT student.
HALL has been a game changer for UConn's School of Nursing, especially the AGACNP programs focused on training registered nurses to care for the acutely ill, complex adult and gerontology populations.
"By bridging the gap between classroom instruction and clinical practice, this collaboration equips our students with the confidence, precision, and compassion needed for their transition into clinical rotations," says Kristin Bott, DNP, APRN, ACNP-BC, an assistant clinical professor and director of the AGACNP program. "The integration of HALL into our curriculum is a distinctive strength of our program, one that sets us apart from other acute care nurse practitioner programs."
HALL also runs continuing education courses available to health care providers to hone their skills as clinicians. High school students learn at the facility as part of UConn's Pre-College Summer in the Pre-Med Human Anatomy & Physiology course as well.
"We can give those younger students experiences that they don't have the resources to get in another way. HALL could be a hub of STEM learning for students who have an interest in science and potentially want to become health care providers," says Kinsella-Shaw.
Kinsella-Shaw doesn't want to stop there. He is aiming to create more partnerships at UConn and throughout Connecticut, even with some unexpected audiences.
"At this point, I think we've had faculty and/or students from every school and college visit," says Kinsella-Shaw. "We've had researchers in UConn Engineering working on artificial disc replacement and working on synthetic skin tissues, and they want to see the real thing. I've even talked to the School of Fine Arts about doing an anatomy for artists course. That's a huge tradition. All the early anatomists were also artists. To sum it all up, there's something for everyone here."
This work relates to CAHNR's Strategic Vision area focused on Enhancing Health and Well-Being Locally, Nationally, and Globally.
