In medical education, we are currently witnessing the breakdown of both the teaching and the care models. There are many symptoms that reveal this phenomenon, including the ideology of coldness and the distance that pervades medical practice. This model of the patient-physician relationship reproduces the student-cadaver relation. With a view to modifying this ideology, we have developed an interdisciplinary activity at UFRJ (the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), in conjunction with the Anatomy course, consisting of reflection groups with first year medical students. Based on the results attained over two years through this research project, called "The Cadaver and Medical Education", we produced a teaching video, "Anatomy Lesson", with the support of FUJB (José Bonifácio Foundation). This was the result of a multidisciplinary team effort, which included both teachers and students from the UFF Institute of Arts and Social Communication, the UFRJ Medical School and the NUTES (Educational Technology Center for Healthcare) of the UFRJ. It is our intention that this visual aid be used as a tool to help improve teaching and medical practice, by introducing a discussion of ethical issues. The research and process of producing the video revealed the possibility of rethinking and innovating in university education and proved to be, for all of us, a lesson on how to work together democratically.
medical education; anatomy; attitude to death; audiovisual aids