The Surgical Approach to Regional Anatomy (SATRA): Preserving hands-on pre-clerkship anatomy education through surgery-integrated dissection and specimen preparation

Donor-based dissection in undergraduate medical education enhances clinical readiness and provides insight into surgical specialties. However, opportunities for surgically integrated dissection remain limited in pre-clerkship curricula. We developed the Surgical Approach to Regional Anatomy (SATRA), a resource-efficient surgical dissection program to provide learners with an integrated dissection experience while generating reusable teaching specimens for future anatomy education. This pilot study evaluated the feasibility and perceived educational value of SATRA. Thirty-three second-year medical students volunteered to participate and 18 were randomly selected for the half-day session. Working in pairs, students applied surgical techniques, including internervous plane dissection, neurovasculature preservation, osteotomy, and suturing. A post-session survey assessed learners' perceptions of SATRA using Likert-scale and open-ended questions. Among participants, motivations to participate in SATRA included gaining hands-on dissection experience and exposure to surgical education (94%). Upon completion of the 4-h session, nine upper limb teaching specimens were created. All respondents agreed that they gained an improved understanding of upper limb anatomy and increased confidence to serve as a peer mentor. Most agreed (82%) that they gained greater interest in musculoskeletal surgery following SATRA. Interest in recommending and participating in future SATRA sessions was unanimous. Open-ended responses highlighted the value of faculty guidance, hands-on dissection, and the surgical approach as the most useful aspects of SATRA. SATRA demonstrates the feasibility of a surgery-integrated donor dissection program for pre-clerkship learners and provides an innovative approach to preserving clinically relevant hands-on anatomy education, while generating teaching specimens within resource- and time-constrained curricula.