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Nevada State College introduces SynDavers into the Classroom

Mar 14, 2012 | Campus News, School Nursing

By Mandi Enger
Students taking anatomy and physiology courses at Nevada State College are of the first in the state to work with SynDaver, a life-like cadaver. Developed to simulate the human body, SynDavers replicate the body’s anatomy while mimicking the texture and feel of actual skin and organ tissues. The advanced technology of the SynDaver replicates the body from the head through the abdominal cavity, ending above the knees. Nevada State College introduced its first SynDaver into student labs in late 2011 and will have a second available for use in the coming months.
It has been an ongoing goal of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences as well as the college overall to provide students with a very clean and clear sense of what they can expect in their career once completing their degree program at Nevada State College, stated Interim Dean, Dr. Andy Kuniyuki. Students advancing into nursing, pre-med or other biology related fields progress with a deeper understanding of the human body and a significant level of competency in their foundational courses.
Exploration of the SynDaver as well as cadavers during lab work for students majoring in a medical related discipline provides a hands-on learning experience incomparable to basic demonstration techniques.
The cadavers help students examine the pathological changes in the organs and through the process of dissection they can determine the probable causes of death. Conversely, SynDaver helps students understand how the organs are normally. Having both the SynDaver and the cadavers available side-by-side at the NSC lab, undoubtedly, provides our instructors and our students with valuable tools in our pursuit of excellence in teaching and learning respectively, noted Kebret Kebede, M.D. and NSC professor.
The Nevada State College SynDaver was introduced to students during a suture demonstration conducted by Kebret Kebede, M.D., Hon-Vu Duong, M.D. and Scott Sofferman, D.V.M. SynDavers are so advanced that as the initial incision was made in the abdominal cavity normal fatty material flowed out as it would during an actual medical procedure. Furthermore, SynDavers can be hooked up to pumps to demonstrate normal functions of the body.
When we were examining the heart, we could see the veins and arteries. I could identify the aorta, the superior and inferior vena cava and the various branches. I could see the flow of blood as it happens in real life, shared Bette Lang, an honor student in Anatomy and Physiology 224 at NSC. It certainly is an amazing learning tool. I am grateful to be attending Nevada State College and experiencing this class.
Funding for the SynDaver at NSC was made possible through a grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration in 2011.