 Research
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Alternatives to
Live Animal Laboratories |
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The use of live animal laboratories to demonstrate basic physiology
and pharmacology is an issue of great concern for many medical students.
While approximately three-quarters of all medical schools in the
United States have eliminated these exercises, they remain—usually
as optional activities—at the remainder. In the typical first-
or second year live animal laboratory, students observe the effects
of various drugs on an anesthetized dog and then kill the animal.
A recent study found that nearly a quarter of medical students
object to “dog labs” and that the number of students
who are uneasy about the use of animals “tends to be larger
than the number who express these feelings to faculty.”1
Indeed, another study found that “only a small number of students
unequivocally claimed that they had no uneasiness about experimenting
on dogs.”2 Taking part in the procedure apparently
does not alleviate that uneasiness. In one case, the percentage
of students believing the laboratory “involved a morally wrong
use of animals” was twice as high after completion of the
exercise than it was in the pre-laboratory survey.1
The American Medical Student Association (AMSA) has twice passed
resolutions urging schools to provide alternatives to animal laboratories
for students with either “moral or pedagogical” objections
and has condemned “faculty intimidation of medical students
to force them to attend classes and labs using live animals.”3
A few isolated institutions do dissuade students from requesting
a non-animal assignment or speaking out against this use of animals,
but most schools that still have the laboratories readily offer
alternatives. Prompted by student concerns about an animal laboratory,
Harvard Medical School developed a dynamic and popular practicum
wherein students go directly into the operating room, right alongside
the surgeons, perfusionist, and cardiac anesthesiologist, to observe
an actual human cardiac bypass surgery. They see the chest opened
and the effects of epinephrine and other agents on the heart, and
witness the patient going on and coming off the cardiopulmonary
bypass machine. During this practicum, the cardiac anesthesiologist
walks students through the basics of physiology and pharmacology.
Students report that the practicum is “an absolutely amazing
experience.” A short videotape documenting this method, Advances
in Medical Education with Henry Heimlich, M.D., is available
through PCRM.
In addition to student pressure, financial concerns have led many
institutions to eliminate animal laboratories,4 which
can cost roughly $100 per student. Sophisticated multimedia computer
programs, on the other hand, cost just a few hundred dollars for
an entire class, require no upkeep or care, and allow for multiple
use by many students. Such programs simulate human physiology, letting
students control hundreds of physiological parameters in a virtual
reality clinical setting. Students can learn from mathematical models
of the coupled heart, lungs, kidneys, and circulation; read real-time
data viewers displaying waveforms, curves, and numerical data; and
perform multiple, varied experiments on the computer model. The
dynamic operating room experience pioneered by Harvard costs essentially
nothing.
Whether fiscal, pedagogical, or ethical concerns are the primary
factor, clearly the trend towards replacing live animal laboratories
is continuing. Faculty and administration are increasingly open
to student concerns and eager to implement more relevant and cost-effective
educational methods.
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References
1. Willis LR, Besch HR Jr. Effect of experience on medical students’
attitudes toward animal laboratories in pharmacology education.
Acad Med 1995;70(1):67-9.
2. Arluke A, Hafferty F. From apprehension to fascination with “dog
lab.” J Contemp Ethno 1996;25;2:201-55.
3. American Medical Student Association. 1993. Principles regarding
vivisection in medical education.
4. Fawver AL, Branch CE, Trentham L, Robertson BT, Beckett SD. A
comparison of interactive videodisc instruction with live animal
laboratories. Am J Physiol 1990;259;6:Pt 3,S11-4.
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