Dissecting the Impact of Anatomy Lab Policies on Pregnant Medical Students

There has been little research into the unique occupational hazards facing pregnant medical students, particularly surrounding their exposure to formaldehyde during cadaveric dissection. Formaldehyde is potentially teratogenic and mutagenic and has been associated with spontaneous abortion and birth defects. This project was undertaken to investigate the prevalence and content of policies in United States medical schools concerning pregnant students' participation in gross anatomy laboratories. The U.S. News and World Report's top 50 medical schools were systematically reviewed for policies pertaining to pregnant students' participation in gross anatomy laboratories during 2023. Email contact was made with each school to confirm the policy, or to inquire whether there was any non-publicly available policy or guidance instead. Among the 50 schools reviewed, 13 (26%) had written policies, six (12%) were publicly available, and seven (14%) had policies obtained via email, while seven other schools (14%) responded with unofficial policies or internal guidance used by their anatomy departments. Twenty-nine schools (58%) were categorized as having no policies; 16 of these did not respond to the email, and one declined to participate. One school was excluded. The content and scope of both official and unofficial policies varied widely. The lack of codified policies in most medical schools regarding safety considerations for pregnant students in gross anatomy laboratories indicated that more could be done to accommodate this group of students. Creating official, publicly available policies would promote a more inclusive environment for these trainees and signal to students that the institution is prepared to support them should they become pregnant during medical school.