Using Anatomy to Prepare Healthcare Students for Patient Death: A Systematic Review

Healthcare students frequently encounter death in clinical practice, yet formal curricula may not appropriately prepare them for its emotional and ethical challenges. Anatomy education using human body donors has the potential to provide early, structured exposure to death, potentially shaping professional, cognitive, and emotional preparedness for patient death through the hidden curriculum. This review asks if using human body donors to teach anatomy helps prepare healthcare students to experience death in the clinical environment? For this systematic review, eleven academic databases were searched (April 2024, then January 2026) for studies involving healthcare students who learned anatomy using human body donors and reported outcomes related to perceptions of death. The review is reported according to the PRISMA statement. Data were extracted into summary tables, appraised using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool, and analyzed with reflexive thematic analysis. Thirteen studies were included, featuring combinations of medical (n = 9), nursing (n = 5), and physiotherapy and occupational therapy (n = 1) students from nine countries. Methodologies included qualitative (n = 6), quantitative (n = 4), and mixed methods (n = 3). While none of the studies explicitly aimed to explore anatomy education and student considerations of death, these were incorporated into the wider results. Through careful examination of these findings, three key themes were identified: (1) holistic professional identity formation, (2) emotional evolution and adaptive emotional strategies, and (3) reflections on death, dying and mortality. Findings indicate that anatomy education supports preparedness for practice in the context of death in three areas: professional identity development, emotional regulation, and reflection. This review highlights a missed opportunity for educators to position anatomy as a way to develop learners' emotional and professional readiness for patient death within health professions curricula. Hands-on learning with human body donors enables healthcare students to develop a comprehensive professional identity, marked by empathy, ethical understanding, and practical skills. Students' emotional responses evolve over time, transitioning from initial discomfort to a more profound acceptance of death. Reflective practices (memorial ceremonies and personal reflections on donor relationships) further deepen students' empathy and ethical perspectives and are critical to prevent desensitization and sustain empathy. Formally embedding these practices within anatomy learning may further foster the development of compassionate, competent, and emotionally aware clinicians.