The still video camera: a suitable and convenient method of demonstrating post mortem findings

The post mortem demonstration continues to play an important role in medical education at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. However, for a variety of reasons its format needs to be adaptable in order to maximize the educational benefit and increasingly to comply with legislation. We have developed a method of demonstration based upon a still video camera system which we have found is acceptable to our students and overcomes some of the problems associated with other formats. In this paper we describe the system itself, compare it with other systems, discuss its potential applications and present the results of a questionnaire-based survey of the first groups of medical students to be taught in this way. These results confirm that the technique is popular with students and that it appears to be a useful teaching modality worthy of further development.