Utility of autopsy in medical education--students' opinions and attitudes.

UNLABELLED: Autopsy has been for centuries part of medical education, providing benefits to medical students in terms of knowledge, skills, and development of respect, empathy and compassion. AIM: To evaluate the utility of autopsy in medical education based on the opinions and attitudes of medical students. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A questionnaire was applied to 219 medical students. The answers were grouped according to two main themes: the utility of autopsy in medical education and students' attitudes toward autopsy. RESULTS: Most of the respondents considered that autopsy is useful to society, medical practice and medical education. On average, participants felt "moderately uncomfortable" on exposure to the first autopsy. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicates the need for medical education to emphasize the utility of autopsy in the medical practice. Extracurricular activities to deepen the medico-legal knowledge and skills would be beneficial for the students who are particularly interested in this specialty. It is also necessary to take into account the possible negative psychological reactions of the students caused by the first exposure to autopsy and identify adequate methods to solve them.