The University of Missouri says it will continue to use live pigs to train emergency room physicians, despite protests, according to a Columbia Daily Tribune report.
Washington, D.C.,-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine led a protest outside the University of Missouri's Hospital Nov. 16 after MU declined to agree to the group's call to halt the use of pigs in physician training.
MU is one of only five emergency residency programs in the state that still uses pigs, said Kerry Foley, MD, a retired emergency physician who attended the protest.
"They were used originally because the technology wasn't available, and now the technology is available," Dr. Foley told the Columbia Daily Tribune. "You can now obtain things called perfused cadavers, which are very lifelike and true to the experience of working on real patients."
University of Missouri spokeswoman Jennifer Coffman wrote in a statement that it is not possible to do complete training through simulations.
"In the extremely rare instances when we need to train emergency medicine resident physicians on life-saving measures that are not adequately replicated through simulation, we use humane and strict protocols that are reviewed by the university's Animal Care and Use Committee," Ms. Coffman added.