206 • Alternatives to Animal Use in Research, Testing, and Education 
Dogs and pigs are used to teach techniques for 
intubation (establishing an emergency airway) and 
the installation of intravenous/intra-arterial cath- 
eters. In the AAMC survey, one anesthesia depart- 
ment used dogs to teach insertion of Swan-Ganz 
catheters into the right chamber of the heart, a 
common procedure in cardiac intensive care units. 
Two otolaryngology departments used dogs to 
teach the musculature and innervation of the tra- 
chea and oropharynx to ear, nose, and throat resi- 
dents. One obstetrics and gynecology department 
used dogs as models to teach exposure and isola- 
tion of the Fallopian tubes from the nearby ure- 
ters, and three pediatrics departments use young 
cats as models for instruction in intubation of pre- 
mature newborn babies. All of the techniques 
taught in these graduate medical programs must 
be learned to achieve competence in the desired 
specialty. In those programs that do not use ani- 
mals, the techniques are mastered through experi- 
ence with human patients during surgery (2). 
The AAMC survey found no relation between 
a medical school’s level of research expenditures 
(high, medium, or low) and its use of animals in 
education. The medium -expenditure schools used 
the most animals in education, perhaps because 
in the more research-intensive schools there is a 
greater opportunity for students to observe ani- 
mal surgery in the course of participation in faculty 
research and less need to include such experience 
in the curriculum. Most of the schools surveyed 
expressed regret that they were not able to use 
Instruction in Intubation of Premature Newborn Babies, 
Using a Young Cat as a Model 
Redrawn by: Office of Technology Assessment. 
animals to a greater extent in student instruction, 
often citing cost as a factor limiting instruction with 
live animals (2). 
National estimates of the numbers of animals 
used in medical education (see table 9-5) were cal- 
culated based on the assumptions that the 16 
schools surveyed are typical of the 127 accredited 
schools in the United States. The mean number 
of animals of each species used in the sample 
schools was accepted as the best estimate of the 
mean for all schools, and an extrapolation was 
made to 127 schools (2). 
Rats and dogs are the principal species used in 
medical education, accounting for about 70 per- 
cent of the estimated 36,700 animals used annu- 
ally. These figures are very rough— the potential 
error inherent in the estimates ranges from 22 and 
25 percent for rats and dogs to 100 percent for 
pigs and hamsters. The great uncertainty stems 
from variability among the 16 institutions in the 
sample. One school used 10 primates, for example, 
while another used 4, and 14 schools used none 
at all. Use of dogs and cats was more general; less 
uncertainty is associated with the national esti- i 
mates of those species’ use (2). 
It is unlikely that any of the 127 medical schools 
in the United States train physicians without using 
any live animals. This is neither surprising nor 
alarming, particularly in light of the fact that the , 
ultimate recipients of medical attention— humans— 
are not available for many of the types of educa- 
Table 9-5.— Estimated Animal Use in Medical 
Education in the United States, 1983-84 
Kind of animal 
Number used 3 
Rat 14,000 
Dog 12,000 
Mouse 3,000 
Rabbit 1 ,700 
Cat 800 
Hamster 800 
Pig 200 
Primate 130 
Guinea pig 70 
Other b 4,000 
Total 36,700 
a Estimate is based on an extrapolation of a survey of 16 selected medical schools 
evenly distributed by geographic region (Northeast, Midwest, South, or West), 
ownership (public or private), and research expenditures (low, medium, or high). 
“Includes frogs, sheep, and pigeons. 
SOURCE: Association of American Medical Colleges, Use of Animals in Under- 
graduate and Graduate Medical Education (Washington, DC: 1985). 
