Evaluating Bone Cleaning Methods for Educational Use by Using Student Satisfaction Index: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Bones play a crucial role in anatomy education programs, impacting the study of human body structure. Medical schools providing bones for self-study improve students’ understanding of osteology. The integration of student feedback and satisfaction scores has emerged as a valuable tool for evaluating bone cleaning methods. Students, particularly those in educational settings, are often directly involved in the cleaning and preparation of skeletal materials for research and study purposes. Aim: To assess student perceptions of various bone cleaning methods. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Anatomy, Government Medical College, Kota, Rajasthan, India, from February 2023 to February 2025. Bones retrieved after seven years of burial and underwent various cleaning techniques using bleaching powder (method A), sodium hypochlorite solution (method B), detergent boiling (method D), and sun drying (method E). Students evaluated the bones using a prevalidated questionnaire on colour, odour, texture, cleanliness and clarity of structures and their perception was compared using a Chisquare test using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 17.0. Results: Data analysis revealed patterns in their perceptions of bone quality, with mean scores of 3.55, 3.35, 3.42, and 3.26 for methods A, B, D, and E, respectively. These scores were comparable to the 4.15, the mean perception of commercially available bones considered the gold standard. Conclusion: Simple, low-cost indigenous techniques, particularly bleaching powder, can produce bones of acceptable quality for osteology teaching, making them practical alternatives to commercially available specimens in medical education settings.