The Delaware County Medical Examiner’s Office in Lima has partnered with the Pennsylvania Institute of Technology in Media to offer educational training to its nursing students.

Licensed Practical Nursing students from PIT are getting a chance to observe standard autopsy procedures, engage in discussions and work with pathologists from the Medical Examiner’s Office.

Their first day was Wednesday, Jan. 18 and they will be attending sessions every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday through March 25.

This is the first time the Medical Examiner’s Office has permitted students to be part of a rotation to observe the activities of the Medical Examiner’s Office, according to Deborah Portone, assistant director of Nursing for Collaborative Partnership at PIT.

Corey Dennis, PIT’s Director of Nursing, said the Medical Examiner’s Office partnership provides practical nursing students “with valuable clinical experience assisting physicians and technicians to perform autopsies.”

“This … grants nursing students exclusive experience at the intersection of medical science, anatomical analysis, and criminal justice,” Dennis said.

The experience will give the students “a profound understanding of alterations in anatomical structures through the evolution of chronic illness or injury and experience discussing and reviewing pathophysiologic changes in the human body,” Dennis said.

Students also receive hands-on experience with surgical equipment and assisting Medical Examiner personnel with forensic medical processes, he added.

The Pennsylvania Institute of Technology in Media, founded in 1953, is a two-year accredited, private non-profit college offering an education for those looking for career development and advancement, college transfer opportunities, and personal growth.

Find out more about the Pennsylvania Institute of Technology.