Anatomie et physiologie : recherches en cours
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Reduced Formaldehyde Exposure with the Addition of Plants (Chlorophytum comosum) in the Human Anatomy Laboratory

Emma Blackburn,Todd Melgreen,Lucas Ettinger*

Exposure to plants has been shown to remove specific airborne pollutants and carcinogens, reduce stress and improve productivity in the workplace. This study investigates the effect of plant exposure on air quality, student anxiety (STAI) and performance test scores in a cadaver laboratory at a small liberal arts college. Undergraduate Human Anatomy students were randomly assigned plant and control (no-plant) exposure in the human cadaver laboratory. Air quality marked improvements with reductions of nearly half the total Short Term Exposure Limits (15-Minute STEL) to formaldehyde (p < 0.01). No significant differences between plant exposure or laboratory sections were detected for Acute STAI (P=0.35), General STAI (P=0.71) or for practical testing performance (P=0.28). A high degree of variability in student qualitative responses and laboratory testing performance likely contributed to lack of differences detected for the STAI and test performance measures.