This internship summary describes Mike Coyle's summer 2015 internship at Greenville Memorial Hospital and Greenville County Coroner's Office morgue. His duties included assisting with autopsies by preparing bodies, removing brains, taking vitreous fluid samples, and cleaning. He learned autopsy techniques and improved his anatomy knowledge. Mike also helped update the office's accreditation documents and confirmed his interest in a medical career, though prefers working with living patients.

1. Health Sciences
Internship
Mike Coyle
HLTH 4200, Summer 2015

2. Site: Greenville Memorial Hospital & Greenville County Coroner’s Office
Intern Title: Morgue Assistant
Preceptor: Dr. James Fulcher, M.D., Greenville County Medical Examiner

3. Internship Introduction
 During the summer of 2015, I was fortunate enough to
be an intern under Dr. Fulcher and Dr. Ward, forensic
pathologists who work both at the Greenville Memorial
Hospital morgue and Greenville County Coroner’s Office
 The focus of my internship was to learn techniques useful
for performing autopsies, put these techniques to use, and
to learn more about anatomy and pathology through
observing the doctors dissect the various organs
 My preceptor was Dr. James Fulcher, who is the Deputy
Medical Examiner for Greenville County

4. Forensic Pathologist
 What does a forensic pathologist do?
 They are medical examiners who examine the bodies and
perform autopsies for people who have died suddenly,
whether it was unexpected or violently
 They are responsible for determining the cause and
manner of deaths
 They may have to testify their findings in court for certain
investigations

5. Site Description
 The Greenville Memorial Hospital morgue performs
autopsies for suspicious deaths for three different
counties: Greenville, Pickens, and Laurens
 The morgue consists of one autopsy room, an indoor
cooler as well as a larger outdoor cooler for storing
bodies, an X-ray room, and a ground scale in the hallway
to weigh the bodies
 The autopsy room consists of an autopsy table, a smaller
table beside it where the doctor dissects the organs, an x-
ray viewing machine, and a hanging scale to weigh the
organs

6. Autopsy Room
The room in the morgue where all of the autopsies are performed

7. Refrigeration Unit
• The morgue consisted of two
refrigeration units where the
dead bodies were stored
• The indoor cooler, pictured to
the right, could hold up to 20
bodies in it
• The outdoor cooler is able to
hold up to 40 bodies in it

8. Morgue Staff
 Dr. Mike Ward, M.D., Chief Medical Examiner
 Dr. James Fulcher, M.D., Deputy Medical Examiner
 Sharon and Heather, Pathology Assistants
 At various times throughout the summer, medical
students from the medical school in Greenville would join
us and assist with the autopsies as well

9. Intern Duties
1. Prepare morgue for autopsies
2. Remove the brain
3. Obtain vitreous fluid from the
eye
4. X-ray retrieval from the
radiology department, if
necessary
5. Clean the morgue in between
autopsies and prepare for the
next one as well as cleaning it
when the day is over

10. Autopsy Preparation
 Preparation for autopsies included several things:
 Retrieving the body from the indoor refrigerator, weighing
it, and removing any clothes they were wearing
 Obtaining and setting out stock jars and histological slides
for dissected parts of the persons organs
 Setting out needles and test tubes needed for toxicology
purposes
 Washing the table and mopping the floors to ensure there
is no blood from the previous autopsy

11. Brain Removal
1. First, you have to make a U
shaped cut in the skin from ear
to ear
2. Use a scalpel to cut away the
connective tissue between the
skin and the skull
3. Use a bone saw to remove part
of the skull to get to the brain
4. With a couple of cuts to the
brain stem and optic chiasm, the
brain can now be removed
Several steps must be followed in order to
remove the brain from the skull so the doctor
can dissect it like the picture to the right

12. Internship Goals
 At the beginning of this internship, I set several goals for
myself which were:
 To become an “expert brain remover,” mastering the tools
needed to be capable of removing the brain during an
autopsy
 To improve my knowledge of human anatomy
 To be aware of what policies and protocols must be
followed for an autopsy service to become accredited
 To articulate how I feel about pursuing a career in the
pathology field

13. Achievement of Goals
 I achieved all of the goals I set for myself
 By the end of my time at the morgue, I was removing
brains flawlessly with ease, improving drastically from my
first week at the morgue
 I greatly improved my knowledge of human anatomy,
being able to look directly at the organs was a great help
 I rewrote and added several policies and protocols, and
my knowledge of all of them helped me to understand
what needed to be done in certain situations at the
morgue

14. Interest in Pathology
 After two months of working in the morgue with the
forensic pathologists, I have realized that I definitely
would like to pursue a career in medicine
 However, this internship has also made me realize that I
would rather work with living patients, but I still would
not rule out the possibility of pursuing a career in
forensic pathology
 From this experience, surgical pathology, where they
study the tissue that is surgically removed from live
patients to help determine if they have a disease, has
climbed up high on my list of interests

15. Greenville County Coroner’s Office
When I wasn’t at the morgue, my time was spent here. The office is located about half a mile
away from the hospital. Here I was able to work on the accreditation project I was given,
which will be explained later, as well as observing Dr. Fulcher dictate cases, and observing
histological slides of organs under a microscope.

16. Accreditation Project
 I was in charge of completing the NAME Inspection and
Accreditation Checklist for Autopsy Services before the
inspection, scheduled for later this summer
 I had to go through the 30 page checklist and ensure that
we had everything we needed to pass the inspection
 I wrote several new policies as well as edited many of the
already existing policies to bring them up to date
 I worked on this project in the afternoons, and I was able
to complete it and have it ready for when it is inspected
later this summer

17.  A huge thank you to Dr. Fulcher for allowing me to have
this opportunity, I learned a vast amount about anatomy
and pathology and further confirmed my interest in
pursuing medicine.
 I would also like to thank Dr. Ward, Sharon, and Heather
for all of the help and advice they provided to me, my
experience wouldn’t have been the same without all of
you guys!