I am having a terrible time with pathophysiology. I realize that it is not an easy course to begin with, but the professor we have just reads the powerpoint slides and our exams consist of roughly 17 chapters/exam. There is so much material and she does not give any hint of what to focus on to study for the exam. We had our first exam last week and 90% failed. She doesn't know her stuff, gives us wrong information so we are afraid to take notes during lecture or if we do we have to look it up to be sure it is correct. She does not allow questions to be answered during lecture, we have to make an appointment with her during her office hours which many of us have other classes or work at that time. Any advise on how to study the enormous amount of information in order to have a fighting chance at passing this class? Any advise would be wonderful. :smackingf

Thanks,

Sprklplnty

i would strongly suggest that you look at some other sources besides your own textbook, particularly if you are absolutely sure your instructor is giving you wrong information. is she also testing you over this wrong information? i would use this link http://www.fpnotebook.com/index.htm to the family practice notebook which is a physician site. use the search box to input a disease, then check out the links that come up. the pages on this site are very nicely organized and will give you, in outline form, etiology, signs, symptoms, diagnostic tests and treatment modalities. these are good places to start when putting together information about pathophysiology. your other source should be an a&p textbook. remember the big question you always want to be answering with pathophysiology is "why" is this condition happening? where is the normal physiology breaking down to cause this disease process? that's 90% of the course.

Thank you for your suggestions. I will take a look at the website and at my A&P textbook from last year. Everything is so overwhelming because of the amount of material covered over the course of one exam to the next. I just hope that I can do it. She has really caused alot of mental anguish in our school and we have gotten together with the Dean because of her hysterical outbursts in the classroom. It is a nightmare.

sounds like my patho teacher from 3 years ago.....

I suggest the Made Incredibly Easy series or the Real World Nursing survival guides - you can't rely soley on them, but they do break it down in an easier to understand format at times.

Maybe for each patho you could come up with an outline that would help organize the thoughts. Here is what I use

1. Define: - what exactly is it.

2. Risk Factors - who coming in and presenting themselves is going to be an automatic risk for that particular disease and why are they a risk.

3. Patho (the actual entire process)

4. Etiology - what causes it (if the patho doesn't cover that part)

5. Assessment points - how is this patient going to present to me.

5. Diagnostic studies - what will the doctor order and why. What will be abnormal about those tests - why will those be abnormal.

6. Any cultural considerations?

7. Teaching and planning - what interventions are going to be on the top of the list and how are you going to "teach" the patient about the disease process. What are the most important things for that patient to know and understand (diet, excercise modifications are big in this area).

8. Meds: what is going to be ordered, why are those doing to be ordered. Is there anything in particular I need to be aware of when giving those meds.

9. Interventions: what as a nurse can I do for my patient.

I know it might be more that what is needed for your class, but it helps me organize my thoughts when I have an outline to go by for each patho. I also use websites like http://www.webmd.com and http://www.mayoclinic.com. I need material that is easy to understand.

Good luck!!!

THANKS!!!! This is a great idea-it's just what I needed (only I didn't think to create it myself ). I luv it and I luv this site!!