Anyone else feel dirty after Microbiology lab?

Nursing Students General Students

Published

I love Microbiology. It's fascinating, yet kinda scary/freaky. I'm quite freaked out by the things I've learned and seen with Staphylococcus aureus.

Well, I feel like I need like 10 showers after I leave Micro lab. Especially today because we were handling a lot of Staphylococci. I know I'm not touching these things with my hands or anything, and I wash and disinfect my hands constantly, but it still gives me the creeps.

I got home about 1 1/2 hours ago from Micro lab and took a shower. Now I started reviewing my notes and feel like I want another shower. :lol2:

Anyone else feel like they need a few showers after they leave Micro lab?

0 Votes

In our micro we used non-virulent strains of the microbes, so that made me feel better about it. I still sanitized my hands after every lab, though!

Miz Que

0 Votes

I remember feeling the same way. I had to sit by a vial of E.Coli. Imagine how I felt!

0 Votes
Specializes in Ambulatory Care.

Eeek! I'm taking Micro in the Fall and I'm sure I will feel the same way. I hope I don't become a germaphobe. :lol2: Is micro a difficult class? I've heard mixed reviews.

0 Votes

I don't find it that difficult, but I think it's really intriguing. I think it really just depends on your instructor. For the most part, it's easy. But the exams we take are not easy at all. I still have an "A" though and I've only got 3 weeks left.

Man, we handle 8 different bacteria every lab:

pseudomonas

Bacillus cereus

E.coli

Streptococcus pyogenes

Streptococcus vivideus

Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus epidermidis

Staphylococcus saprophyticus

It's really the S. aureus that really makes me want to swim in a pool of sanitizer, since it's virulent.

I'm trying to not become a germaphobe but when you see a colony of microbes destroy the heme on the blood agar plate, it kinda freaks you out. And to see it clot the blood plasma. Yuck. No wonder S. aureus is such a trouble maker.

0 Votes

I finished micro last month....I honestly feel more dirty after leaving wal-mart, lol. We never touched anything in micro, only the microscopes. I tell ya when I felt nasty, when I left the A&P labs....working with cadavers isn't the most cleanest venture, lol.

0 Votes
Specializes in LDRP.

MRSA is scary stuff!

I totally know how you feel! I took microbiology last year and I loved it, but the lab always made me feel dirty. In lecture we would learn about the harm that certain pathogenic strains of bacteria could do to us, and then we would go handle those particular strains in lab! We did A LOT of experiments with E. coli.

We also handled fungus and fungal spores a lot, after our teacher told us how easily the spores can fly up into the air and reach their desired destination (inside our bodies!). And of course there was one student who dropped a tray full of plates that contained fungus and the lids flew off and I'm sure spores flew everywhere! And another student couldn't stop coughing for a week after one of our fungus labs so she was convinced she had contracted a fungal infection in her lungs.

Now that I look back on it, it was pretty hilarious :lol2: I always trusted that my teacher wouldn't put is in harm's way, and I never got sick from or during that class. But man did I take a lot of showers!!! :D

0 Votes
I finished micro last month....I honestly feel more dirty after leaving wal-mart, lol. We never touched anything in micro, only the microscopes. I tell ya when I felt nasty, when I left the A&P labs....working with cadavers isn't the most cleanest venture, lol.

:lol2: Oh yeah, gotta love Wal-mart and the creatures... I mean people... that go there. I do use sanitizer often when there and after leaving there.

We don't have cadavers in our A&P classes. But I would probably feel the same if we did.

0 Votes
Eeek! I'm taking Micro in the Fall and I'm sure I will feel the same way. I hope I don't become a germaphobe. :lol2: Is micro a difficult class? I've heard mixed reviews.

I've gotten Bs in A&P and As in nursing classes but ended with a C in micro. Only because I did horrible on 1 test and not so good in lab...I despise working with microscopes. So getting a C wasn't a surprise. It is a very interesting class I learned a lot. Didn't make me more of a germaphobe...I already was before walking in the door, lol.

0 Votes

We don't use fungi in our labs and we won't in the future. The only labs left are antibiotic tests, and then we get to swab each others mouths and check out the nastiness that is the human mouth.

0 Votes
I despise working with microscopes. .

Glad I'm not the only one!!!

My eyelashes always get in the way :lol2: It's funny, but annoying. I have to hold my eyelashes up, which I'm sure looks quite attractive ;), and then my eyes get all dry while I'm staring into the microscope.

0 Votes
:lol2: Oh yeah, gotta love Wal-mart and the creatures... I mean people... that go there. I do use sanitizer often when there and after leaving there.

We don't have cadavers in our A&P classes. But I would probably feel the same if we did.

Haha...so glad I'm not the only one that notices the interesting characters of wal-mart, lol! For years now I've carried a bottle of sanitizer in my van...we all squirt our hands when we get back in after leaving anywhere. However now I feel bad for squirting my hands when I can because in micro our prof brought up the idea that sanitizers could be part of the problem with bugs becoming more resistant. LOL....hasn't stopped me yet from squirting me and my kids....but an interesting point.

0 Votes
+ Add a Comment