A & P question

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Specializes in CNA in LTC.

I am nearly through with my A & P 1 class and so far it has been about cells and muscles. The bones I understand learning, but how important is it to know cells, cell division, what covers the muscles, what controls the force of a muscle contraction, etc.? Maybe I am not seeing the "big picture" here, but I really don't have an interest in all that, I just want to dissect and see what is on the inside of the body in a hands on approach. TY for any replies.

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i can't say it's critical, but in hindsight, i really did find it helpful.

learning cellular division, helped me understand how viruses replicate (and, why abx don't help).

learning cytology/tissue formation, helped me understand muscular injury and dysfunction.

seriously, i too, had the same type questions in nsg school, i.e., why do i need to learn this?

it was only when i started working as a nurse, that all this knowledge, fell into place.

i would advise you to be your personal best...in school and at work.

high standards will never fail you.

leslie

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Alot of the basic nursing classes functions as a natural "weeding out" process. Much of what you will learn in nursing school is repetition, redundant, and honestly, pretty boring. However, you really need to pay attention, because this weeding out will continue all through nursing school. I have been in nursing for 36 years, and really have never stopped learning. Nursing is always being modernized. When I started, there was no such thing as an IV pump, everything was stainless steel, only flat sheets (none fitted like now), no accucheck machines or even pulse oximeters. Even things like electronic thermometers, it was all about the old mercury filled glass ones.

So, just remember, only the stong and focused survive. Muddle through the basic boring cells and muscles, you must crawl before you walk, walk before you run, etc.

Best wishes and have great success in your fledgling nursing career!

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Specializes in School Nursing.

I think learning the cells and mitosis is important to understand how illness and other factors affect cells and how they divide, and the illness related. (ex. cancer).. muscles are especially important when you're working with injuries (lots of sports injuries) and disorders like muscular dystrophy. One thing my instructor adds to all these sections is the diseases related to them. These are highly relevant, IMO, nursing in general.

Having said that... the processes in muscle contractions is ******* tedious!!! Krebs, Cori, phosphagen, anaerobic, aerobic.. (This is our next major exam)

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Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.

Here is an analogy: You are hosting a dinner party. You decided to make a kick *** spaghetti dinner. You start with tomato sauce (A&P), you add garlic and onion (chemistry/pathology), you add meat (med/surg), you add spices (nursing theory/ethics), and then you top it off with parmesan cheese (elective class). You spread this delicious and well prepared sauce over al dente pasta (clinicals) and you have yourself Spaghetti Nursing!

It may not seem interesting or relevant now, but A&P is your basis. You can't very well have a delicious spaghetti sauce without tomato sauce, can you? If you comprehend and truly understand anatomy and physiology, you will have a wonderful keystone for the rest of your learning.

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I have found that A&P has been helpful for understanding not only viruses,etc..but also how medications work. It is important to know how drugs work on the body to recognize if something will be effective or not.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
Alot of the basic nursing classes functions as a natural "weeding out" process. Much of what you will learn in nursing school is repetition, redundant, and honestly, pretty boring. However, you really need to pay attention, because this weeding out will continue all through nursing school. I have been in nursing for 36 years, and really have never stopped learning. Nursing is always being modernized. When I started, there was no such thing as an IV pump, everything was stainless steel, only flat sheets (none fitted like now), no accucheck machines or even pulse oximeters. Even things like electronic thermometers, it was all about the old mercury filled glass ones.

So, just remember, only the stong and focused survive. Muddle through the basic boring cells and muscles, you must crawl before you walk, walk before you run, etc.

Best wishes and have great success in your fledgling nursing career!

I disagree that the function of these essential classes is to "weed out" poor students. Of course they do that as a natural course, but the building blocks of muscle function and cellular biology are mandatory to understanding everything that follows. If you didn't know basic cellular biology, you'd have no idea why someone third-spaces or how/why lungs fill with fluid. If you didn't know how muscle fibers function, you'd never understand surgical healing or muscle atrophy after long periods of illness. Those are just tiny examples.

And quite frankly, I didn't take a single nursing class that was boring. Challenging certainly, and sometimes full of subjects that I personally didn't feel were necessary to learn, just as you are expressing. But boring? Never!

"I just want to dissect and see what is on the inside of the body in a hands on approach"

Ahhh, but how would you know what you were seeing and how it works if you didn't study the basics first?

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Specializes in babysitting.
I am nearly through with my A & P 1 class and so far it has been about cells and muscles. The bones I understand learning, but how important is it to know cells, cell division, what covers the muscles, what controls the force of a muscle contraction, etc.? Maybe I am not seeing the "big picture" here, but I really don't have an interest in all that, I just want to dissect and see what is on the inside of the body in a hands on approach. TY for any replies.

well obviously if you are going to medical school you will need to know all that info. if you are going on for nursing or allied health, the info. may be helpful, but not entirely useful since your scope of practice is so limited. btw cells are extremely important in physiology. your cells are the basis of all the chemical processes in your body. your bones, muscles etc, are nothing without the cells that keep them functioning.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
well obviously if you are going to medical school you will need to know all that info. if you are going on for nursing or allied health, the info. may be helpful, but not entirely useful since your scope of practice is so limited.

johnnydogood, I find it very interesting that you continue to post here while acknowledging that you are not a nurse, nor do you work in the medical field. I'm just curious as to how you feel capable of judging the "scope of practice" as a nurse??

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well obviously if you are going to medical school you will need to know all that info. if you are going on for nursing or allied health, the info. may be helpful, but not entirely useful since your scope of practice is so limited. btw cells are extremely important in physiology. your cells are the basis of all the chemical processes in your body. your bones, muscles etc, are nothing without the cells that keep them functioning.

Disagree. I would say you will need to have a more in-depth understanding of said concepts as a medical student however.

I would disagree with the chemical comment somewhat as well. Ultimately, quantum mechanics describes the chemistry that describes the molecules that describe the cell structure.

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Specializes in Health Information Management.

I'm finishing A&P II this semester, and to some extent I share your pain - I don't always find every detail of A&P fascinating, though most of it is pretty interesting to me. Overall, I think of it as I do math. If you don't know the basics of beginning mathematics, like how to do fractions or the basic functions, there's no way you can handle basic algebra. Without a decent understanding of algebra, geometry and trigonometry are going to completely mystify you. Without a good grasp on the concepts from algebra, geometry, and trig, you have no hope of understanding basic calculus. It keeps on building on top of those initial foundations; if your foundations are weak, eventually the structure will topple.

Without a strong understanding of how the body behaves at its most basic levels, you won't be able to fully grasp why the body's systems work the way they do, how and why it reacts to various medications, or how and why diseases and disorders affect people the way they do. You and I are studying the same material for different forms of employment, but we both need to understand this material for the same basic reasons. Just hang tough and keep studying! :)

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I feel your pain OP. Almost done w/ A&P I myself. (one more month!! whew.) Ditto to everyone else, it definitely is the basic knowledge I'm sure we'll need to make the great nurses we will surely become! :D I prefer the hands on too, like you. I have enjoyed most of what I have learned though. Fascinating what our body does!! I have no doubt one day we will both be saying, "oh, thats I why I needed to know that..." LOL

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