Quick question for you. I'm a fairly new nursing student, and having a lot of trouble with microbiology. It's been 18 years since I took regular Bio, and it wasn't exactly my best subject. I have to pass micro as a requirement for my nursing program, but I was wondering if there was any practical use for it as an RN. If there's not, than I won't sweat it so much. I've never seen floor nurses doing anything more than basic wound and nare checks. Does anybody know if I'll need all this info later? Anything would be helpful. Thanks in advance.
Harold, I felt the same way you do. Nurses don't work in the laboratory with test tubes and petri dishes all we do is collect the sample and send it down. When I took micro. there was so much that I didn't know that was very important to nursing and just for general knowledge. There are many diseases, bacteria some resistant to antibiotics that we need to know how to treat. In micro. you study the growth of organisms and how they act on the human body. Its a lot of info but very important.
I would think if you ever wanted to go into lab nursing it would be good. Or even forensic nursing. I am not sure what I want to do. But OR, forensics and lab nurising all sound good to me. but still have 2 more years coming this fall so I will hafta see.
Micro is becoming more and more helpful in these days of rampant infection and resistant organism. Just think soon when your a nurse and the lab calls and says "you're patient has gram negative cocci in clusters in the aerobic bottle" you will know what that means. :)
Micro is becoming more and more helpful in these days of rampant infection and resistant organism. Just think soon when your a nurse and the lab calls and says "you're patient has gram negative cocci in clusters in the aerobic bottle" you will know what that means. :)
Quick question for you. I'm a fairly new nursing student, and having a lot of trouble with microbiology. It's been 18 years since I took regular Bio, and it wasn't exactly my best subject. I have to pass micro as a requirement for my nursing program, but I was wondering if there was any practical use for it as an RN. If there's not, than I won't sweat it so much. I've never seen floor nurses doing anything more than basic wound and nare checks. Does anybody know if I'll need all this info later? Anything would be helpful. Thanks in advance.
Harold
Hi Harold,
As a nursing student, you will grow to appreciate microbiology and why it's critical to have some understanding of these little 'bugs'. I just finished my micro class and actually loved it--except maybe for the parasites. There are many, many disease and infections caused by pathogens and 'normal flora' that migrates to the wrong place. It also will make you much more aware of food, skin breaks, handwashing, and antibiotic resistance--scary stuff. Also, nosocomial infections (those acquired in hospitals) can run as high as 20%--this adds to the patients discomfort (potentially can be life threatening), expense, makes it very difficult for the family because the time in the hospital is extended etc. Yes, I would say micro is very important to know and appreciate as a nurse.
My advice is to tape lectures and listen to them maybe while walking for exercise. Then rewrite your notes again and again--that's if you are a visual learner. Just try and read and memorize as best you can. Don't fall behind because there is just too much information that builds on the previous data. Use the websites for micro that can be helpful and maybe hook up with a fellow student to study together, if that helps you. I wish you all the best. You will get through it. Steph
You will use it to decipher what exactly your patients have and what may be useful to them.
We are having an incidence where Lactobacillus isn't covered by medicaid, but pts with C-diff need it to replace the normal flora lost. Since medicaid won't pay for it, we are using yogurt to replace the medicine. If we didn't have microbiology, who would've known we could do this?
poe me
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Harold, I felt the same way you do. Nurses don't work in the laboratory with test tubes and petri dishes all we do is collect the sample and send it down. When I took micro. there was so much that I didn't know that was very important to nursing and just for general knowledge. There are many diseases, bacteria some resistant to antibiotics that we need to know how to treat. In micro. you study the growth of organisms and how they act on the human body. Its a lot of info but very important.