Are nursing classes better than anatomy & physiology?

Junebugfairy · Mar 2, 2009

actual nursing classes are far more intense than a&p.

you do get some hands on in clinicals, but this does not happen until you have learned what you need to learn.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Mar 2, 2009

Why the study of Anatomy and physiology is important. . .

Medical disease is what goes wrong with the normal anatomy and physiology.

Treatment of medical disease is based upon addressing what has gone wrong with the normal anatomy and physiology.

Nursing carries out the treatments ordered by the physicians for what has gone wrong with the normal anatomy and physiology and nurses must understand what and why they are doing them.

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Mar 2, 2009

it is all intense and some people do better in one topic over another. There is a lot of memory work in nursing school, but towards the end it all seems to come together.

Hooolia · Mar 2, 2009

Been there, done that...nursing classes are way more interesting than A&P, get through A&P and you'll actually enjoy learning NURSING. :)

Good Luck!

sooperdooper · Mar 3, 2009

I used to think A&P was hard and I aced all my science pre-reqs... Nursing classes are WAY harder. Many people in my class that aced all their pre-reqs are happy to just get a B now. So far I have been skating on thin ice with an A- for every class... sometimes just barely getting one too (I had a 3.95 GPA before I started nursing)

missjennmb · Mar 3, 2009

I think that for a lot of things it depends on your school. But its funny to see this thread here this morning when last night we were just talking about how it must be for people having trouble in AP to have the "awakening" of nursing classes. Nursing school, simply put, is a whole different animal...

I am not great with sciences or languages. Learning new words is harder for me than learning functions (math and english comes incredibly easy to me for example because I dont have to memorize words, just know what happened/how it works). I thought AP would be the death of me...

My AP teacher gives a great review before every test. And i do mean GREAT. He does well enough and covers specific enough items to the test that if you could memorize his review word for word, you would only miss the bonus questions (the only material he doesnt directly go over in his review). I don't study for his class. ever. I simply haven't enough time in the day with the amt of nursing material I have to cover (we take them together although I wish I'd known to take this class ahead of time) We get together the night of his exam and for about 2 hours we have a study group and just go over and over and over the material from our notes, reading his notes, discussing it, quizzing eachother, ect. I got a 105 on the last test. I fare less well when we have to label body parts, but we do those as well, drawing a man on the board and taking turns labeling him till everyone has had a chance. We once borrowed the skeleton (w/ permission) to practice learning the bones.

Nursing? haha. Thats just a whole nother ball game. I am an A student generally able to pass pretty much anything with just paying attention in class. Not here. We lost 7 students out of 17 so far this year. These were not stupid students (only 1-3 of every who took the entrance exam our school gives, even passed so they had to give it 6 or 7 times just to fill the seats). These were not undedicated students (except the first 2 that failed out). These are students that studied for 10-12 hours a week just like the rest of us. And they failed out. Three more should have failed out too, but somehow managed to slip by at the very end.

Nursing school at my school is HARD. We have quizzes before we go over material in class and are expected to fully read and do chapter reviews/workbook pages, we cover 2-3 chapters per class, and have 4 tests usually without a review (a low enough grade on any of which can fail you) and then a final on up to 30 some chapters, sometimes with zero review for that even. Right now I'm taking AP2, Pharmacology and Med Surg 3. Our teacher sometimes doesn't even review all of the material at all, instead telling us to finish reading it at home. Our teacher for med surg 2 didn't even cover half of what we were tested on, and just read us the slides that came with the teacher's edition of the book (which was mostly just the chapter outline) The tests could be on ANYTHING in the chapter, from a paragraph to a "nursing note" to an obscure comment in a table somewhere, and its NEVER exactly what is written and in many instances, multiple answers are right, but one is, by the teacher's opinion, "more" right. Its tough. I am a good student generally speaking and I have found it extremely difficult. I don't expect I will fail out, but I had to throw out my expectations of it being a breeze pretty quickly. I will say though that I had a substitute for 2 weeks and my grades skyrocketed (as did all my classmates) so maybe its just this tough where I am.

sunray12 · Mar 3, 2009

i think that for a lot of things it depends on your school. but its funny to see this thread here this morning when last night we were just talking about how it must be for people having trouble in ap to have the "awakening" of nursing classes. nursing school, simply put, is a whole different animal...
i am not great with sciences or languages. learning new words is harder for me than learning functions (math and english comes incredibly easy to me for example because i dont have to memorize words, just know what happened/how it works). i thought ap would be the death of me...
my ap teacher gives a great review before every test. and i do mean great. he does well enough and covers specific enough items to the test that if you could memorize his review word for word, you would only miss the bonus questions (the only material he doesnt directly go over in his review). i don't study for his class. ever. i simply haven't enough time in the day with the amt of nursing material i have to cover (we take them together although i wish i'd known to take this class ahead of time) we get together the night of his exam and for about 2 hours we have a study group and just go over and over and over the material from our notes, reading his notes, discussing it, quizzing eachother, ect. i got a 105 on the last test. i fare less well when we have to label body parts, but we do those as well, drawing a man on the board and taking turns labeling him till everyone has had a chance. we once borrowed the skeleton (w/ permission) to practice learning the bones.
nursing? haha. thats just a whole nother ball game. i am an a student generally able to pass pretty much anything with just paying attention in class. not here. we lost 7 students out of 17 so far this year. these were not stupid students (only 1-3 of every who took the entrance exam our school gives, even passed so they had to give it 6 or 7 times just to fill the seats). these were not undedicated students (except the first 2 that failed out). these are students that studied for 10-12 hours a week just like the rest of us. and they failed out. three more should have failed out too, but somehow managed to slip by at the very end.
nursing school at my school is hard. we have quizzes before we go over material in class and are expected to fully read and do chapter reviews/workbook pages, we cover 2-3 chapters per class, and have 4 tests usually without a review (a low enough grade on any of which can fail you) and then a final on up to 30 some chapters, sometimes with zero review for that even. right now i'm taking ap2, pharmacology and med surg 3. our teacher sometimes doesn't even review all of the material at all, instead telling us to finish reading it at home. our teacher for med surg 2 didn't even cover half of what we were tested on, and just read us the slides that came with the teacher's edition of the book (which was mostly just the chapter outline) the tests could be on anything in the chapter, from a paragraph to a "nursing note" to an obscure comment in a table somewhere, and its never exactly what is written and in many instances, multiple answers are right, but one is, by the teacher's opinion, "more" right. its tough. i am a good student generally speaking and i have found it extremely difficult. i don't expect i will fail out, but i had to throw out my expectations of it being a breeze pretty quickly. i will say though that i had a substitute for 2 weeks and my grades skyrocketed (as did all my classmates) so maybe its just this tough where i am.

^^ yeeks - it sounds to me like you have a good deal. not studying for my a&p courses would have been a surefire way for me to flunk it and not be eligible for nursing school this year. and i don't mean flunk as in 79.9998876 or something like that when pass is 80 like some of the nursing school grading scales i've seen here - but spectacularly flunk as in didn't know much of anything. the schools around here want a&p and other prenursing courses completed before you apply.

if you're managing to keep up with both prenursing material and nursing material it sounds like you have things under control. were the people who failed out taking a&p as well as nursing courses together? if so this may explain why things turned out the way they did. i would not want to be managing both of these things together. i know we all want to be in nursing school the day before yesterday but the way i see it you end up losing time if you bite off more than you can chew and can't keep up. when this happens some people get discouraged and don't want to come back at all which is a real shame if they were truly interested in being nursing.

Jarob747 · Mar 3, 2009

Hello... Anatomy and Phisiology, I can remember back thinking that it was sort of difficult. I barely studied and made As all thru my two years of prereqs. I had a 4.0 GPA. Now in my second year of Nursing School I would settle for a B because it is so much more in depth. It is very important to remember your A&P. Nursing classes are way harder but the information and the hands on trainging that you will get are very interesting. I love it yet some nights I just want to cry or pull my hair out because it is so hard, time consuming and demanding. It will be worth it, Don't give up it gets better.

RhodyGirl, RN · Mar 3, 2009

I think the nursing classes are better in the sense that they're more interesting to me. But, there are times when I wish I could go back to Physiology or Chem, etc. because it's far less work (IMO). Nursing courses are very intense and VERY time consuming. So, I guess I can't really say they're "better"....but definitely different and much more stress-producing!

mybrowneyedgirl, BSN, RN · Mar 3, 2009

I think this all depends on you and your interests. You can see, you've already got a wide variation in opinions.

I did very well in A&P, but it wasn't all that interesting to me. Nursing classes, however, I love. They're full of interersting information and you get to see how it all relates to real life situations. For that reason, I find nursing school a lot easier than A&P. If it has my attention, it's easier to learn. I'm just finishing Med Surg this week.

The main difference in nursing classes is that you have to memorize information just like you did in A&P, but then you won't be asked direct black and white questions. You'll be asked critical thinking questions about the subject matter. There are many shades of grey.

Good luck to you.

chelgovols · Mar 4, 2009

As I read your post and the reply's...It brought me back to the GOOD ole' day's of studying and memorizing and praying to get through the night. A&P or whatever the course maybe remember that it is all a piece to a bigger puzzle, that will soon enough come together. I hate to admit it though I don't miss the day's of lectures so long that the instrustor would lose her voice covering 32 chapters of pharm.in 10 day's then the final. GEEZE!!! I thought I would die! None the less 11 years later a smile remembering the good ole day's. Best of luck :up: