Are nursing classes better than anatomy & physiology?

eyeball · Mar 4, 2009

Med-Surg (which you'll see a lot of in nursing school) presupposes that you understand normal anatomy and physiology so that you can understand how it goes wrong. I loved A and P and worked to really learn it. I'm in Med-Surg 1 this semester and am thanking my lucky stars that I worked as hard as I did in A and P. I'm not having to go back and re-learn A and P and am doing very well in the course. Recommendation: Give your best effort towards A and P...every minute you study and really get the concepts is money in the bank and will serve you well once you're in in nursing school.

Cheesecakelady · Mar 4, 2009

I keep hearing that nursing school is sooooo difficult, but what exactly are you learning that makes it so hard? Signs, symptoms of diseases, normal labs, chemistry, 400 different meds? What kinds of things are you actually expected to learn? I'm not in nursing school yet so I really don't know what to expect.

chelgovols · Mar 4, 2009

Cheesecakelady....no one can truly describe it to you. It is an experience of a roller coaster and a bad dream mixed up and as quick as it began it's over then your in the field applying all that crammed info into saving lives. You'll hate it and love it...and look back and smile

Junebugfairy · Mar 4, 2009

cheesecakelady~

yes, you must that and then some!

you make a d and you fail.. in my school under 80% on tests is a failure, as it is with most schools, so that means a 79 will not allow you to pass.

you have to not only memorize these concepts, but you have to understand then, and then have the ability to apply it to 'real life' settings.

katilynn · Mar 4, 2009

I thought a&p was harder. I hate memorizing things! However, nursing is more time consuming because of clinicals and care plans...which reminds me that I need to get started on mine.

missjennmb · Mar 4, 2009

^^ 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.

I guess when I say I don't study I mean that we study as a group for whatever amt of time is between our Med Surg class and AP the day of the test. (anything between 2 1/2 hrs and 4 1/2 hrs depending on when our med surg teacher lets us out) So we do study, its just not crazy and ongoing for days and days at a time like it is with nursing classes.

Most of the schools here require AP as a pre-req for nursing, but for some reason the school I am at lets you do them together (and doesnt suggest otherwise or I definitely would have).

As far as the people who failed AP1... nobody from nursing failed it, because, imo, of our study group (which is stellar, I'll admit). However, we have only about 5 people in nursing that are also taking AP, and 2 of the 5 of us have failed out of nursing already (not me). A lot of people failed AP1, mostly because the general school population (here atleast) just doesnt take school as seriously as the nursing students do. (which is reflected by how many nursing school apps we have that do not study before the entrance exam at all) I know I never used to take school as seriously as I do now. I never had to. I don't know exactly why they all failed, but I do know that someone who took my AP class and failed it, would not be able to make it through our nursing classes. Often they dont even STAY for the review, even when its an evening class (and many just say they dont feel like staying) and even when its almost WORD FOR WORD what will be on the test (he doesnt say "question 1 is..." or anything but he goes over everything on the test as far as "so what is another name for a nosebleed..." and "so what disease is characterized by..." ect and those might end up being fill in the blank or matching on our tests)

I'm not going to lie. School is HARD and made harder because I am taking all of these non-nursing courses (next semester I have an English and a Math). But I'm making it through, and I wish every day that I had as much clarity about what to study and what the answers are in my nursing courses as I do with my AP class. There are many times when even after the test is over in Nursing courses, I think I have the right answer and the teacher has the wrong one. Even when she points out where she gets her information from, I am SURE that she misinterpreted it instead of half the class, and that my answer was just as good if not better than theirs. (thankfully it doesnt happen enough to fail me, but a good 10% of the test is questionable judgement calls and not clearly defined directions of thought ANYWHERE in the book) I'm just happy that i'm passing...so far.