Cadaver lab?

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My CC has a cadaver lab for A&P. They say they are one of only a few 2-year colleges in the west to have such a thing. Does anyone know exactly what goes on in a cadaver lab? Are they people cadavers or animals? Are they just there to look at or do you have to actually mess around with them?

Specializes in no specialty! (have to graduate first!).

At my community college we had an optional human dissection lab. We had to travel to Salt Lake City and go to the BYU campus. It was awesome! It was such a valuable learning experience. I was a little uneasy at first but after we started learning about the process of dissection it wasn't so bad. The cadavers we saw were dissected. Some more than others which was cool because we got to see the human body in "layers". It was fully interative too. We were allowed to hold parts touch whatever we wanted. One of the cadavers had HUGE lesions on his kidneys. That was so cool to see. I could so see myself becoming a forensic nurse.

Anywho, my point is that if you have to go, you won't regret it. Even if it makes you too uneasy and you end up leaving the room. One of my friends almost considered switching her major because it made her too uneasy. If that happens to you just remember that you won't be dissecting anyone as a nurse. Unless you get into forensic nursing which if seeing dissected cadavers makes you uneasy, you probably won't do anyway.

:specs::specs:

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Specializes in EMS, ER, GI, PCU/Telemetry.

i wish we had a cadaver lab. we did feral cats, fetal pigs, frogs, rats and a giant squid (which was the smelliest thing ever). i know here in NC they dont usually let students who aren't in med school watch autopsies either.... i am hoping when i do my LPN-RN program in FL they have more of an oppotunity to watch one.

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

I went to Arapahoe CC in Colorado and we had a cadaver lab. The instructor did the prosection privately and then we had hands-on. During one of my semesters they received another cadaver for which they had a rare opportunity to have a prosection class. I wanted to do it after hearing about my friend's experience at Irvine Valley in CA, but work and family with limited time to do the courses I needed wouldn't allow it.

FWIW, we also did a sheep's brain, cow's eye, a heart (don't remember the animal), kidneys, a fetal pig, and untold 'parts'. It was amazingly informative.

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I go to a CC in Indiana and we had a cadaver. We were allowed to poke around and feel and see all the different organs, etc. It was very cool.

We also worked with sheep brains, hearts, kidneys, and lymph nodes.

It seems like there was other stuff, but I can't recall at the moment.

Back in 2000, I went to a different campus of the same CC and we did frogs, cats, and brains there too.

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