Cadavers?

[feisty_lpn, LPN]

I was just curious as to how many of you have encountered cadavers in your bridge programs. The program I want to attend has cadavers and I don't know how I would handle working with a dead body. Thats the only thing I have reservations about.

[vamedic4, EMT-P]

fiesty,

Sorry you feel that way about cadavers. I'm sure that working with the deceased is unsettling to some. I know the first cadaver I saw made me a little quesy. But it comes down to this: These are individuals who have given themselves so that you are able to learn. That's a pretty awesome way to "go" if you know what I mean.

I'll suggest you read a book, pick it up at the library. It's called "Stiff- The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers", by Mary Roach. It will make you laugh, and cry. It also helped me remember why it is exactly that I became involved in health care to begin with.

Best of luck.

vamedic4

[CRNI-ICU20]

yes, had cadavers in training.

no...it didn't bother me...

my spiritual beliefs helped me alot here, because I believe that we are spiritual beings in a human form (body) not the other way around, where we are human beings with a spiritual side....I believe we were God Breathed...meaning, He gave us His breath (inspiration....in Hebrew the word for inspiration is "God breathed")....so when I see a body there, I realize that the spirit of that body has gone, and now just the form is there that held that spirit....and while it is a sacred thing, our bodies, purpose of that body has now changed....it no longer holds the spirit....or what was "God Breathed"....that has now returned to Him....

When people give their body to science, it's a gift...and a privilege....and something I am so very thankful for, because it gave me such insight into how fearfully and wonderfully we are made!

I hope your learning is really wonderful.....the training you will embark on will ultimately benefit someone else...and isn't that just the ultimate reason we become nurses?