Just Started A&P...Need Advice and Or Help! A little long...

Nurses General Nursing

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Well after years of going back and forth from IT to Nursing. I finally decided to stick with Nursing and go full steam ahead. I have been messing around with computers for about ten years and finally decided it is more of a hobby. I talked to my mom about getting her help(financially), so I could really focus on doing well. She was very excited to help(she is the VP and CAO of a local Hospice here in San Diego) so she knows the industry and how rewarding and stable it is.

Back to my topic, got a little side tracked, sorry. I had my first A&P lab yesterday and it was brutal. I knew nothing, the instructor did not go over anything. It was basically here ya go. Luckily, I was teamed up with three other people that were very willing too help me out. My first day of lecture is tomorrow and I thought I would get a jump start, the instructor basically gave us what we needed to know for the mid term and final. I start reading what he said we will need and it was like reading a foreign language. I got frustrated and and went and worked out.

My question is after all that LOL...should I just wait for the lecture tomorrow so he can explain it detail, or should I try to read more? I read a couple of pages and a few minutes later, I could not even tell you what I just read.

I hope this is in the right forum?

Jason

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Definitely go to the lecture!!! If you are not understanding what you are reading, its possible that you should drop the A&P class and start out in General Biology- just to freshen up. A&P is my absolute FAVORITE class right now, just because I've worked in an ER for a little over 2 years now, and it's made everything click together! Where are you going to school? Most schools have places to get help. Like at Mizzou theres a place in Lowry Mall, and at the Community college I'm going to now, they also have tutors. UTILIZE THEM!!!! Their entire job is to break down the material so that it makes sense! You may just not be that type of learner, maybe you need models? Or maybe you're auditory and a lecture will help a lot. Let me know if I can help in any way! Keep your chin up though!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Jason,

Don't give up. If you are like a lot of IT types (my daugher for instance) you are more comfortable with linear concepts -- logic is your friend. You may have difficulty with more abstract, non-linear ideas. I have found that many A&P concepts are easier if you can visualize them. So you may need to seek out visual media to help you understand complex concepts.

This may be as simple as an A&P coloring book - widely available and used by all types of health care students. There are also a lot of video-based instructional media available. You will have to purchase them, but they are not very expensive and you can probably sell them to another student when you're through with them.

Good instructors have a diverse 'bag of tricks' to help students... I once had a group act out cellular repolarization during an EKG class! But you need to realize that you are going to have to put forth a great deal of effort to learn this stuff - if it was easy, everyone could be a nurse.

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Definitely go to the lecture!!! If you are not understanding what you are reading, its possible that you should drop the A&P class and start out in General Biology- just to freshen up. A&P is my absolute FAVORITE class right now, just because I've worked in an ER for a little over 2 years now, and it's made everything click together! Where are you going to school? Most schools have places to get help. Like at Mizzou theres a place in Lowry Mall, and at the Community college I'm going to now, they also have tutors. UTILIZE THEM!!!! Their entire job is to break down the material so that it makes sense! You may just not be that type of learner, maybe you need models? Or maybe you're auditory and a lecture will help a lot. Let me know if I can help in any way! Keep your chin up though!

Thanks for the reply!

I am currently enrolled at National University. I am sure they have tutors, but since the first day of lecture is tomorrow, I thought I would try to get ahead a little, but I might see how the lecture goes tomorrow.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Nursing Administration for SNF.
Jason,

This may be as simple as an A&P coloring book - widely available and used by all types of health care students. There are also a lot of video-based instructional media available.

Excellent idea!! I had the same problem - cd not understand the concepts (and we are taliking deep, deep concepts - wait til you get into muscle physiology!) unless I cd visualize them. Have you not had Bio 1 & II? Or Chemistry? The school I went to made these courses prereqs for that reason. A&P can be fun, but only if you're not totally fustrated with trying to understand the basics, meanwhile the professor's already on into the next system. My advice, if youre going into nursing, you need to truly understand this stuff, and not just cram for tests and pass by the skin of your teeth. Do what you gotta do to "get it". Talk to the teacher, tutors, study groups, study aids, or all of the above. Above all, dont give up! Good luck!!

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Specializes in Maternity.

when i took a&p 1 i had no biology background besides the highschool biology (which i didn't do superior in!) and i did great in anatomy and physio. i would read a chapter ahead of what we were lecturing on and i felt the same way.....like, what did i just read?!?!?! but if you take good notes on y0ur own, then it should click together in lecture. your professor should help you link it all together. the more you expose yourself to the material, the easier it will be to understand.

good luck!:yeah:

thanks for the reply!

i am currently enrolled at national university. i am sure they have tutors, but since the first day of lecture is tomorrow, i thought i would try to get ahead a little, but i might see how the lecture goes tomorrow.

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Read the material first. then go to lecture. It helps a lot trust me. Also if you want record the lectures so you dont miss anything. I usually recorded lectures so I could listen to them live and then I would take notes from the recording.

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Here is the mid term he wrote out for us on the first day of our lab class:

MID TERM

A)Intro to human body - anatomical positions, abdominal cavity contents, ventral body cavity contents, different planes negative and positive feedback.

B)Cell structure and function - purpose of cell membrane, organelles structure and function, chromosomes, cell division. What are enzymes? Structure of cell membrane

C)Tissues - Epithelia, skeletal and cardiac muscle, connective tissue cells. What happens in Adipose tissue as one gains or looses weight? Composition of Blood.

D)Skin - function, epidermal layers, sensory receptors, classification of 2nd and 3rd degree burns, contents of Dermis, role of melanocytes and keratinocytes, hypodermis. How, where and when do fingerprints arise?

His handwriting is really bad, sorry if some of the words are incorrect. All the questions are multiple choice and T - F.

Does it look bad?

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Specializes in IM/Critical Care/Cardiology.

A & P is like another language and it is hard to get into the groove of things at first. But it does come together. Reading ahead is good, even though it may make no sense at all. The lecture helps tie it up and then the labs bring it home even more.

Stick with it, and I'm sure things will settle down somewhat. A & P by no means is simple. It is a great course and has always been one of my favorites.

Good Luck!

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

you want to ask these kinds of questions on the nursing student assistance forum (https://allnurses.com/forums/f205/) or the general nursing student discussion forum (https://allnurses.com/forums/f50/).

there are a whole bunch of anatomy weblinks to help you out on or about post #45 of this sticky thread on the nursing student assistance forum

welcome to a&p. it's about 80% memorization.

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Specializes in Acute Mental Health.
Here is the mid term he wrote out for us on the first day of our lab class:

MID TERM

A) Intro to human body - anatomical positions, abdominal cavity contents, ventral body cavity contents, different planes negative and positive feedback.

B) Cell structure and function - purpose of cell membrane, organelles structure and function, chromosomes, cell division. What are enzymes? Structure of cell membrane

C) Tissues - Epithelia, skeletal and cardiac muscle, connective tissue cells. What happens in Adipose tissue as one gains or looses weight? Composition of Blood.

D) Skin - function, epidermal layers, sensory receptors, classification of 2nd and 3rd degree burns, contents of Dermis, role of melanocytes and keratinocytes, hypodermis. How, where and when do fingerprints arise?

His handwriting is really bad, sorry if some of the words are incorrect. All the questions are multiple choice and T - F.

Does it look bad?

Looks pretty standard to me. You have to get through this to move on so don't give up. Do read, even it seems foreign to you. I'm 4th semester nursing and have just learned the importance of reading before lecture. Even when I just skim it, the material seems a bit more familiar during lecture. Good luck. What you learn in A&P will be valuable in ns, so really focus on what you need to learn. :typing

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The "Made Incredibly Easy!" series makes a book for anatomy and physiology. I find all the books in their series pretty good for breaking down difficult subjects into a more digestible form. ;)

Borders and Barnes and Noble have them, can order on amazon, etc.

http://www.madeincrediblyeasy.com/

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