HELP fo PATHOPHYSIOLOGY

If your instructor did not give you a syllabus with specific objectives on it, then follow the objectives in your textbook, work the questions and exercises at the ends of the chapters. If you were given a list of objectives by your instructor you should be able to write a response to each one of them if you've successfully achieved them. Read your syllabus very carefully. Also, check to see if your instructor has information on the college website. More and more instructors are starting to put information on the computer rather than make copies of information and handing them out--saves paper. Finally, don't be afraid to go see your instructor during his/her office hours and ask, "what specifically are you looking for us to know for this chapter?" Don't sit still and wait for the boom to drop on you. Get pro-active and start asking questions and looking for answers. This is what nurses have to do every day on their jobs. Might as well start learning how to do some self-serve for yourself now.

That aside, pathophysiology is understanding why a person is having the symptoms or manifestations of a particular disease. This means having an understanding of the normal anatomy and physiology and then figuring out what went wrong or went from being normal to diseased. So, read, read, read. Look at other textbooks or other sources to help explain some of the things you are supposed to be learning. Search the internet for specific terms or conditions. The more you read, the more you will learn. You need to ask "why" questions. For example, why do people in advanced states of cancer lose so much weight even though their eating habits haven't changed? The reason is because the cancer cells are growing so rapidly they are competing with the body for the energy from the food. Guess who wins out? (the cancer cells).

The key to patho, which our professor told us, is to first understand the fluid and electrolyte balance (I think they may have a made easy one on just that). But most importantly, it's UNDERSTANDING it instead of memorizing. Always ask why.

Smart professor! Yes, asking "why" will get you where you want to be. For part of the learning, however, there is some memorization. Memorization is best accomplished through repitition (such as with flashcards) and going over and over the stuff. You do need that in order to be able to move forward and understand and apply them to the priniciples of the disease process. If you don't get a good foothold of the very basics, you are doomed when it comes to the thinking part of the course. Using supplemental sources (such as the Made Easy series, or even Dummies) works because it restates in different language most of the same ideas that are in your textbook or that the instructor lectured on. Sometimes seeing something written from someone else's point of view can be the switch that turns on that little lightbulb of understanding in our brains.