i need advice/suggestions. i am seriously considering nursing as a 2nd career. i have been told by family/friends and some even total strangers that i would make a great nurse...ie; very personable, caring/nurturing, patient, etc. which i think it would be a fascinating career--so many "avenues" one could go down. however...i have a huge dilemma w/the a&p courses one needs to take. i am a big animal lover (heck, family members started our local spca if that says something!) and i know in those classes that dissections are part of the class curriculum. i find this totally offensive. i am wondering if there is a way to "opt out" and do something alternative. i live in upstate ny and was wondering if anyone has been through this before and if so, suggestions. sadly enough, this kind of a "course" is the only thing holding me back.
The interesting thing about a lot of my fellow lab students who expressed initial aversions to dissections (especially the cat) is that they ended up forgetting their issues once the dissections were underway. They did not want to go home and have it bother them to look at Tabby with some guilt about what they had just experienced. All the cats had the appearance of strays and mutts, types of cats that would normally not be 1st choice for adoption so many of my classmates did not feel too connected with similarities to their own pets. If anything the biggest complaint was the formaldehyde smell. Our professor made certain that we knew that these animals were NOT breeded for the sole purpose of educational use. These cats were euthanized by the humane society as a consequence of overpopulation and if they had not been purchased by the school for A&P lab, they would have been cremated. They are cremated anyway once our use with them in lab is complete. Treating the cat's body well during dissection and study is the most dignified way of honoring their final educational purpose.
I think I said this before, but I personally would prefer a live tangible dissection over a computer simulated one. I sincerely feel that something gets lost in the process when you substitute technology like that. Not in terms of learning, but in appreciating the true structure of organs and the variety of their shapes in every carcass. Before I ever started dissecting, I always thought the large intestine was always in this perfect arc formation like the pretty drawings in the textbook show, and I was also surprised to see how small certain organs really are, such as the lungs. Additionally, I believe that dissections in lab provide us a residual benefit for appreciating life and preparing us to understand death a bit more, something that I find an extreme majority of nurses will confront at some time of their careers.
If anything the biggest complaint was the formaldehyde smell.
Funny you mention this. I am re-taking A&P this year. I cracked open my new text yesterday and in the first chapter there are cadaver photos demonstrating the different sections (eg. saggital, coronal...) and, though it has been 16 yrs, the formaldehyde smell from cadaver lab came shooting up to the surface. I can smell it and I can feel the textures as if I were there, just by looking at the pictures.
PacoUSA, BSN, RN
3,450 Posts
The interesting thing about a lot of my fellow lab students who expressed initial aversions to dissections (especially the cat) is that they ended up forgetting their issues once the dissections were underway. They did not want to go home and have it bother them to look at Tabby with some guilt about what they had just experienced. All the cats had the appearance of strays and mutts, types of cats that would normally not be 1st choice for adoption so many of my classmates did not feel too connected with similarities to their own pets. If anything the biggest complaint was the formaldehyde smell. Our professor made certain that we knew that these animals were NOT breeded for the sole purpose of educational use. These cats were euthanized by the humane society as a consequence of overpopulation and if they had not been purchased by the school for A&P lab, they would have been cremated. They are cremated anyway once our use with them in lab is complete. Treating the cat's body well during dissection and study is the most dignified way of honoring their final educational purpose.
I think I said this before, but I personally would prefer a live tangible dissection over a computer simulated one. I sincerely feel that something gets lost in the process when you substitute technology like that. Not in terms of learning, but in appreciating the true structure of organs and the variety of their shapes in every carcass. Before I ever started dissecting, I always thought the large intestine was always in this perfect arc formation like the pretty drawings in the textbook show, and I was also surprised to see how small certain organs really are, such as the lungs. Additionally, I believe that dissections in lab provide us a residual benefit for appreciating life and preparing us to understand death a bit more, something that I find an extreme majority of nurses will confront at some time of their careers.