I am afraid of Anatomy and Physiology

No Stars In My Eyes · Mar 24, 2015

The further I got in nursing school the more interesting it became. Anatomy and Physiology fascinated me because I had NO IDEA prior to those classes just exactly how intricate the human body is. I mean, there were a lot of really "WOW!" moments for me. Seriously! I was awed. When I came upon something I found intimidating, I screwed up my courage and went into it headlong, like jumping off a cliff....and then finding out I could fly!

But once upon a time I'd had the idea of taking over and running my mother's shop (when she retired from it).....and I realized, thankfully, ahead of time, that if you put me in program for Business Administration, Marketing, Finances....well,I would just curl up and wither away. Didn't matter how much I enjoyed working WITH her in her shop; being responsible for running it would have been a different animal altogether. A dire mistake, in fact.

If going into nursing is beating your head up....don't do it. No money is worth being somewhere that you don't find the exhilaration that propels you to keep going further.

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Mar 24, 2015

If going into nursing is beating your head up....don't do it. No money is worth being somewhere that you don't find the exhilaration that propels you to keep going further.

Especially when you're spending 12 hours a day in an environment that you absolutely hate. I mean seriously, why waste your short life like that?

LPN With An Attitude · Mar 26, 2015

Of all the nonsense classes that they make people take in order to steal their money, A and P is the hardest course but also the most practical one, perhaps the one you will apply the most. Study it well. Take it before you enter the LPN program. Most of the subject matter in nursing school itself was easy, or at least it was for me. What was stressful about nursing school was not the subject matter but all the time they made me waste writing out these meticulous care plans, which you never really do once your in the field because they are all pre printed anyways. That, and having to spend a week writing out drug cards. I have a Master's in teaching, secondary education, which got me nowhere, but the teaching methods of most of my nursing instructors were abysmal. I didn't learn a thing from writing out those drug cards, with the side effects, etc etc. I just lost 2 weeks sleep and nearly developed carpal tunnel syndrome from writing fast in order to get it done. I didn't have time to study or read any of the 100 or so drugs this old woman had us write out. A total waste of time. A and P is a core class that you will apply on the job. I would say A and P as pathophysiology were the two most relevant

LPN With An Attitude · Mar 26, 2015

The instructor I had made you apply what you memorized. When he did the clinical on the muscular system, for instance, it wasn't just labels with numbers on a model. He got in front of the class, flexed his arm, and asked what movement was that (flexion of the biceps), what were the agonists and antagonists in that movement. He did about 20 movements, and you had to know which muscle was being flexed, extended, etc. It was the single hardest class I ever took in my total of 12 years in college, but he really made you both learn and apply all there is to know about A and P. So the difficulty of the course varies from instructor to instructor. This guy was tough, but I really knew my stuff after two semesters of his class

BrandonLPN, LPN · Mar 26, 2015

Of all the nonsense classes that they make people take in order to steal their money, A and P is the hardest course but also the most practical one, perhaps the one you will apply the most. Study it well. Take it before you enter the LPN program. Most of the subject matter in nursing school itself was easy, or at least it was for me. What was stressful about nursing school was not the subject matter but all the time they made me waste writing out these meticulous care plans, which you never really do once your in the field because they are all pre printed anyways. That, and having to spend a week writing out drug cards. I have a Master's in teaching, secondary education, which got me nowhere, but the teaching methods of most of my nursing instructors were abysmal. I didn't learn a thing from writing out those drug cards, with the side effects, etc etc. I just lost 2 weeks sleep and nearly developed carpal tunnel syndrome from writing fast in order to get it done. I didn't have time to study or read any of the 100 or so drugs this old woman had us write out. A total waste of time. A and P is a core class that you will apply on the job. I would say A and P as pathophysiology were the two most relevant

Are you saying A&P is a nonsense class? I can't imagine a LPN not having to take a course in anatomy and physiology.

RNtobe17 · Mar 26, 2015

I have 2 more test & I'm done with a&p 2! ðŸ˜¢ Im really sad about this. I've never enjoyed a class like I love a&p! So of course for me it was easy because I have absolutely loved learning this information. So it depends on if you enjoy learning the things that you learn in a&p .. That decided how easy or hard it is for you. I didn't mind spending hours everyday studying.

LPN With An Attitude · Mar 26, 2015

The care plans and the drug cards were time consuming. The other major stress for me, aside from working 60 hours a week, was playing the nursing school game. Realize that these instructors have ultimate power of you. They have the ability to pass or fail you, to let you through the gate or to slam the gate shut in your face. Many of them get this quota mentality. That is, they get this idea that if everyone passes through their program, it must be too easy. So some of them are just looking for an excuse to find people to ride and they usually do this in the clinical check offs or when you are actually doing your clinicals. That is how and when they can get their quota of the students to flunk or stress them out to the point where they drop. Some of them are really quite sadistic and actually enjoy doing this. So don't do anything to draw their attention, else they will focus on you and you will be that one that they set out to get. Never disagree with your instructor. Don't give them dirty looks, even when they are trying to test you. The one teacher who made us waste all that time writing out the drug cards also used to read straight from the book, then digress into her personal life, etc. She based half of your grade on attendance (!) so I had to sit there for 3 hours in the morning and endure this cruel and unusual punishment after having worked all night and try not to fall asleep in her class and not give her the look that was running through my mind, which was basically "you need to retire and your classes and methods are a total waste of my time". Keep the poker face, play their game because they make the rules and have the ability to pass or fail you. I learned that the hard way when I was sexually discriminated against in an RN program. I drew their attention because I could not believe their teaching skills were that poor. So they talk amongst themselves about their students because they were miserable old women with nothing better to do and they harass you in clinicals and ride you and if they don't succeed in failing you or making you drop, they will gossip to your next instructor and she will come right after you from the start, taking over where they left off.

LPN With An Attitude · Mar 26, 2015

To the contrary, Brandon. If you read my post carefully, you will see that I emphasized the importance of A and P and pathophysiology and encouraged people to study it hard and learn it well because the more you know, the better nurse you will be and you apply A and P probably more than any other course when you are on the job.

Housebabyj · Mar 26, 2015

Thanks. So, you are a LPN, correct. Why did you go this route? I have a Master's in Education, too. Your feedback will help me a great deal.

Housebabyj · Mar 26, 2015

Thanks. So, you are a LPN, correct. Why did you go this route? I have a Master's in Education, too. Your feedback will help me a great deal.

LPN With An Attitude · Mar 27, 2015

My mother was a public school teacher and I didn't have a clue as to what I wanted to do after going through 12 years of Catholic school. They said education was one of the "booming careers". What they didn't tell me was that you don't get a real job with it around this area unless you know somebody. Nepotism. So after working as a substitute teacher for $50/day (42 actual bucks after the government steals their pound of flesh in taxes) I was sick of living in basements, not being able to afford a phone, riding a bike, and living in poverty so decided to make a career change. I initially enrolled in an RN program and was still substitute teaching and working as a security guard when I could. I was the top of my class, well on my way to becoming an RN. I am a male, half Chippewa Native. These two nursing instructors did not like me for some reason and tried to harass me out during the first clinicals and during clinical check offs, but I was tenacious and made it to the second clinical, where upon the new clinical instructor started off right where the old ones left off and harassed the hell out of me. The other students, many of whom I actually tutored, saw and knew what was happening and offered to intervene or try to help but I told them not to jeapordize getting on their hit list for trying to take up for me. I was ridden in clinicals, constantly called into the instructor's office (she called me in before clinicals even started, so I knew the previous instructors gossiped with her....of all the students, she called me and me alone into her office "to get to know me better"). The care plans were never good enough, I was still passing the tests but I had to work and with having to be under constant pressure and rewrite my care plans, I wore down after a few months of sleep deprivation and was forced to drop. However it was not in vain, when I reapplied for an LPN program I breezed right through it, having made it halfway through an RN program and surviving what was tantamount to torture. The instructors at the LPN program were impressed by me, I passed the LPN NCLEX, started my first job at $14/hour in 1997, bought a small house, car, and was happy until I got married, but that is a different story. That is how I got to where I am at. Now all that I struggled for is being threatened because of all the budget shortfalls and the money drying up from an economy that I am convinced is soon going to collapse wholesale, so employers prefer to hire fresh graduates for less money. I was making $25 taking care of a post MVA vent dependent quadriplegic patient, and suddenly the patient's insurance decided that they were no longer going to reimburse skilled nursing, so home health aides are running TPNs and IVs and I have been applying all over and nobody so much as calls back, despite my good work history and references. I am guessing they don't want to pay for experience and prefer to save money by hiring in fresh grads at a lower wage scale, something that I am learning is becoming quite widespread as the economy is a year or less from totally bottoming out. So that is how I started and probably how I will have ended. Learn that A and P, though. It is the most important pre-req you will apply on the job

No Stars In My Eyes · Mar 27, 2015

Well, I just have to say that now I understand your 'name' on line. Reckon I, too, would have an attitude about 5 miles long and high, had I have had to endure what you have! WHEW!