Immune system info.

I have the basics like what an antigen is, in general what antibodies do, what humoral immunity is, cell mediated immunity, etc. but I'm getting lost in a lot of the details of it. It's just a lot of information and I kind of zone out on it and it's running together. For instance, I'm having a difficult time remembering the difference between the actions of things like interferons, complements, different anitbodies, which cells do what in which order, etc. How much of this stuff are you using in nursing school and in your jobs? What is really important to know?

Immunology is a tough field so don't beat yourself if you're struggling to keep it all straight in your mind.

First - it is very, very good that you understand things like humoral & cell-mediated immunity, and exactly what antigens and antibodies are and where they come from ( I can't tell you how many nurses don't seem to understand antibodies !) So you are off to a good start there.

As far as the details, most of them aren't going to be THAT important for nursing school. Particularly things like interferon and complement - you need to understand the general idea of them. I.e., interferon production is part of a general inflammatory reaction that revs up the immune system in response to pathogens (often viruses). Like interferon, "complement" really refers to an inflammatory pathway that helps stir up an immune reaction in response to pathogens. You probably need to know details about those things for an A&P exam, but just remember the basic idea for most of nursing.

As far as what cells act in which order ... eh. I love immunology and think that is a super interesting part of it, but can't say that I've used that knowledge in nursing practice.

Different types of antibodies - it rarely matters. You will learn a bit about particular antibodies when you talk about allergies/hypersensitivities, and again in OB/newborn nursing. It's not a ton of information and you will probably recognize it when you see it again. Honestly, the most useful thing to learn about antibody production would probably be how vaccines work, why they are safe, and why populations should be vaccinated.

The only time you would need to know a bit more about immuno is if you go into transplant, allergy/asthma, or cancer nursing. In those fields you will see a lot of drugs that are designed to specifically target steps in immune pathways, and it will behoove you to understand them.

Hope that helps!

coast2coast- I replied to you right after you did to me but for some reason it didn't post. I wanted to thank you for all of your information. It helped a great deal. I had my exam and did awesome on the lymphatic system portion and OK (better than I thought) on the immunity portion. I made an 82 on the exam. The good thing now is that I can actually go back and read the review at the end of the chapter and have a good idea about most of it. I pick up new things every time I read it. The general ideas I have, I need a bit more memorizing on some specifics though. I *think* I'm happy with it. Over all I'm doing really well in the class, so I'm still hoping to come out with a strong A. Thank you again!