Is anatomy one of the toughest courses for nursing?

[Toots71506]

Hi - I'm currently in the course and can't believe how much time I'm committing to studying. Is this course the one that requires the most study time are are all nursing courses this way? thanks in advance for your posts...

[happy2learn]

A&P was a piece of cake for me. I thought Micro was more difficult. But I still got an A in it.

[staphylococci, NP]

Anatomy & Physiology is only the beginning. Once you begin your core nursing courses, you'll soon realized that all of them require significant amounts of time devoted to studying.

[apoppyfield, BSN, RN]

I think pharmocology will be worse, although I haven't gotten there yet myself. Pharm will also have really odd names, only this time without the strong latin base to help. Also, no models to manipulate and more information involved.

I don't know enough about the other nursing classes to know.

Our school only requires that the student learn the drug classes, but i tried to remember at least one drug from each class.

Our school taught anatomy and physiology separately. I thought anatomy was easier (just memorization). Physiology was tougher because of having to learn the body processes. But I spent the most time on Micro.

[quetepye]

Not at all! For me, nothing held a candle to physiological chemistry, and once in nursing school, general nursing of adults is a ton of info in a small m amount of time! I guess it all depends what school you go to...

[lifelearningrn, BSN, RN]

While A&P has been a bit time consuming.. I don't find it as hard as General Bio was for me.. I studied a couple hours a day and entire weekends before exams and still only pulled a C in that class. BUT, having taken bio 1 & 2 a lot of the stuff I'm seeing in A&P isn't completely foreign. I got a 101 on my first A/P lecture exam! :)

[mama2four]

I agree with other posters that everyone has strengths and weaknesses and you need to invest whatever time you need to succeed. I will say though that the investment in A&P I&II will pay off in spades later when you are in the core nursing classes. Having that solid background will make it easier to see the big picture later on. Unfortunately all of these grades count (even the English classes) whether you like the class or not or even see the relevance -- nursing school is so competitive that you need solid grades to maintain a high gpa. Keep working hard -- it is all worth it in the end.

[harleyz]

A&P definately requires a great deal of studying, because there is lots of memorization. However, Pathophysiology makes A&P a cake walk, in my opinion!

[NJCheyla]

I am taking AP1 this semester and I wake up with diagrams of skulls, tissue, bones, etc on my mind all the time lately! lol I find myself dedicating almost every free second of my day to studying notes or reviewing diagrams/flashcards for this class. If you see me waiting at a stop light, I am flashing it up! Some days my brain can't take it and I fall asleep after eating dinner, this usually happens at least once a week.

For the most part, the material is very interesting. There are also many study aids available to keep it from being monotonous. I took Medical Terminology in preparation for this class and it has really paid off. I can't imagine having to learn all this vocabulary without a foundation in med term.

Good luck!

-NJ

[14togo]

Being a bit of an old fart, and having travelled several discipline paths in my nursing journey, it has been my observation (and one of my most ardent beliefs) that the better you know what is happening at the anatomical (read cellular) level, the better you will be able to nurse your acute care patients. If you do not fully understand what is happening on the inside your ability to maximize effective care on the outside is diminished. Your ability to critically think outside the box is limited. I would therefore respectfully suggest that no matter how tough you find A & P, no matter how frustrated you get, hair you pull out, tears you shed ad nauseum, LEARN it and learn it in the very best way you can. It will only stand good in your stead. ta for now.

[Verna127]

I thought microbiology was the hardest class, anatomy was the second hardest.

[Grandy]

Typically the biological sciences are the courses that most nursing students find the toughest, especially those students who have not studied very much science previously. From my experience physiology was much tougher than anatomy as it requires you to get your head around some concepts that are a bit more abstract. Anatomy is basically a lot more straight forward and it is essentially learning structures and names. My advice is to form a study group with some of your student colleagues, try to find 3 or 4 other students who enjoy the subject and are good at it and join with them. Never make study groups with good friends because you will spend more time with chit-chat than study! Best of luck.

[Lmjacobs]

Think of the amount of studying hours you put into anatomy as a preview for nursing classes. For me, it was a wake up call that teachers really meant what they said about reading the material if you want to pass! I had another teacher tell me to think of my brain as a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes. For example, at the beginning of the semester, you may only be able to read (and retain what you read) for 20 minutes at a time. But the more you push yourself, soon you can sit for 30-45 minutes and then eventually your brain will be able to absorb hours of reading... With LOTS of practice. Which you will get when you start nursing classes :)