I've had it! Is this normal?

[Ms Kylee]

Anatomy class tonight... 2 chapters on Cardiac. The instructor just breezed through both chapters and pretty much leaving all of us with the deer in the headlight looks.

We told him 3 times to slow down and explain things because we're not getting it/understanding what he's trying to teach, and he kept saying "You'll understand it and it will all make sense when we do vessels tomorrow night".

Now, most of us are pretty smart, and usually don't have much of a problem following.

I just feel like we're being pushed aside and we're not important because we're the part time class, and the only thing they care about is getting the full timers out the door and graduated.

Our class president went to the Director and expressed our concerns about how we're not seeming to get all of the stuff we need (lab time, tutoring, etc), and she was pretty much blown off. Other classmates went to her and explained that they were having trouble with Anatomy and were told that all they had to do to pass the tests was to memorize the objectives in the book.

Is this normal? I'm really this close to throwing in the towel and saying the hell with it, and enrolling in the RN program at my hospital.

[allantiques4me]

I remember the anatomy teacher at the school I attended was pretty rough. I knew medical terminology,thank God ,cause a lot of people failed that class,and I think its because they didnt know medical terminology.It seemed easy for me but some persons didnt understand what she was saying.I think that was totally unfair as we are there to learn.

Dont throw in the towel!!

[ShayRN]

Sorry to say, but yes it is pretty normal. The profs at universitys sometimes have that way about them, "well I understand it, why don't you?:uhoh3:" Had one prof that gave out different tests to students of different abilities, because he felt we should be challanged based on our knowledge, not another students.:angryfire We all went to the dean about that, he had to regive the test.

[LuvMyGamecocks]

I hate to play devil's advocate, but maybe it's true that you would understand cardiac "stuff" a little better once you knew more about the vessels involved. I didn't have a CLUE until we started with the vessels and the path blood takes.

There is a LOT of material to cover in A&P. My A&PII instructor talked about everything under the sun EXCEPT A&P. We complained to her, to the department head after those complaints were blown off...in the end, we were left to do what we would have done originally. Study our rear ends off and HOPE we were studying the right thing.

Consider that professors, however unfair it is, are not obligated to give their time outside of class. They SHOULD, but not all do so readily. We have an open lab schedule with models, dummies, slides, etc. for A&P and a "tutor" to help if we needed it. I highly recommend a study group.

I have found, more times than I like, that digging in and giving everything YOU'VE got (independent of professor problems) has allowed me to retain my sanity. Dealing with professors, especially the ones that leave you to your own devices, can drive anyone insane.

[ceecel.dee, MSN, RN]

Consider that professors, however unfair it is, are not obligated to give their time outside of class. They SHOULD, but not all do so readily.

Well, we HAVE to have office hours. All instructors don't?

The more students that visit the Dean's office with instructor concerns, the better...at least where I work. Go prepared with test statistics, or ask for them from the Dean. Numbers speak loudly to them.

We consider our students our customers. We are there to serve them as well as we can, and this focus keeps us well grounded.

[scattycarrot, BSN, RN]

Adult learning at college is different from learning at High School and it can be difficult to get used to even if you left high school 10 years ago. The emphasis is on self- directed study and the learning(or at least reading) of the material before you go into the classroom. At higher levels of education, it really is up to the student to do the ground work themselves and not be 'spoon-fed'. Now, this isn't very useful when you are having problems grasping a subject but as Luvmygamecocks(great name!) said, the best thing to do is join a study group. and make sure that you do the ground work.

[ceecel.dee, MSN, RN]

but as Luvmygamecocks(great name!) said

Pardon my sheltered existance, by what is a gamecock? Sounds violent to me.

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

i thought it was something you bat back and forth when playing badminton, but that's a shuttlecock. anyhow, gamecock:

from dictionary.com:

american heritage dictionary - cite this source game-cock (gām'kŏk') [color=#568c1e]pronunciation key

n. a rooster trained for cockfighting.

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

To the OP, to get back to the thread topic:

I had the same problem with A&P. The only way I learned it was to memorize. I copied the book, made outlines, drew charts, made cut-outs, colored in the A&P coloring book -- in other words, I never studied anything so hard in my life, because the lectures were so seemingly unrelated to the tests.

I still remember trying to figure out why he was spending two lectures on the frog muscle twitch.

I still recall memorizing that the resting potential of the cell is something like (-)70 millivolts, and making charts on the phases of the action potential.

At the time, I not only didn't get the significance cardiac-wise, but I was furious with our instructor for heading off into this "tangent."

It turned out to be very relevant after all.

So if your instructor isn't giving you what you need, study from the book. Even if you're not tested on every single thing you learn, as a nurse, you'll be using it all and then some. Trust me on that.

And good luck to you. We're happy to answer any questions you have while on your journey.

[oldiebutgoodie, RN]

This is an interactive web site I set up when I was taking anatomy. Feel free to check it out, it may be helpful.

http://www.thehotflash.com/ap112/

Oldiebutgoodie

[WanaBaNurse]

I think it's pretty normal...

Last semester I took API and the first day my instructor told us that it was a self study course (she wasn't lying)!!! Not once did we do an actual lab. She would just tell us to do pgs. 40-80 in our lab books (busy work). So we would just open our lecture book and copy the info. into our lab books.

In lecture she read word for word directly from the book. Never explained anthing nor did she pronounce words correctly!

I was more offended that I had paid money for a class that I didn't get anything out of and waste my gas going to it. However, I made an A in both classes b/c I studied my rear off and I can honestly say that I'm so very proud b/c I taught myself Anatomy and apparently did a real good job @ it (had a 102 average)!

This summer session I'm taking APII and have a young Dr. teacher. He seems GREAT!!!! He apply's everything to a clinical experiance and helps us understand things in detail!

Hang in there. Every teacher is different. Just do your studying and you'll make it through!

[jjjoy, LPN]

Courses with lots of material to memorize tend to be that way. It would seem to me that the way to deal with that would be restructure such courses instead of trying to make them fit the traditional lecture model. The bulk of anatomy is memorizing the names of all those bones, muscles, etc. Why not just give a list of what you need to know and then let students go about studying it on their own, asking questions as needed? A teacher could help by giving studying tips (acronyms, rhymes, Latin roots, etc) but if the school is the type that doesn't want to "spoon-feed" then there's not much to expand on in lecture so it ends up sounding like they're just reading from the text. It's a waste of 3 hr/week if that's all they are doing. Unfortunately, it happens.