Know-it-all Professor

[Spritenurse1210, BSN, RN]

I've decided to take a detour on my path to becoming an RN and going for an AA in Pharmacy Technology (the RN Diploma school I want to go to in Ohio offers automatic admission for anyone who is an LPN or holds an AA degree in any discipline). I currently am taking English and Strategies for success and the guy who teaches it thinks he knows everything there is to know about everything. He teaches Anatomy and Physiology, Medical Terminology, Microbiology and is currently holds a laundry list of degrees. Too bad he doesn't know much about any of these subjects, and actually told the class i am in (yes this is english class we're talking about!) that hemoglobin is toxic to the body when it is outside the red blood cells, and that the major cause of paralysis in most people when they experience a traumatic injury to the spinal cord is the outleaking of hemoglobin into the spinal cord. Gee, could it be because the spinal cord was cut? This guy is a total jerk, and always trys to challenge my knowllege of medicine and anatomy because he wants to see what i know and is quick to tell me that I'm wrong about everything.....never mind the fact i spend the last 2 years studying the subject. GAHHHH the things we have to put up with to achieve in life. :angryfire:angryfire

[Jo Dirt]

Only thing worse than a know-it-all professor is a know-it-all student.

[Medic09, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=424162

The effect he is referring to, btw, is known as Hemoglobin Neurotoxicity.

[racing-mom4, BSN, RN]

By the time I graduated Nursing school I realized just how much I didnt know!!!

I learned more my 1st 6 mos on the job than I did 4years in school!!!

Good luck in your studies~~

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

I think I remember hearing something like this what seems like forever ago, but I can't remember anything specific.

Does anybody know if cardiac troponins are elevated in people with renal failure?

[mauxtav8r]

Jess, college is a transaction, a sort of game. You pay, they "teach", you "learn". So, you listen and take in, then give back according to the contractual arrangement.

How does this inner dialogue about this prof help YOU reach your goals?

Now, if you are actually paying attention, this sort of problem will have with even the best professors. Do not allow anything, including contradictions in the material, distract you from reaching your goal (graduation).

He may be a jerk. Do not let him stop you from being your own best self.

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

I had a micro instructor that passed on a lot of misinformation about hepatitis. I still kicked butt in his course, and he even wrote me a very nice letter of recommendation for a scholarship.

It was a matter of choosing my battles. Showing this instructor he was wrong, or getting into nursing school.

[Medic09, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

Does anybody know if cardiac troponins are elevated in people with renal failure?

The short answer is, apparently some elevation is common. There's a fair literature on it.

This article may interest you:

Cardiac troponins in renal failure -- time for an optimistic consensus?Authors:Buhaescu I; Izzedine H; Covic AAffiliation:Dialysis and Renal Transplantation Center, Parhon University Hospital, Iasi, RomaniaSource:International Journal of Clinical Practice (INT J CLIN PRACT), 2005 Nov; 59(11): 1317-25 (73 ref)Publication Type:journal article - review, tables/chartsLanguage:EnglishMajor Subjects:Biological Markers

Kidney Failure, Chronic -- Diagnosis

Troponin -- BloodMinor Subjects:Cardiovascular Risk Factors; Clinical Trials; Coronary Arteriosclerosis -- Diagnosis; Kidney Failure, Chronic -- Physiopathology; Kidney Failure, Chronic -- Prognosis; Medical Practice, Evidence-Based; Myocardial Infarction -- Diagnosis; Risk Assessment; Troponin -- PhysiologyAbstract:Elevated cardiac troponin concentrations are now accepted as the gold standard biochemical markers for the diagnosis of myocardial damage in patients with unstable coronary syndromes, having also a demonstrated value in early risk stratification and in adopting different therapeutic strategies. The specificity and sensitivity of cardiac troponins for diagnosis of acute coronary diseases in renal failure have been a point of confusion over the past decade, mainly because of moderate elevations of these cardiac biomarkers, commonly observed in patients with chronic renal dysfunction and without any significant myocardial damage. This review discusses the cardiac troponins, their biochemistry, their currently accepted cut-off values and their real significance in chronic renal failure (CRF), concluding that troponins maintain their diagnostic and prognostic values in patients with CRF, being predictive not only of cardiovascular mortality but also of general mortality in this patient group.Journal Subset:Biomedical; Online/Print; Peer Reviewed; UK & IrelandSpecial Interest:Evidence-Based PracticeISSN:1368-5031MEDLINE Info:NLM UID: 9712381Publisher Info:URL: http://www.cinahl.com/cgi-bin/refsvc?jid=1927&accno=2009092783

[Medic09, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

I had a micro instructor that passed on a lot of misinformation about hepatitis. I still kicked butt in his course, and he even wrote me a very nice letter of recommendation for a scholarship.

It was a matter of choosing my battles. Showing this instructor he was wrong, or getting into nursing school.

To be fair, this instructor isn't exactly misleading his class. Hemoglobin Neurotoxicity has been known for over 20 years. It is considered a real medical problem, though I don't know if it is as statistically prevalent as the prof. suggested or not.

The guy MAY be a jerk; I don't know. But the quoted information isn't exactly wrong.

[november17, ASN, RN]

Not trying to defend your prof but blood is a pretty caustic substance to nervous tissue. Blood tends to damage it. I don't know if blood/hemoglobin really is the main reason that people suffer paralysis, but I'm sure it is probably is a contributing factor to many of them and happens a lot (especially with a traumatic injury that perforates the blood/brain barrier). I know that in hemorrhagic strokes blood deals a lot of damage to the brain. It seems logical that would hold true in the spinal cord as well. At least, that's what they taught me in school...

[rhondaa83]

Isn't that the absolute truth!!

[rhondaa83]

Isn't that the absolute truth!!

I meant the fact that students think that they know more than their teachers. I hated being in class with people like that, because they always argued with the teacher and completly wasted my precious time in the class by always questiong the teacher about STUPID things.