Knowledge Of Physiology

kidluvinRN · Sep 27, 2003

Well, off the top of my head I think that it would be difficult to suction someone's nasopharynx if you had no anatomic understanding of the structure. That is just one example. A&P is crucial. (FYI - all caps denotes yelling on this board.)

acuteobrn · Sep 27, 2003

Think cardiac, you need to know the physiology of the electrical pathways in order to understand how the meds you give and the lab values that can effect this, ie high K+ levels....you get the picture. I could go on for days...

MishlB · Sep 27, 2003

If you know where a disease or disorder starts, and what effect it has on the body, you can monitor your patient more effectively by knowing the signs and symptoms to look for.

kidluvinRN · Sep 27, 2003

Well, off the top of my head I think that it would be difficult to suction someone's nasopharynx if you had no anatomic understanding of the structure. That is just one example. A&P is crucial. (FYI - all caps denotes yelling on this board.)

RNKPCE · Sep 27, 2003

One of our roles as a nurse is educator. As an example how would one answer this question if a patient asked it " What is atrial fibrillation?" If a nurse didn't know the normal anatomy and physiology of how the heart beats, how could she explain what atrial fibrillation is to a patient. How would a nurse know what insulin does to a patients body and how would she know what s/s of hypoglycemia to look for if she didn't know physiology. It is so necessary that is why it is a prerequisite in most nursing programs.

pickledpepperRN · Sep 27, 2003

Having been an LVN first I LOVED physiology!

It enables a nurse to understand why! Knowledge of normal and pathophysiology is essential to performing the entire nurseing process: Assessment, plan of care, intervention, evaluation, and patient advocacy.

There are literally hundreds of examples.

Is your agitated short of breath patient short of breath from agitation or agitated due to shortness of breath?

Collect data and assess the patient. It could mean the difference between life and death.

Nursing requires a significant amount of scientific knowledge and technical skill. We are the person patients depend on when the physician is not there.

Katnip, RN · Sep 27, 2003

Physiology. Not anatomy.

Blood gases, pH--acidosis/alkalosis

Diabetes/insulin

How some drugs work as in metabolism

Tissue perfusion and dyspnea

Those are just a few.

Physiology is an integral foundation of nursing

Nurse89 · Sep 28, 2003

why does a nurse need to have knowledge of physiology ..is that your question?

if so, you have gotten great answers above and I can add that without it a nurse would always be wondering Why? Why is this happening? why is this not happening? physiology is a major, major biulding block on the foundation of nursing theory and practice...you will use it every moment while you are a nurse

BSD · Sep 28, 2003

THANKS EVERYONE, YOU'VE ALL BEEN A GREAT HELP.BSD

SmilingBluEyes · Sep 28, 2003

i could never be an effective nurse or teacher without a solid understanding of physiology.

anatomy is to me, like geography. WHERE Things are.

Physiology ties it all together.......and tells us why they are where they are and HOW these things work.

the two are inseperable from each other and nursing in my mind.

Good luck in school.

caffine addict · Sep 29, 2003

I too loved A+P. I loved physiology more. It did help pull everything together. I am in LTC where all of our residents suffer from multi system failure and without that knowledge I would have been useless. You would be surprised at some of the things you forget, there is so much to learn and remember. I would like to tke a refresher course some day as time permits. :)