Micro - I'm just sayin'

[Summers_Off]

I hate this class. I hate it with an enduring passion. I understand why I have to take it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it! Actually, it's not the class that I hate, it's the lab. The material isn't hard. It's just not my cup of tea. Ooooohhh... flocculence, goody goody. Wow, this culture is shiny, but this one is dry. Yee haw! Hold on to your seats ladies and gentlemen this one is MOTILE! Yippee skippy. A&P was rockingly fun (is rockingly a word?!?!?) but so far the most interesting thing in micro has been the sex pillus and that's just because sex pillus is fun to say. But it's only been two weeks. Someone please tell me it gets better. PLEASE! Flicking test tubes just doesn't do it for me and microscopes ...ugh... they make me want to slit my wrists with the edge of a slide. Okay I'm done. Off to get some cheese for my whine. Two weeks down, eight to go. Thank you Lord for summer sessions!

[33762FL]

It was interesting but there was nothing in Microbiology class that I needed in nursing but didn't learn IN nursing classes. I thought Microbiology was kind of like a "filler" class, just to add more non-nursing credits to the degree.

[momtojosh]

ya..an expensive filler class!!

[DarkBluePhoenix]

Hmm I love micro and the lab is WAAAY better than anatomy and physiologys lab combined! times 2 lol

I love it so much I am going to be tutoring micro students (hopefully, if we get the funding for it)

I think you have to give it more time. You think its easy now, well I thought the same. I was taking physio and micro at the same time and thought micro was a breeze and that physio was going to be my downfall.

but you know what? MICRO GETS HARDER

Trust me once you get past gram pos v gram neg and mycobacterium and the whole genetics/photosyn/cell resp

it gets harder

especially the chemotherapeutics chapter. you have to memorize all these drugs (which are hard to pronounce!) and remember what they specifically attack the bacteria (NAM-NAG cross linking bridge on peptidoglycan for example) and whether they are broad or narrow spectrum and what resistances have developed (vancomyocin is the last line of defense against MRSA) etc...

it was hard but pretty interesting! do the drugs attack cell wall (gram +) or injure plasma membrane (gram -) or inhibit protein syn? nucleic acid formation? or enzyme production?

a lot of info to learn in a short amount of time.

Immunity was pretty interesting...physio and micro immunity tests the same week was a breeze for me

last bit of info was disease and this is where it all comes and shows you how deadly these little suckers are! i mean over half of them are opportunistic pathogens (normal flora in the wrong spot) and that causes big problems sometimes.

its good to learn the diseases cause that what we will be encountering as nursing students (we went over a lot on TB) so yea

just give it time, i bet youll like it, maybe even love it!

[Summers_Off]

Well, it's over. Truth be told, it did kind of get better. When we moved on to diseases, it was endurable (if that's a word:lol2:) . Lab NEVER GOT BETTER. I hated the first day of lab and I hated the last day of lab. It was the bane of my existance the entire summer. But it's over and I got an "A" so ...who cares!!! Good-bye, Mr. Microscope. Adios, Agar. Sayonara, slants. I said good day, sir.

[mzrainydayz, BSN, RN]

I was like you, I hated the lab part, lecture was ok. I don't understand why the lab is necessary for nursing. I ended up with c average, I had a B in lecture and a C in lab. That is the only prereq that I have a C in. I tried to retake micro to get a B, a year later and this new teacher was insane, I ended up withdrawing, it was too much I hated it even more!

[turnforthenurse, MSN, NP]

I loved micro, especially the lab! Can't say I really applied much of it to nursing school/nursing, though...

[katoswife]

As with any class I'm sure a lot depends on the instructor...Mine was so concerned with organization it became a joke...Everything was labeled with our table color, then what side of the table we were on, then what drawer our supplies were stored in, and finally our own individual number...Ridiculous...When we got our tubes and dishes back we looked at them for maybe 30 seconds and then we were onto our next subject.

It wasn't a challenge for me so I became bored and didn't retain the material like I should have.

[BreannaGray]

I was the exact opposite. A&P was interesting and meaningful but the class was really difficult and I hated the labs! With Micro I loved the whole class!! It could have been that my professor realized that it wouldn't be an interesting subject for most so he tried to make the labs fun and worthwhile. I hope it gets better for you though!

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

I really enjoyed reading all the PP's... as an educator, I realized long ago that the process of taking an accelerated course (like summer courses) usually degenerates into a prolonged aversive conditioning exercise. Even if you like the subject at first, you'll probably hate it by the end of the course because you associate it with that 4-hour-a-day ordeal.

An understanding of micro principles may not seem that important in school, but when you get to actual nursing practice, it is a critical factor in making sense of what is happening to your patient. Just knowing why some antibiotics work and some don't; understanding the systemic effects of sepsis; what lab tests are appropriate. . . etc.

This is definitely a course in which the instructor makes all the difference! In my first undergrad micro course, the instructor took us on field trips to a local brewery and dairy. We got to spend time with the local health department - even shadowing inspectors while they investigated local eateries. Great stuff! She made it interesting.