The dissecting thread has me worried...

I know how you feel... I felt the same way. But (as far as I know) the only dissecting you will do is in A & P, and once you start learing all about the human body.... the dissecting part just turns out to be really cool...

I'm not sure if you will dissect a frog (I've only heard of that in grade school)... most classes either dissect a rat, cat or pig. (along with the sheep brain, heart and cow eye)

It's really not that bad. It's really cool actually. Once you get in there and start seeing all of the things you have been learning about... It just sort of happens and before you know it... you've dissected your animal.

And no, they won't feel a thing. They are already dead once you receive them... LOL. I'm not going to say it isn't gross (at least at first)... but it turns out to be really interesting and I learned the most from dissecting the rat! I wish we would have done it closer to the beginning of the semester... I think I would have done even better on my exams if I would have known some of the things I learned from those labs.

Good luck to you! You will do fine. Don't think about it too much and everything will be just fine!

Take care,

Jennifer

ETA: I also got the opportunity to go to the cadaver lab at the U of M. I was very nervous about that, but once we got there it was the most amazing thing I have ever done or seen in my life (well, next to having kids). But I got to actually touch and feel the organs and different parts of the human body and it was really really a great learning experience. If you have that opportunity, I totally recommend it!

Don't worry so much about the dissecting aspect of A&P. My class had to dissect a cat and it wasn't as bad as I had thought it was going to be. Sure, it's disgusting and I thought it was a waste of time because what does disseacting a cat have to do with nursing? Who knows if your A&P class will have you dissect anything.

You shouldn't be hard on yourself. I give a lot of people who have children credit for going back to school. You'll probably do just fine in the science classes.

We're dissecting a fetal pig . . . next week, actually! I don't know if it'll gross me out yet or not. I suspect not too much.

I never heard of dissecting something that's live! That is bizarre!

Good luck with that!

Kelly

My current nursing school does not allow us to dissect anything. Our labs for A&P are online, which means all we get to do is look at pictures. My old school (displaced by Hurricane Katrina) gave us cadavers to dissect. It was awesome getting to see what the human body actually looked like, and knowing that that person chose to give their body to science - not like dissecting an animal who might have been put down by the SPCA. However, there was a physiology lab that we never got to b/c of the storm...where they induced a coma on a dog, cut it open while it was still alive, and showed us how stimulating certain parts of its brain would make it move in different ways. Then of course they put it down afterwards. I wasn't looking forward to that at all!!

My current nursing school does not allow us to dissect anything. Our labs for A&P are online, which means all we get to do is look at pictures. My old school (displaced by Hurricane Katrina) gave us cadavers to dissect. It was awesome getting to see what the human body actually looked like, and knowing that that person chose to give their body to science - not like dissecting an animal who might have been put down by the SPCA. However, there was a physiology lab that we never got to b/c of the storm...where they induced a coma on a dog, cut it open while it was still alive, and showed us how stimulating certain parts of its brain would make it move in different ways. Then of course they put it down afterwards. I wasn't looking forward to that at all!!

When we were complaining at the start of the cat dissection, my professor said , "well at least yours are already dead!" This struck us as odd, so we asked what she meant, she said that she had to dissect live animals so they could see how everything works while something is living. I told her I wanted to know where she went to school, because I was going to write them a letter (not really, just joking) but she said that most doctors have to go through this, and yes it is awful.

I took A&P I& II at a community college, and it was for non-science majors (aka, people who wanted to go into healthcare), so we didn't end up dissecting anything. During lab we just looked at a bunch of anatomical models. Kind of lame, actually. But I already did all that dissecting stuff in high school (cats, fetal pigs, frogs, cow eyes, etc), so it wasn't like I was missing out on much.

There is a gross aspect to dissection (primarily the smell of the preservative which always gave me a headache), but you really learn a great deal because of seeing everything in 3-D. Anatomy seems so tidy in pictures and models, but in real life, there is variation between individuals. It is hard to find things in the body based on the landmarks that seemed so clear in your text. I have a whole new respect for laparoscopic surgery now.

I think it is worthwhile to nursing because we get over our heebie jeebies about touching someone else's body parts without grossing out a live patient. Plus, we will be palpating patients and it helps to already know what a liver feels like compared to the intestines. I was not thrilled about dissection either, but have come to agree with the schools that it is a very effective learning tool.

We had to dissect the fetal pig and I can say I thought it would bother me but once you get down to doing it, its not that bad. just smells thats all that really bothered me

There is a gross aspect to dissection (primarily the smell of the preservative which always gave me a headache), but you really learn a great deal because of seeing everything in 3-D. Anatomy seems so tidy in pictures and models, but in real life, there is variation between individuals. It is hard to find things in the body based on the landmarks that seemed so clear in your text. I have a whole new respect for laparoscopic surgery now.

I think it is worthwhile to nursing because we get over our heebie jeebies about touching someone else's body parts without grossing out a live patient. Plus, we will be palpating patients and it helps to already know what a liver feels like compared to the intestines. I was not thrilled about dissection either, but have come to agree with the schools that it is a very effective learning tool.

I also wasn't thrilled about dissection but when we dissected pig hearts we discovered a parasitic infection in one of them. I agree that you learn more from being able to handle the real thing.

Once you see things in 3-D it's a whole different story

Okay, Folks: Here is my dilema. I really, really, really, really, really, really, really wanna be a nurse. I thought, for sure, I would be going the LPN route but the more I think about it - I just may go for my RN License. I can learn to deal with the math & I can learn to deal with the sciences. Yeah. I was terrible at them in high school, but it's been 10 years & two kids later - I'm ready to do what I need to do to set a good example, you know?

HOWEVER - I am terribly concerned about the dissecting aspect of nursing school. Can you say, EW??? Sigh. Dissecting a live frog? Doesn't that HURT them??? Ouchie! Anywho - do you get over it and if so - how???

Poor, poor froggy...

Does this mean that nursing ISN'T for me???

I sure hope not.

I don't know if you get over it or not, if your squimish your squimish maybe try and desensitize yourself. I always pretend I am saving the animals life hehe. we have never worked on live animals I would think there would be laws against that unless of course no harm to them.

I love the disection part I love the cadaver the animlas everything its all so fascinating and helps put it all together.

My current nursing school does not allow us to dissect anything. Our labs for A&P are online, which means all we get to do is look at pictures. My old school (displaced by Hurricane Katrina) gave us cadavers to dissect. It was awesome getting to see what the human body actually looked like, and knowing that that person chose to give their body to science - not like dissecting an animal who might have been put down by the SPCA. However, there was a physiology lab that we never got to b/c of the storm...where they induced a coma on a dog, cut it open while it was still alive, and showed us how stimulating certain parts of its brain would make it move in different ways. Then of course they put it down afterwards. I wasn't looking forward to that at all!!

:angryfire SICK SICK SICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:angryfire