Scared about A&P Labs

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I am a pre-nursing student, hoping to apply this coming year for admission into the ADN program at my local community college (would be starting fall '10, if accepted.) I need to take a Chemistry and a Biology before I can apply, and since A&P is required for the program and it can be taken ahead of time to fulfill the Biology pre-req, I'm going to be taking both this spring.

I was already scared, having a 3 year old and a 3 month old at home, that I might be overwhelmed with the difficulty of all this work (though I am willing to work VERY hard to exceed in these classes), but it just occurred to me that these A&P labs will involve dissections. Eek! It really freaks me out. I had Anatomy in high school, did very well in that class and did do dissections (including a fetal pig), but I'm still scared about it. Please tell me I'm not the only one who has issues with this? And for anyone who's been there already, can you tell me what exactly is typical to dissect? What about A&P II?

(anyone else also having to overcome ethical blocks concerning the animals' welfare?)

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Specializes in Maternity.

don't fret about labs.

in my a&p1 lab, we dissected a sheep brain and an eye. very interesting stuff.

in a&p2, we dissected a fetal pig, which was also fascinating! it's really cool to reflect on your knowledge as you work through the dissection.

think of it this way, you will be seeing some pretty *let's say* interesting stuff in nursing school. consider your a&p1 lab dissection as an ice breaker. ;)

just have fun with it!

ps, i have a 18 month old (who was younger when i had the class) and it is tough but you can do it. it sounds like you have the drive to do well

best of luck to you :up:

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Thanks for the response! I already did all those things in high school, so hopefully I will get through it again just fine LOL.

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I also dissected the sheep brain and eyeball in a&p 1. Right now im in a&p2, we have dissected the fetal pig. I had a couple lab partners that were freaked out too. I just did all the cutting and they looked at all the parts. We had an ID test for the fetal pig, so we needed to know the different organs and such. There was one girl who actually vomited, so our instructor let her sit out and her ID test was on a human model. Im sure you'll do fine :up:

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Specializes in ICU.

We dissected a cat...and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. Granted, I felt a little woozy when the skin was being pulled off, but other than that it's not as bad as I anticipated. Just stay focused on what you need to learn and you'll be fine! Good luck!

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We didn't have cadavers in my A&P labs. We dissected but it was completely optional for us...usually we would just get into groups and one person would do the dissecting while the others would watch. We did a sheep's brain and an eyeball - it wasn't bad at all!

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Specializes in Psych.

We used a cat in A&P 1. I was freaked out by it at first, I tried not to look at its face as I have 2 cats at home, but really it was fine. Once an animal is dead like that, it kind of doesn't look "real" if you know what I mean. The worst part was skinning it. The sound that is made when you pull the skin off-kind of turned my stomach a bit. After that it was fine.

Honestly, the VERY worst part of the dissection was the smell of the preservative they use on the animals. That really bothered me. Our instructor provided surgical masks which I used. I also got some Vicks Vap-O-Rub and smeared it on the inside of the mask, which really got rid of the stench of the preservative.

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Ahh I'm getting sick to my stomach just thinking about the smell of the formaldehyde. I remember that from high school... ick. Thanks for the tip about the Vicks, I bet that helps alot.

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I could totally handle that... I really hope that's all we have to do in my class.

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:eek: I think the "eek" face says it all LOL. I think I'd rather do a pig than have to skin a cat. Thanks for the encouragement though! I'm sure I'll do fine, it's just the anticipation of it that's the worst.
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Hehe, I hope my instructor is as nice as yours, just in case I find myself vomiting ;) J/K, but that is nice that she got to do the test on a human model instead.

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I am totally freakin out. I'm scrolling down all the posts discussing A&P dissections and everything seems relatively normal until I get hit with the "WE DISSECTED A CAT"

I was literally watching my cat eat his food at the time. I didn't know certain schools offered up cats. It's kinda weird, I'm not so much concerned because I have a cat, it's more like I don't now know what they're going to serve up.

I'm imagining like three hot plates covered and you pick one and that is what your stuck with. I hope I'm not coming across as crude; that is not my intention. I guess my naivete led me to think there was more in the way of standardization in terms of what you dissect.

I mean, skinning the cat before you dissect it should really be in the course description for that lab. That sounds like such a daunting task for a pre-nursing student when, an eyeball or a fetal pig is just kind of more along the lines of what you're preparing yourself for.

Also, a lot of the previous posts alluded to the fact that lab participation is almost voluntary. Like, someone can take charge and the others can watch or participate to the extent they feel comfortable. Is this kind of the norm? I ask because I'm taking my first pre-req, which is A&P next month and I don't know how the lab component works. How do you get graded if you don't really participate, just kind of watch?

Thank you for any information, and good luck to you all.

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