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:uhoh3:I am curious to know like HOW much of Anatomy & Physiology does a NURSE need to know

or does it all just come to you in NURSING school???????????????

Specializes in Post Anesthesia.

In my practice I needed to know about 4-5 times the amount of A&P they taught me in school just to understand my daily practice and manage my patients safely. You can never have too much understanding of A&P. There is a limit to what they can teach you in school- just due to time restraints, but after you start in practice you will understand just how superficial Nursing School A&P was.

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Specializes in ER.
PLEASE PLEASE know your A&P!!!! that is the heart and soul of nursing! Understanding it sets the stage for everything else to come(drugs, pathophys, treatments, etc.). Knowing that sodium is greatest outside the cell(in the ECF) and potassium greatest inside is absolute essential information that guides the treatment of cardiac conduction disorders, fluids and electrolyte disturbances, etc., which are major nursing responsibilities. The more you understand the better for your practice AND your piece of mind, because orders won't be such a mystery to you. That's not to say you HAVE to know every little fact. My suggestion is to review A&P the summer before you begin nursing classes. (Not fun, but so worth it). Sorry for the long post, I just wish someone had told me this before I started nursing school!

I made an A in A&P. I know it backwards and forwards ;) I was just saying I know many nurses who say they haven't used it since graduating.

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Specializes in ER.
PLEASE PLEASE know your A&P!!!! that is the heart and soul of nursing! Understanding it sets the stage for everything else to come(drugs, pathophys, treatments, etc.). Knowing that sodium is greatest outside the cell(in the ECF) and potassium greatest inside is absolute essential information that guides the treatment of cardiac conduction disorders, fluids and electrolyte disturbances, etc., which are major nursing responsibilities. The more you understand the better for your practice AND your piece of mind, because orders won't be such a mystery to you. That's not to say you HAVE to know every little fact. My suggestion is to review A&P the summer before you begin nursing classes. (Not fun, but so worth it). Sorry for the long post, I just wish someone had told me this before I started nursing school!

I forgot to say thank you for the advice :) I will review before starting the nursing sequence :yeah:

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Specializes in Long-term care.
I made an A in A&P. I know it backwards and forwards ;) I was just saying I know many nurses who say they haven't used it since graduating.

I figured you DEFINITELY know your A&P....especially since you discussed an complicated A&P concept on this post off the top of your head;)...I think I was trying to stress the importance to the original poster.

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Specializes in EMS, ER, GI, PCU/Telemetry.

A&P is a huge concept in nursing... it's something you can't really get by without understanding.

it helps you see the big picture with your patients and understand disease process. it helps you understand their lab results and why they are important. it helps you understand the metabolism of different medications and how they work. it helps you understand why your patients need certain IV fluids. it helps you understand and reinforce any teaching that doctors may do, because we all know they don't always speak to patients in a way they understand. it helps you understand why you are giving certain blood products and what they are doing in the body. etc, etc, etc...........

A&P is really the core of nursing.

now chemistry, i could have done without that... :p

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Specializes in School Nursing.

I have said that I not only needed A & P in nursing school, I would have loved to go back and take it again after being a nurse a few years. I think taking it again now would really make me say "AHHH, NOW I understand!"

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Thanx everyone , now I see your points.

I just got a little ****** why studying but I went out

and bought some new materials to help me out.

I went and bought KAPLAN'S ANATOMY COLORING BOOK....and its awesome :yeah:

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Know all of it. Or as much as you can.

Would you want to be in a situation where your nurse didn't pay much attention in her A&P class and just hoped that the concepts came to her in nursing school?

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Specializes in EMS, ER, GI, PCU/Telemetry.
Thanx everyone , now I see your points.

I just got a little ****** why studying but I went out

and bought some new materials to help me out.

I went and bought KAPLAN'S ANATOMY COLORING BOOK....and its awesome :yeah:

i've never really been much of an artist.. but here is how i earned an A in A&P, if it helps.

i asked permission from my professor to bring in a digital camera to lab. i took pictures while we were dissecting of the different organs, muscles, bones, etc and printed them in a fairly large size so i could lay them on the table and put them together (people probably thought i was some kind of freak, but whatever) and then i would take tacks and pop them on the picture where certain structures i was reading about were.

i'm really visual, and since i couldn't take the pig home with me, i took pictures and learned anatomy that way.

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Specializes in US Army.
I am surprised to read these responses because I've heard a lot of nurses say they never used 99% of A&P again after the courses were over. Maybe it depends on the school. I know our school was very heavy into the chemistry of the cell in A&P 1. We did a ton of work with how cells maintain the higher sodium outside of the cell and potassium inside the cell using the sodium potassium pump and then how the cell depolarizes allowing sodium influx, etc and so on during action potentials, etc. I'd be shocked if I ever used this in a real life nursing situation. But I'd be glad I used it since I learned if it came up LOL!!

All of that important A&P/biochem stuff comes into play in pharmacology. This stuff explains the mechanism of action for various drugs... ie Ca channel blockers, Mu antagonist, Na channel blocker...

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Specializes in Medical.

You won't need all the A&P you learn as a student once you're registered. The problem is you never know which bits you need, and without a good grasp of what you do need to know none of the related information, from symptoms to treatment, make any sense.

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I think it's a good question to ask becauase there are LPN nursing programs that will allow people to enter as students with no college experience, just as long as they pass an entry exam.

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