The dissecting thread has me worried...

I would think there would be laws against that unless of course no harm to them.

Actually my school almost didn't get any cats this year. PETA was throwing a fit which is ironic, because their president or CEO or whatever had a heart bipass, which if we didn't have animals to dissect and practice on, we would have never known how to fix him. So for 36 people we had 4 cats plus the instructor scored another one from another instructor. Usually we have 8-9 cats.

Actually my school almost didn't get any cats this year. PETA was throwing a fit which is ironic, because their president or CEO or whatever had a heart bipass, which if we didn't have animals to dissect and practice on, we would have never known how to fix him. So for 36 people we had 4 cats plus the instructor scored another one from another instructor. Usually we have 8-9 cats.

Sounds like Al Gore and his huge house which needs tons of energy to heat and light his 1 million lightbulbs (he says uses "green" energy....yeah right LOL)

Stories like that make you scratch your head, don't they

I loved my A&P class. We disected a sheep's brain, a cow's eyeball and a sheep's heart. It was one speciman per lab table, so if you didn't want to touch or particpate you could just watch and learn.

We only had animal parts we used in A & P....sheep's or cow's as I recall....a brain, an eye, a heart....nothing too heart-stopping....I was pretty grossed out at that point in my education at anything from INSIDE of a body, but it really wasn't bad...

I think each school is different as you have already read, and you might want to find out what's happening on the campuses where you are considering attending. That will help you decide where to take it and what you can expect.

ALWAYS try to talk to students where you are going to school to get input on professors. It's the best way to avoid a nightmare when you are taking classes that are as important to admittance as your prereqs are going to be!!

I'm trying to wrap my head around cutting into an eyeball....

A friend of mine did it and said it was actually pretty cool......

I'm afraid I'll miss and it will roll away....

:uhoh3:

I had to dissect a cat in high school, so I'm not too worried about it. Actually the cat we had was not embalmed well and the teacher let us skin it and cut on it for two weeks before deciding it was no good! Yuck. It was purple, green, and smell horrible! Since my partner and I didn't have a cat for a week or so, the teacher would send us to run errands all the time. One day he sent me to the office to pick up a package, but didn't tell me what it was. I realized it was the new cat when I noticed that the box had leaked formaldehyde all over me! Ick ick ick. I went home.

I absolutely would refuse to dissect a live animal though. That's just wrong.

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.

A live frog? I've never heard of this. I suppose it could be done if it were anesthetized. But still....

All the dissections I have done were complete on preserved animals or humans. It's never really bothered me. Doesn't look a whole lot like a live being. Kinda grey/tan and rubbery.

As for the gross factor, I find body fluids far, far, far worse than any animal or human cadaver.

Ultimately, you will get used to it. The dissection in A&P isn't really that much of the course. We just had one dissection lab (3 hours) and that was it.

I am really nervous about this, too! I remember in High School the smell of the frogs just about knocked me out, not to mention I don't like live frogs up close, either! (Gee, maybe I shouldn't be a nurse??)

I am really glad that dh and I will be taking Anatomy together in the fall! :)

We did cow eyeballs, sheep hearts, and fetal pigs. The pig was the worst for me, because we had to tie its legs back and the teacher told us that we had to break them to get them to stay back. Our group couldn't do it so our pig's legs kinda stuck up. The smell is bad, but after I while I found that I got a little more used to it.

One thing that was sorta bad, was my teacher had me take pics of the dissected pig so that he could put them on the internet for us. So I did and emailed them to him. However, I never deleted them off of my memory card and then later went to wal-mart to get some other pics developed (forgetting about the dissection pics). I was using the machine where you can pick out your pics, and it is displayed on a television screen. Well, all of a sudden these dissection pics come up and all of these people are walking by looking at them. Man, I felt like a weirdo or some sicko!

I'm trying to wrap my head around cutting into an eyeball....

A friend of mine did it and said it was actually pretty cool......

I'm afraid I'll miss and it will roll away....

:uhoh3:

lol i was worried about that too but it wasn't that bad it was a very quick lab for us. the eye ball was not plump and round it was sort of deflated so easier to cut into.

I know a lot of LPN's who are going back for their RN's so why not go ahead and save yourself time and do it now? I think the LPN's at my school have to go an extra semester for the bridge so you'd really be saving yourself about 4 months if you go straight to RN...in most cases. I was horrible in math and science in high school and guess what..I applied for nursing school (at 29 y/o) with a 4.0 GPA, a husband and 4 kids. I am not an incredibly smart person, this came with much will and hard work. If I can do this anyone can, and I mean that sincerely. If you want this badly enough, you'll put the effort in and do it. I am completing my 3rd semester now and will graduate in the fall and cannot wait! It's the best decision I ever made, not to mention the most challenging. As far as dissecting frogs, pigs etc...I was worried about it too, but it's really interesting and believe me, when you have a pt that's sick and needs you the last thing you're thinking about is the icky stuff. Nursing school prepares you for the technical, scientific and skilled side of nursing. You will see so many things and walk away and think, hey, that wasn't so bad and you'll be proud if you helped someone that day. It's very rewarding. Reach for the stars and don't let doubt hold you back. You can do anything you set your mind to.

Good luck!

I don't think dissecting a frog, pig or cat has any value. It's just disgusting and cruel...especially vivisection! If I were required to dissect anything in any class- I wouldn't!

It's all been done so many times before that it can be learned from a book, video or computer software.