The dissecting thread has me worried...

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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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. :(

Specializes in Accepted...Master's Entry Program, 2008!.

In my opinion it DOES have value. Particularly with anatomy. Right now we're doing muscles, and I'm having a heck of a time with it. As you know, it is layer upon layer upon layer of muscles. With only visual aids such as drawings, it's very difficult to see how the layers all fit/work together. Without a 3D object, you simply cannot tell how the superficial and deeper layers interact. You can't trace insertion/origins amongst all those muscles.

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Specializes in L&D, PACU.
In my opinion it DOES have value. Particularly with anatomy. Right now we're doing muscles, and I'm having a heck of a time with it. As you know, it is layer upon layer upon layer of muscles. With only visual aids such as drawings, it's very difficult to see how the layers all fit/work together. Without a 3D object, you simply cannot tell how the superficial and deeper layers interact. You can't trace insertion/origins amongst all those muscles.

I agree. It was amazing to me the intricacies of the muscles when we teased apart each different muscle. We also had to find nerve bundles, and trace major veins and arteries. Even things like seeing and handling the omentum seemed helpful. Pictures can only convey so much.

Ours was a cat, a very very dead cat. I thought it would be disgusting and was very apprehensive but when we got to it, I was so fascinated I forgot to be grossed out.

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In my opinion it DOES have value. Particularly with anatomy. Right now we're doing muscles, and I'm having a heck of a time with it. As you know, it is layer upon layer upon layer of muscles. With only visual aids such as drawings, it's very difficult to see how the layers all fit/work together. Without a 3D object, you simply cannot tell how the superficial and deeper layers interact. You can't trace insertion/origins amongst all those muscles.

We had models in anatomy that were layered and came apart. I don't see how a dead cat could have taught me more than the models did. :uhoh3:

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Specializes in ICU, Med-Surg, Post-op, Same-Day Surgery.
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!!

Ditto...computer's only! Something about preservatives being carcinogenic...? (My micro teacher makes some weird anecdotes!). I dunno... I think I will definately be missing out, though. I don't mind the whole dissection thing. I would actully look forward to it, because it can really cement things and make the abstract real. Not sure how the computer will work out...I'll let you know at the end of the summer!

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Ditto...computer's only! Something about preservatives being carcinogenic...? (My micro teacher makes some weird anecdotes!). I dunno... I think I will definately be missing out, though. I don't mind the whole dissection thing. I would actully look forward to it, because it can really cement things and make the abstract real. Not sure how the computer will work out...I'll let you know at the end of the summer!

oh man that is so sad, I love dissecting no wait I hated the cat but I have learned a lot through the hands on projects we have done, I love the cadaver, they have a special projects unit if you want to sign up through teacher approval they assign 5 students to dissect out certain systems I am going to apply for next semester, you just learn so much by seeing feeling and practicing.

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At my school in A&P we really didnt disect anything but we did look at fetal pigs, sheeps brain,and also got to see a cadaver at theend of semester.

Frez

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Specializes in Psych.
We had models in anatomy that were layered and came apart. I don't see how a dead cat could have taught me more than the models did. :uhoh3:

Real organs and muscles are a lot tougher to identify than the models. You could have learned that in A&P, but now I've told you so you know. ;)

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