your thoughts on microbiology, please

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Hello to all,

I posted these questions on the student nurse forum, but received 4 replies only. I thought perhaps the graduate nurse group might have a diffeent perspective that might be helpful!

I am a professor of microbiology. I am trying to gather some information from nursing students (those who are still in nursing school as well as those who are out of school and have already taken the NCLEX) about what microbiological concepts are requisite for 1) your understanding of nursing class information , and 2) the NCLEX exam. This information is to be presented to other professors of microbiology: we are trying to come up with the best curriculum to cover necessary topics for nursing students.

1. What were the topics that keep re-surfacing in your nursing classes (nosocomial infections, tuberculosis, antibiotics, etc.)

2. What do you WISH you had learned better in micro that you thought you would never see again (metabolism, immunology, etc)?

3. What was NOT covered in micro that you wish that you had had?

4. Which nursing classes depend more on your prior knowledge of micro than other nursing classes?

5. What topics in LAB really came in handy, and which did not?

6. What kinds of questions did you see on the NCLEX that covered any topic in microbiology?

7. Was your microbiology course specifically for nurses (primarily) or was it a general course (one course for ALL majors in any area of healthcare)?

thanks so much to all!

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Specializes in LDRP.
1. What were the topics that keep re-surfacing in your nursing classes (nosocomial infections, tuberculosis, antibiotics, etc.)

TB was mentioned in the pulmonary unit, antibiotics came up all the time, of course. Infection prevention, infection spread, immunity, etc

2. What do you WISH you had learned better in micro that you thought you would never see again (metabolism, immunology, etc)?

I don't remember, sorry. My micro class was 3 years ago

5. What topics in LAB really came in handy, and which did not?

hmm....we did gram staining in micro lab. That wasn't too handy.

7. Was your microbiology course specifically for nurses (primarily) or was it a general course (one course for ALL majors in any area of healthcare)?

technically it was a general class, but nearly everyone in the class was in nursing.

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Specializes in Neuro, Critical Care.
Hello to all,

I posted these questions on the student nurse forum, but received 4 replies only. I thought perhaps the graduate nurse group might have a diffeent perspective that might be helpful!

I am a professor of microbiology. I am trying to gather some information from nursing students (those who are still in nursing school as well as those who are out of school and have already taken the NCLEX) about what microbiological concepts are requisite for 1) your understanding of nursing class information , and 2) the NCLEX exam. This information is to be presented to other professors of microbiology: we are trying to come up with the best curriculum to cover necessary topics for nursing students.

1. What were the topics that keep re-surfacing in your nursing classes (nosocomial infections, tuberculosis, antibiotics, etc.)

2. What do you WISH you had learned better in micro that you thought you would never see again (metabolism, immunology, etc)?

3. What was NOT covered in micro that you wish that you had had?

4. Which nursing classes depend more on your prior knowledge of micro than other nursing classes?

5. What topics in LAB really came in handy, and which did not?

6. What kinds of questions did you see on the NCLEX that covered any topic in microbiology?

7. Was your microbiology course specifically for nurses (primarily) or was it a general course (one course for ALL majors in any area of healthcare)?

thanks so much to all!

First let me say that it is so wonderful that you really CARE about your students and how they learn...I have had some less than desirable teachers that don't seem to really care if we learned or not, its so sad bc a great teacher makes all the difference!

Ok...im taking micro right now but i was lucky enough to get accepted to a masters program and was able to start before I finished my micro and ap2..ie im going to two diff schools at the same time... a few of my classmates are in the same boat but most have already finished...here is what has come up in our classes:

I see quite a bit of micro in my pathophys class...i would stress how viruses work....also which bacteria cases infection, disease....we talk quite a bit about the AIDs virus....

My instructor in micro is wonderful and you know she is passionate about her microbes :) but the downfall to that is she teaches her classes very heavily in the lab...she stresses in class and lab mostly how to do a gram stain, id the bacteria, find them on the microscope, name them, etc...yes that is great and should be learned but in a practical sense you dont see that too much in nursing school (so far), i wish she would teach more content about this virus causes this, this is what this does to this cell etc...there are a few people who are goin into lab science prof. and they are wonderfully prepared by this class.

the topics we have done in lab that have come in handy are: we did cultures of eachothers throats and then grew colonies...that was pretty useful, also we swabbed various places/enviornments around the school to give us an idea of how many bacteria were really around...it makes you realize how important sterile teqs and handwashing really is in the medical prof.

also how viruses/bacteria are transmitted, that has been handy. we learned about hand/foot/mouth disease in kids...and worms and whatnot...we learned about fungus...so quite a few common things like athletes foot mare more sense now! after this class i now realize when they say strep throat what is really meant by that!

most of the students in my class are nursing but there are a few that are not but they are going into the healthcare prof somehwere, for ex...one student is applying for the pharm D program at the Univ. and one student is lab. science...

hope this helps!

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.

Thoughtful of you to ask ...

Unfortunately I detested my micro class. The class, not the subject material. I could go on about why at great length, but this probably sums it up nicely -- our TA/doctoral candidate instructor continually made disparaging comments about our questions and our "nursey" preoccupation with minor details such as the symptoms produced by the infectious agents being discussed. ("nursey" -- her word) When assigning our research papers on diseases, she said, "I don't really give a **** what the disease presents like. If you *must* tell me about the symptoms (eyes rolling) it better not be more than 2 sentences."

Gee thanks. I think I got the point. I'm so grateful that you've allowed me and my nursey friends to take up lab space. :stone

My first point: As with all entry-level courses, if an instructor is unable/unwilling to explain the basics, please, please don't teach them.

OK, I'm done ranting ... :chuckle

An understanding of microbiology becomes important somewhere in the second semester of nursing school - the point at which fever, inflammatory response, and immune response are discussed.

Important: antibiotics, anti-virals, bacteria/virii/prions, evolution of drug-resistant organisms, epidemiology, immunology, modes of transmission, rapid testing mechanisms vs. culturing (i.e., urinalysis vs. culture & sensitivity).

I wish I better understood immunology.

Not important: gram staining (important to know what it is, but not terribly important to actually do it)

Thanks again for asking - hope this helps. :)

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Specializes in ACNP-BC.
Hello to all,

I posted these questions on the student nurse forum, but received 4 replies only. I thought perhaps the graduate nurse group might have a diffeent perspective that might be helpful!

I am a professor of microbiology. I am trying to gather some information from nursing students (those who are still in nursing school as well as those who are out of school and have already taken the NCLEX) about what microbiological concepts are requisite for 1) your understanding of nursing class information , and 2) the NCLEX exam. This information is to be presented to other professors of microbiology: we are trying to come up with the best curriculum to cover necessary topics for nursing students.

1. What were the topics that keep re-surfacing in your nursing classes (nosocomial infections, tuberculosis, antibiotics, etc.)

2. What do you WISH you had learned better in micro that you thought you would never see again (metabolism, immunology, etc)?

3. What was NOT covered in micro that you wish that you had had?

4. Which nursing classes depend more on your prior knowledge of micro than other nursing classes?

5. What topics in LAB really came in handy, and which did not?

6. What kinds of questions did you see on the NCLEX that covered any topic in microbiology?

7. Was your microbiology course specifically for nurses (primarily) or was it a general course (one course for ALL majors in any area of healthcare)?

thanks so much to all!

Hi! I saw your questions on this web-site, so I thought I'd try to help you out! I think the micro topics that kept coming out in my nursing classes were: antiobiotics-which ones to use for which types of infections, side effects, antibiotic resistance. Other common topics were UTIs and how to treat them, what a gram stain is, & what C& S is.

I just graduated from nursing school (yesterday!) so I can't comment on the NCLEX-RN yet. I believe the micro class taught at my college was for all majors, and not just future nurses. I think most of us are not at all familiar with metabolism, and also immunology concepts. I am in a unique situation because before I went to nursing school, I got my MS in biology, so I have had several microbiology and immunology classes! While I was just fine with these topics in nursing classes due to my prior knowledge of them, I did notice many of my classmates were not comfortable with what antibodies are and how enzymes function, etc. I'm guessing they just memorized the facts during their micro class, and then forgot it later! We used micro concepts especially in med-surg nursing and some in pedi, and also in pharmacology-esp. about antibiotics. Hope that helps! :)

-Christine

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