What do you do in lab for A&P?

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Jul 25, 2012

Not all labs last 3 hours, and besides, once you're into your activities you won't even notice the time fly by. Get ready to dissect different animals and learn what the organs look like inside. Schools that don't offer opportunities for live dissection or ability to see dissected bodies is a disservice (i.e., computerized dissection? Please ...). Some would argue it eliminates the gross factor ... well, those students are in for a real surprise when they start nursing clinicals!!

Tragically Hip · Jul 25, 2012

Some would argue it eliminates the gross factor

The school would argue that it eliminates a cost factor. Computer programs are cheap, and there's no worry about chemical spills.

CrazierThanYou · Jul 25, 2012

I am taking the first A&P next month and I just realized the lab is 3 hours! Why?! What am I going to be doing in lab?
I am scared to death! I barely passed chemistry... the third try.
Can anyone who took these already tell me if A&P was easier for them than chemistry was?
Other than that... what the heck takes three hours?!! Thanks!

To call that portion of my A&P class a "lab" is a bit of a farce. We entered the lab exactly 3 times. We looked at a drop of our blood under the scope, put urine in a centrefuge, and dissected a cat. The rest of the time was just more classroom time.

sapadgett · Jul 25, 2012

Both my a&p I and II classes were 3 hours long total. 1.5 hours spent in lecture and then we would go to lab for 1.5 hours. For a&p I we mostly looked at slides, looked at models for muscles/bones, looked at powerpoints. We did, however, dissect a sheep brain in there..that was pretty cool. We did a lot more dissecting in II, though. We had lecture exams for material covered in lecture and then practical exams on things we did in lab.

Inori, BSN, RN · Jul 25, 2012

hahaa yep! post clinicals and volunteering at hospital I think my sense of smell has died. Just the other day someone commented Oo what nice smell? i'm like what? I dont smell anything? I think my brain has learned to tune out all smells that it deemed offensive (pee, poop, overly powerful perfume). I do make a note on bleach brain goes Hmm good cleaning guy he disinfected. Lawl and this is life as an new grad I wonder what happens after a life time of nursing ... no smells?

moschika · Jul 25, 2012

my A&P classes were separate. the anatomy labs were long. i think most of my class spent over 10 hours a week in anatomy lab looking at models, histology slides, cadavers, our own cadaver dissections and prosections (isolated chunks of human body parts/systems like a leg or head pulled out of a box or bucket). the physio labs were much shorter and less intense. we often times got out a little early depending on the lab and how fast we could run through them.

btw, both classes were much harder and intense then chemistry.

SHGR, MSN, RN, CNS · Jul 26, 2012

Yup, we dissected a catfor three hours every week. A gradually decomposing week-by-week big black tom cat that was soaked in formaldehyde.

As a cat lover, this made it difficult for me to learn anything translatable to caring for human beings.

Michaela, RN · Jul 26, 2012

Personally, I can't speak for why your lab would be 3 hours because mine was not :) In my lab we looked at models...muscular, skeletal, digestive, nervous..etc. I had to take a separate dissection lab, which was three hours long as well. Maybe you'll be doing dissections in your lab.

Other than that, I HATED chemistry! I pulled off an A in the end, but A&P I and II were much easier than Chem for me.

Good luck!

sckooshy1 · Jul 26, 2012

Gosh! Eww! Thanks everyone for your responses! Sounds like I am in for some surprises and hard work! Luckily, I am pretty good with spelling and memorization. Interest in the subject should help me also.

I said eww of course because alot mentioned here is gross, but usually the thought of things is more gross to me than actually experiencing it. Things are not as a bad as they seem, and I am not grossed out too easily. But when I am, I deal.

I love hearing all of your experiences too! Keep em' coming! :)

bubblejet50 · Jul 26, 2012

Chemistry took me two tries to get through but I passed A&P 1 and 2 both with A's. It is possible people! :) in lab for a&p 1 we looked at bones and that was about it. We got out early every time. In A&P 2 we dissected things. We did rats and hearts. My practical was a rat torn apart and different organs flagged with a number and we had to identify it. At our school our lab grade was pretty much attendance though we did have quizzes and stuff so we had to know what was going on. Our main grade was in lecture and that was intense but it gets you ready for nursing school. Plus you can see more applications than in chemistry in my opinion.

Evilfeline007 · Jul 26, 2012

Like the others said, it's a lot of dissections, testing your own urine, effects of activities on blood pressure. If anything the lab portion will probably help you to understand the theory. So much fun!

willowita, ADN, RN · Jul 26, 2012

I'm a vegetarian cat lady and I was able to handle the cat dissection. So it's not all that horribly gross. You get used to it and it's actually pretty interesting. The less fat the cat has, the better, because you can see the muscles better and there is less to clean up.

My physiology lab was simulated and pretty lame, if you ask me. But I guess they couldn't really do anything hands on since we were doing virtual labs that were supposed to be in vivo.