Will I REALLY need to know that?

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When I'm a nurse, one day, God willing...

Will I need to know all of that tedious, detailed, super-technical stuff, like certain markings on certain bones, all those chemical processes in the body, how to calculate valence electrons - all that?

I managed to make A's in all my nursing pre-req's so far, but did I really retain all that information? Sadly, no.

I plan on reviewing my A&P text at various times, but will I really need all the information, essentially memorized?

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Specializes in student; help!.

I'm not a nurse (but I do play one on tv :chuckle), so I'm just tossing this out. But: I don't think you need a lot of the individual pieces of information in your head. What you need to know is how it all ties together. WHY do pts with DM need to watch their feet carefully? HOW is that lasix going to affect that pt's i/o? All that comes from understanding the smaller bits. It's all a big puzzle and you can't put it together unless you can see the bigger picture.

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Um ... electrons no. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G you learn in A&P comes back to haunt you. While you don't need to know ... for example ... every single marking of a skeletal bones (that test was bogus ... I hated the topic too) ... just understand they are there and know where to look them up in case the situation calls for it.

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Specializes in Maternity.

i just started the nursing program and..... you'd be surprised.

what ever you are able to memorize and understand now, will give you that much less of a headache when you get into the program.

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Specializes in CTICU.

Depends what area you go into. I work in cardiac, so yes I need to know about action potentials, and fast sodium channels etc. I don't need routinely to know all the muscles and ligaments etc.

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I am not sure if you need Microbiology where you are going to school, but you need all that chemistry crap again in that class! I HATE chemistry and it is related back to that is every chapter in some form...

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Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

These sciences are the FOUNDATION of your nursing education and career. You don't need to remember every single detail, but you do need to "integrate" it enough to help "stick" the info about diseases/disease processes, surgical procedures and the implications for nursing, and pharmacology.

Do the best you can because, yes, you really do need to know it!

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Yup. And your knowledge will come and go, but is there to be refreshed.

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