Will I have to remember this as a nurse?

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Okay, so you know when you are in school taking a course and you sometimes wonder to what extent you'll have to remember that specific material later on as a nurse? Well, I have been wondering about my human anatomy course. Before I say anything else, I do want to mention that I take all my classes seriously and seek to retain as much info as I can. I am just curious if you remember much of what you learned in your classes or if it often comes up in the daily job as a nurse. Like do you remember or periodically review the gross anatomy of the body or does the job itself keep you from forgetting. I would really like to know and please feel free to mention other courses that you either remember everything or nothing at all. Thanks!

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

Whatever department or specialty you enter dictates what educational information you'll bring forth and use. Nursing school gives you a basic foundation from which to take the next step. Don't worry about it. Just do your best in the class.

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Good to know!

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Specializes in Pedi.

Anatomy gives you a good foundation and, in my opinion, is one of the more important foundation classes you'll take. If you plan to work in psych maybe you won't need to remember everything about how the heart works... until one day you have a psych patient who is s/p heart transplant or waiting for one. I worked neuro for the first 5 years of my career then have gone general pediatrics with different focuses since- first oncology with a mix of everything, then primarily oncology/CF at my last job and now complex care which is a little bit of everything. There's all kinds of stuff about geriatrics, psych or maternity that I'm sure I once knew and is somewhere at the back of my brain because it hasn't been relevant to my 11 year nursing career.

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Most if not all of what I draw on for my work today is training and experience from my ambulance days, ER and ICU training and experience and my advanced practice training and experience. BSN was a black hole that I can't really say I draw on at all. It was my portal of entry to the profession wherein I demonstrated perseverance, ability to make a commitment and adaptability. So no, I remember very little... except maybe chemistry.

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Like one of the previous posters said you will know the anatomy of the speciality you work in and what's relevant to your day to day work. I once had a cardiac nurse draw me a picture of a patient's heart and tell me exactly what was wrong with it and how the procedure would fix it.

Now I don't know the heart as well as that but I know it very well as it pertains to neonatal issues because that is my specialty. I also know my gut anatomy very well because I've cared for a lot of surgical babes. But if you asked me anything about the MSK system I would know next to nothing.

On a side note, the 4 defects associated with tetralogy of fallot were burned into my brain from my pediatric class and I felt so smart when I got asked on the spot about it at my first job, and listed them off no problem.

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

For instance I've never used this part of study in my particular nursing field but I put a lot of time memorizing it for the test...who remembers?

On old olympus towering tops a finn and german brewed some hops?:woot:

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Specializes in Pedi.
For instance I've never used this part of study in my particular nursing field but I put a lot of time memorizing it for the test...who remembers?

On old olympus towering tops a finn and german brewed some hops?:woot:

Cranial nerves.

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For instance I've never used this part of study in my particular nursing field but I put a lot of time memorizing it for the test...who remembers?

On old olympus towering tops a finn and german brewed some hops?:woot:

Oh man, the one I use is borderline offensive.

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You will likely never need the Krebs cycle!

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Specializes in retired LTC.

Don't knock the Krebs cycle!

The Krebs cycle is still the everyday fundamental basis everytime you comment about 'glucose' as the building block of nutrition breakdown.

Need I say that I liked the Krebs cycle!

Hey Old Dude! Were you testing us re #10 vagus nerve? Like a trick question? Maybe brewing some hops is preferable to just viewing them?

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Haha that's a good one!

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