SOARing with turkeys . . . (Long)

[dalesys]

I'm starting to think that instead of taking that diploma on the wall in the doctor's office as a good sign, maybe I should ask how many times they had to take their medical courses before they were able to graduate.

As many times as their driver's license test?

[Pairou]

At my school, we sign up online for our own classes. The drop/add deadline is the Friday after classes start, so there's usually a LOT of time. I sign up for the classes I can get into based on my registration ticket (the time after which you're able to register), and if there's a problem with missing a pre-req or something the system just won't let you add the class. You can also change your classes around any time until they start. So far I've changed my schedule twice, because two classes I was dying to get into opened up last-minute (some students that added it, dropped it).

The first quarter is the only time where you can't do it yourself, but since I started a quarter early I had the holds off my account before any of the other freshmen. :3 Students are urged to see an advisor to make sure they're on the right track, but it's not always possible, so...

[Shalom]

Anatomy and Physiology. Anatomy is the structures of the body, Physiology is the processes by which they work. It's usually a two semester course. We offer the full 2 semester version (which RN nursing, dental hygeine, physical therapy assisting must take) and 1 semester versions which practical nursing, medical assisting, and dental assisting take.

Oh, of course. Should have guessed.

Pharmacy students take physiology but not anatomy, unless they're going pre-med. We only need to know what the organs do and how they work; where they are and what they look like isn't really relevant to us, although we do get a vague idea from physiology and freshman biology.

I did the one-semester course in Brooklyn College, because that was all they offered at the time. The course was co-administered by the Health & Nutrition Sciences and Phys Ed departments. (PE 22.71 or H&NS 22.71, same course, 3 credit hours) My class consisted of me, three pre-nursing students, and a lot of jocks. The four of us blew the curve for the rest of them; we weren't all that popular that semester.

Then I got into pharmacy school. They wouldn't accept the one-semester physiology course as transfer credit, except as a general science elective. Once I took their two-semester Human Physiology course (PGY 451/452, 4 credit hours each), I could understand why not.

Some of these guys just don't get how important this course is.

I should think so. How are you supposed to know how medications or disease processes affect the organs, if you don't have any idea how they work in the first place?

[jedimaster91]

Take A&P, for example. We get a lot of complaints from SC students (and their mothers) about registering for A&P. Even though they've hired another instructor and added sections, the competition to get in is so stiff that students trying to register for these courses for the third time must get written approval from the Biology Department Chair . . . and he never gives it until the last week before classes start.

At my community college, the waiting list to get into A&P is at least a year. If you're lucky.

I liked the way my college did registration, though. The more credit hours you had, the earlier you got to register for classes.

My secret the first time through was making sure i got the early morningest classes I could get. Nobody likes early morning classes except me =)

I picked early classes as much as possible. In fact, my second semester, I was done with school by 9am on Thursdays. It was awesome!

Some of these guys just don't get how important this course is. Even when they get to me in the nursing program, I get a lot of blank looks when I try to explain pathologies to them.

I don't think everyone needs to know the mind-numbing detail that my book went into, but it's just impractical to teach several different classes. For instance, as a Nuc Med tech, I needed slightly more physiology than anatomy. My anatomy knowledge isn't much farther than "hip bone connects to the leg bone" and lungs/heart are in the chest. But since the tracers I'm using mimic substances like calcium (for bone scans), my physiology is quite a bit better. I need to know how to recognize a bad tag and/or an abnormal biodistribution.

My CT/X-ray commrades, OTOH, can name each little bump and notch on a bone. They need it; I don't. Heck, I can't even see such minute structures on my scans.

Take blood typing, for example. A&P students learn about blood typing. When they get to the nursing program, they have to understand why you can't mix blood types, and how even the tiniest incompatibility can lead to a blood transfusion reaction.

I remember doing a simulation on blood typing in A&P and it was really cool. One of my rotations as a student did 3-4 MUGA scans per day, during which, we had to draw blood, tag it, and give it back to the patient. Dang skippy I always made sure vials and syringes were marked with a couple patient stickers and I always reverified names and birthdates. Mixing up blood can be a very bad thing, and that simulation taught me why.

[Sapphire Silk]

I'm starting to think that instead of taking that diploma on the wall in the doctor's office as a good sign, maybe I should ask how many times they had to take their medical courses before they were able to graduate.

There's an old joke: what do you call the guy who graduates last in his class at medical school?

Answer: Doctor.

At my community college, the waiting list to get into A&P is at least a year. If you're lucky.

We don't have waiting lists here. It's first come first served. I warn pre-nursing students to register the very first day they can. Of course, lots of people know this, so Web Advisor has a tendency to crash that first day

If you are accepted into the nursing program, you get priority registration for A&P because you can't advance but so far without finishing it. The 2 strikes rule still applies though, because it comes from BIO, not Nursing. The system doesn't recognize "in the program" vs "not in the program." My Department Chair registers the students who need BIO before Open Registration starts.

I remember doing a simulation on blood typing in A&P and it was really cool. One of my rotations as a student did 3-4 MUGA scans per day, during which, we had to draw blood, tag it, and give it back to the patient. Dang skippy I always made sure vials and syringes were marked with a couple patient stickers and I always reverified names and birthdates. Mixing up blood can be a very bad thing, and that simulation taught me why.

Darn skippy. We use simulation in our nursing program as well. I've run scenarios where the student gets a transfusion reaction if they fail to check vitals, or follow the 2 nurse checklist before hanging the blood.

[EvilEmpryss]

Oh my word. And these people want to be trained in medicine?

perhaps that's why these registration processes are so "complex". to weed people out
or so we can hope...

I hope. I desperately hope. If you can't read the college catalog that clearly lays out the process (or even think to go ask someone in the department what the process is) then you don't stand a chance of following the procedures that nurses have to follow. Panacea wouldn't confirm it, but she did smile mysteriously when I asked her it that was the case.

My secret the first time through was making sure i got the early morningest classes I could get. Nobody likes early morning classes except me =)

This. I have to be up to take my kids to school anyway, so I get my school out of the way as early as possible in the day. My spring term is MTWRF 0800-0900. Tuesday and Thursday are my long days, but I'm still out by 1400. If you actually plan out your classes in advance, you can figure out the best way to schedule them.

My adviser was boggled that I brought in an Excel spreadsheet laying out my entire college career with each class carefully arranged to make sure I had all of the prereqs finished before I needed to take it. Apparently, organization is not something the advisers are accustomed to encountering in college students.

Some of these guys just don't get how important this course is. Even when they get to me in the nursing program, I get a lot of blank looks when I try to explain pathologies to them.

As many times as their driver's license test?

No, more times. A driver's license is clearly more important than A&P. A driver's license will get you cool places and maybe even laid. They'll also license almost any idiot to operate a motor vehicle, but only smart people have a chance at making through A&P.

There's an old joke: what do you call the guy who graduates last in his class at nursing school?

Answer: Nurse.

Fixed that for you.

We don't have waiting lists here. It's first come first served. I warn pre-nursing students to register the very first day they can.

And, like people who can't figure out the process to be accepted into the nursing or dental programs, those who delay until the last minute for no good reason deserve what they get: the dregs of the classes. At my university you have to have four semester in a foreign language to graduate. This should not be news to anyone in their junior year of college. Not surprisingly, the Spanish classes fill up quick. I had to listen to a group of students complaining that all of the sections had filled up by the time they tried to register for classes... on the last day of registration. Poor babies.