1. Wear clothes you don't care about. The smell of the cadaver lab has a tendency to linger on your clothes.
2. If the smell is too much for you too handle try rubbing a SMALL amount of Vicks on your upper lip and nose. Some people have suggested cinnamon flavored gum (e.g., big red), but Vicks works much better, some labs don't allow gum, and do you really want to be smacking on gum with cadaver juice flying all around?
3. Don't buy an expensive tool kit. Many of your tools will possibly fall in the tank or get mixed up with your group member's so you don't want to spend too much money on a tool kit. Plus, unless you are going into the cadaver dissecting field you will probably never use the items inside the kit ever again. I will, however, say that you will need a lot of blades because they can get dull pretty fast. My suggestion is that you split the cost with your group to buy a box of 100.
4. Don't leave your gloves sitting out, people will use them and they will be gone before you know it. Box of 100? Umm, what box?
5. Don't set your tools on the edge of the tank. They will most likely fall in and be gone FOREVER! lol
6. Don't use the body as a scapel holder. When it comes time to open the body and "play" with their organs there is a high chance that you will have poked into the intestines and there will be poop EVERYWHERE. That happened to the group next to us. It was a stinky stinky mess.
7. Take your lab coat to a laundromat, you don't want to stink up your washer/dryer. Also, don't try to bleach it - may make the smell settle in more.
8. Read about the dissection procedure prior to dissection. I usually just went with the flow lol, but I wouldn't suggest it. I was the one showing up like "yeah, so umm..what are we supposed to be doing?" Don't be like me, be better!
9. Use lab time effectively in an effort to finish dissection. Don't spend more than an hour and a half a day outside of lab time trying to finish your dissection (especially if your in a fast paced course). It's usually not worth it and the professors and lab TAs will cut and dig for the structures they want anyway. You need to be using as much of your free time as possible studying or reviewing the structures on the cadaver...not trying to dig through fat to find them.
10. Speaking of fat, if you get to choose your own body, avoid the big belly bodies :) You will be cutting out and digging through fat for dayssss!
11. Don't just mindlessly dissect your cadaver. You usually spend 2-4 hours in lab for class...take advantage of it. When you identify a structure share it with the group. When your group members find something have them share with the group. Pay attention to the location, what structures it can easily confused with, all that. Let's be real though, sometimes that's hard to do because everything usually looks the same and you have no clue what you have found, if anything.
Another option, is to review lecture material while you are dissecting. Everyday, have a different "leader" at the head of the tank "teaching" that day's lesson. They read you a part of the material emphasizing the important parts, and then they quiz you over what they just covered. Then they cover a little bit more and quiz you again. This worked really well for my group. We were able to remember a lot from being quizzed over class material while dissecting.
12. Make a list of everything you are expected to be able to identify and make sure you locate it and write down the easiest way to locate it. Sometimes the professor will provide you with a list, but it usually has other nonsense on it. You need to make a list with just the structures, free from any unnecessary distraction.
13. Don't just identify a structure on one body. I recommend you see every structure AT LEAST 3 times on 3 different bodies. Sometimes they look very different depending on the body.
14. If you don't work well in groups for studying purposes DON'T do it! I don't usually work well in study groups, but I thought "OMG, everybody is always studying in groups, I need to study in a group too." Yeah, no! The one time I attended a group study session, it was a mess and I felt like so much time was wasted and that I could have learned much more on my own.
15. Take advantage of tutoring if it's offered. I recommend going once a week every week if you can. I did solo tutoring and just asked the tutor to show me where to find a bunch of structures and then explain to me how I can easily find and identify it, while distinguishing it from similar structures. I wrote this information down and went on about my business. This was discouraged, but it worked amazing for me. They suggested that you have the tutor quiz you over structures that you should have already identified on your own. Yeah right, there was usually too much going on to have already figured out where everything was located. It was my belief that I could quiz myself, but what I couldn't do was locate all these structures on my own, so if the TA just tells me where they are all at first I can figure out my own way to quiz myself later.
The reason I did it this way is because I quickly learned after the first test, that the structures I missed were the ones I had never seen before. Why? because I never identified it to begin with, so when I saw it, "I'm like what in the world!!?? Umm...let me see well it obviously isn't A because A is located somewhere else, but oh is that B?, can be look like that?...crap I only have 10 seconds left... umm shoot i'll just pick D." It was a mess.
After that test, I had my tutor show me every single structure we were responsible for, how to find, how to distinguish it from other similar structures. Next test went 1000x better. lol
Some people did group tutoring, but again, I emphasize if you don't learn well in groups, don't do it just to save a buck or $10. Nine times out of ten you will regret it.
16. If your lab TA's host practice lab tests GO TO THEM! Pay the money if they charge and go to them. It really helps you to see what areas you are struggling in. Also, some of the questions may pop up on the real test. Also, sometimes going just helps you get your technique down. You have to move quick and you have to think quick! "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick."
17. Now is not the time to experiment with new ways to study or follow someone else's method of studying....unless you are a procrastinator, then you better snap out that quick. Other than that, if you have a particular study method down pat, stick with it! 2nd year MOT students discouraged me from making note cards because they were too time consuming and "not worth it," but I knew that I could memorize information like no other with flash cards. So i went for it! Was it time consuming? HECK YES. Did it pay off? Again, I say, HECK YES! ...If this is your method of choice the key is to not play around. Get them made so you can get to studying. The one section that I didn't make flash cards over...forearm and hand muscles...was the one section that I knew the least well. I tried some else's method and guess what? It didn't stick.
If you take your first test and you realize "OMG, the way I studied was a mess. I thought I was getting it until I took my test and then I was like what????" Then that is the time to go to the drawing board. If you have an advisor, go talk to them...sometimes it's mandatory anyways, but I strongly advise you seek their advice. Most of them have been doing what they have been doing for awhile and have a few suggestions up their sleeves.
If I can find one of my advisor appointment sheets I will scan it and share it with you all!
If you take your first test and you realize "OMG, the way I studied was a mess. I thought I was getting it until I took my test and then I was like what????" Then that is the time to go to the drawing board. If you have an advisor, go talk to them...sometimes it's mandatory anyways, but I strongly advise you seek their advice. Most of them have been doing what they have been doing for awhile and have a few suggestions up their sleeves.
If I can find one of my advisor appointment sheets I will scan it and share it with you all!
Resources that I made that helped me and may help you if you are learning similar content! :)
You have permission to use them ANYWAY you think will be beneficial.
I encourage you to make your own as well!
Disclaimer: Pneumonics may offensive to some viewers. Some pictures were taken from online sources.
SHOW ME THE ORIGIN & INSERTION & LABEL
DRAW ME THE BRACHIAL PLEXUS
MUSCLE DETAILS PRACTICE SHEET
AXILLARY ARTERY BRANCHES
BRACHIAL PLEXUS
CONTENTS OF MEDIASTINUM
CRANIAL NERVES CHART
ERECTOR SPINAE
The cranial nerves chart was so helpful! Thank you! I am currently in a nursing program at my university and you'd be surprised by how much we refer to the the cranial nerves.
ReplyDeleteYay! I'm glad you found it helpful! Good luck with your nursing program! Thanks for stopping by :) <3
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