2006-12-27 04:49:18 · 3 answers · asked by rozi 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
Application of nutrition in the body: metabolic vs catabolic states, sodium/potassium pump, arterial blood gases: acidosis vs alkalosis. Gosh, the list goes on those are just a few on the top of my head.
I remember being thankful that I took Chem before I went into nursing school . . . many concepts applied to various chemical reactions in the body & the microbiology/physiology of humans.
2006-12-30 03:45:38 · answer #1 · answered by NautyRN 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Practically, essentially none. I'm a chemist and my dad's a doctor. He couldn't draw the structure of an amino acid or a DNA base to save his life, much less any organic reaction. Basically all the organic chemistry and biochemistry you learn in nursing/medical school is effectively useless.
On the other hand, nursing programs, medical schools, etc. love to look at people's organic chemistry grades for one simple reason: it's a very good predictor of success in medical school/nursing programs. Basically it's something that most people can understand. Some people might get it the first time through, some people might need to put in 5 hours a day of studying, but it doesn't matter as long as you get it. So whether you're smart or hard-working, if you do well in organic chemistry, you're likely to do well later. That's why they really care about organic chemistry.
On the other hand, though this is not very common, nurse practitioners and physician assistants can actually manage research projects in academic hospitals. Knowledge of biochemistry and organic chemistry may actually come in useful there, but this is a pretty uncommon path.
Honestly, even as a practicing chemist I can tell you that most of the crap that passes for education in undergraduate organic and biochemistry courses is useless to actual chemists (I do organic chemistry and biochemistry myself, and skipped 90%+ of the lectures in biochemistry and first semester organic chemistry). They tend to be very focused on memorization instead of understanding, in my opinion because they act as pre-med filter courses and medical profession people need to memorize a lot of stuff.
P.S. - Is your name a nickname for Rosalind or something? Or is it an alternative spelling for Rosie? We call my grandma Rozi, so I like that name.
2006-12-27 05:01:27 · answer #2 · answered by Some Body 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Leads to understanding of biochemistry to follow.
In my experience teaching nurses' chemistry, the course presents only as much general chemistry as is needed to understand organic chemistry, and only as much organic to understand biochemistry. I used to include a bit about plastics and textiles to make it more relevant to daily life.
2006-12-27 05:05:02 · answer #3 · answered by steve_geo1 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋