Sex education
"Methotrexate (rINN) (pronounced /mɛθɵˈtrɛkseɪt/), abbreviated MTX and formerly known as amethopterin, is an antimetabolite and antifolate drug used in treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. It acts by inhibiting the metabolism of folic acid." (Wiki)
At the end of every clinical we always have a post-conference before leaving to go home where we discuss our experiences in the hospital. It's exhausting when we are done with our clinical hours on Tuesday night as late as 10pm or in the case of last night, 11pm.
Since the class average was an 88 on the last test (this is bad, 2 points lower is a C), our instructor went over some material with us from the book to help us review for our next test. She mentioned Methotrexate which is used to medically treat ectopic pregnancies -- this is in our curriculum, we need to know about it. Ectopic pregnancy is life threatening.
I vaguely remembered Methotrexate being half of RU-486 (alongside Misoprostol) which my instructor confirmed, to the horror of my classmates. "You mean like Plan B?" "No, Plan B doesn't cause an abortion, this drug does" "Oh my god, there's really an abortion pill? That's so gross! How would that even work?" The same way an ectopic pregnancy is terminated... the body's metabolism of folic acid is altered... and this causes a miscarriage in a pregnancy less than 7 weeks after implantation.
As much as we focus on how to create healthy babies in class, I wish we would discuss for one day the mechanism and medicine behind abortion as a common legal safe procedure, and the care that women deserve when recovering from both elective and spontaneous abortion (miscarriage). Fetal demise is unpleasant, but so is a LOT of what we learn about in nursing school.
There's no excuse for college junior level nursing students to be so completely ignorant about medical (nonsurgical) abortion that they don't understand that it exists in the first place. Education does not make a person a baby-killer or even necessarily pro-choice, but as long as the choice exists, women have the right to nonjudgmental care at the hands of knowledgeable healthcare providers.
At the end of every clinical we always have a post-conference before leaving to go home where we discuss our experiences in the hospital. It's exhausting when we are done with our clinical hours on Tuesday night as late as 10pm or in the case of last night, 11pm.
Since the class average was an 88 on the last test (this is bad, 2 points lower is a C), our instructor went over some material with us from the book to help us review for our next test. She mentioned Methotrexate which is used to medically treat ectopic pregnancies -- this is in our curriculum, we need to know about it. Ectopic pregnancy is life threatening.
I vaguely remembered Methotrexate being half of RU-486 (alongside Misoprostol) which my instructor confirmed, to the horror of my classmates. "You mean like Plan B?" "No, Plan B doesn't cause an abortion, this drug does" "Oh my god, there's really an abortion pill? That's so gross! How would that even work?" The same way an ectopic pregnancy is terminated... the body's metabolism of folic acid is altered... and this causes a miscarriage in a pregnancy less than 7 weeks after implantation.
As much as we focus on how to create healthy babies in class, I wish we would discuss for one day the mechanism and medicine behind abortion as a common legal safe procedure, and the care that women deserve when recovering from both elective and spontaneous abortion (miscarriage). Fetal demise is unpleasant, but so is a LOT of what we learn about in nursing school.
There's no excuse for college junior level nursing students to be so completely ignorant about medical (nonsurgical) abortion that they don't understand that it exists in the first place. Education does not make a person a baby-killer or even necessarily pro-choice, but as long as the choice exists, women have the right to nonjudgmental care at the hands of knowledgeable healthcare providers.