How do I become a registered nurse? This is a question many aspiring registered nurses are looking for an answer to. There are different paths to earning an Associates Degree in Nursing (ASN) or a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), and choosing the best RN program often depends on choosing the program that best fits your needs as a student. Some students are looking to the fastest degree path to their RN with an accelerated nursing program. Others may be looking for a full time 4-year nursing program to complete their Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Another group may be trying to find an ideal balance between going back to school and maintaining their full-time job and family responsibilities and need an online nursing program that can fit into their schedule. We’ll go over these different options to help you choose the program that’s right for you.

 

Choosing to become an RN is a strong career move. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary from 2012 of Registered Nurses was $65,470. RN jobs are expected to grow by 19% from 2012-2022, which is faster than the national average for all other occupations. The number of jobs added within this period is over 525,000. RNs can look forward to providing patient care and advocacy, job security, increased income compared to their current position, and the respect that comes with the RN title. Making the transition to RN is a big opportunity and a big decision. Once you’ve decided to become an RN, you’ve got to find the right program.

 

All RN options share a similar path. These involve:

1.       Complete basic/core course credit towards an ASN degree

2.       Complete required core nursing courses

3.       Complete clinical requirements established for RNs

4.       Graduate with a degree in Nursing

5.       Prepare for and pass the NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination)

6.       Register with your state Board of Nursing as an RN

If you are starting from scratch with little to no background in health care, a two-year or four-year nursing degree program is typically the best option. These are often completed on-campus at a physical brick-and-mortar college or university. Some of the most popular nursing schools are in NY, FL, TX, and OH. These programs cater to newer students that are able to commute to class, stay on a set schedule, and typically don’t have the same job and family responsibilities that older students that are returning back to school may have. These students can enjoy a structured format and interact in person with their peers and instructors. These are typically more expensive options as tuition is usually higher and other costs associated with physical on-campus locations must be taken into account such as commuting costs or housing costs. These students will have to find time to complete their clinicals as well as part of their path to RN. Often times these nursing programs have strict requirements to enter as competition to enter is high and openings fill up fast due to their limited class sizes. Wait lists are available, but are not a guarantee of acceptance into the program. Despite being qualified for nursing programs, these types of RN degree paths turn thousands of students away each year due to their limiting factors. This may lead to some students to seek out online degree options from those same schools. This is a convenient alternative to a physical classroom. Online options may be limited to availability by the colleges and may be subject to the same waitlists, but may have fewer class size restrictions, allowing more students the option to enter. Online RN classes also eliminate the need for commuting or housing located near the college, offering considerable savings on education costs. For those with a background already in healthcare, there is another option that is both faster and more affordable.

 

For those with a previous background in health care, accelerated nursing programs or RN bridge programs are one of the best options available. These programs can be completed in as little as one year to complete an Associate of Science in Nursing degree (ASN). These are flexible, online programs that understand adult learners going back to school have full-time jobs and family responsibilities that must fit into their education. The accelerated online RN programs allow flexible schedules that allow students to progress as fast or as slow as they need. The best online RN programs come with customer support and tutor assistance and allow students to take their courses from mobile devices as well as laptop and home computers. Typically, these accelerated programs are only available to Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs), Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVNs), Paramedics, and certain military medical personnel. The reason for this is these positions have already completed a majority of clinical requirements for ASN degrees and don’t have to repeat their clinical hours to transition to RN. This is an excellent advantage for those looking to transition from LPN to RN, LVN to RN, or Paramedic to RN as the path is much faster to become a registered nurse than a traditional RN program. Students that have a successful experience with an online nursing degree program will be happy to know there are also similar RN to BSN online programs that offer the same flexibility.

 

Rue Education is one such RN bridge Program company that has been helping adult learners bridge to RN for over 25 years. During this time they have helped over 100,000 adults earn credit towards their Associates Degree in Nursing and enhanced the accelerated online RN education experience with education consultants that walk students through the degree process and help them figure out what courses they need and what past credit will apply towards their degree. They have real customer support that helps to motivate and assist students when they need guidance or that extra boost of motivation. Their tutor-assisted courses are available online through easy-to-use online platforms that are accessible from computer and mobile devices. They also provide two industry-leading education success guarantees. This program assists LPNs, LVNs, and paramedics to bridge to RN from beginning to NCLEX to graduation.

 

Whichever path you choose, successful students all share similar habits and attitudes towards their education that make a difference in their education success. They are self-driven, motivated, and ready to set a goal and work towards finishing it. They set schedules and stick to them, working time around their job and other life responsibilities. They’ll set small goals as part of the bigger picture, such as finishing a chapter today, taking a practice test this week, and finishing a course by a particular date. Having the drive and motivation makes all the difference, as well as proper planning. No matter what age, it is possible to go back to school. There are resources and paths available for students of all backgrounds looking to become an RN; all it requires is taking that first step.

Mobile health technology has broadened nurses’ horizons beyond what anyone could have imagined, giving them the ability to improve care and communication and educate patients in managing their own health. No longer do nurses need to assess and make clinical decisions based only on office visits, episodic emergency care and hospitalizations. By using technologies from smartphones to wearable activity trackers and Web-based or downloadable apps, they can monitor patients in the home setting.

Healthcare professionals and organizations have only begun to scratch the surface of this avenue in caring for and educating patients, families and communities. With the support of their interprofessional colleagues, nurses have created and developed mHealth tools, improving patient care and empowering patients and families in the process.

Educating patients

For the past 10 years, Rebecca Schnall, PhD, RN, assistant professor of nursing, Columbia University School of Nursing, N.Y., has focused her work and research on using informatics strategies for improving the lives of people from underserved communities. The informatics tools she has developed are all about “giving patients information to empower themselves so they can more easily interact with providers and make decisions about their own health and healthcare,” Schnall said.

Her work has targeted individuals living with and at risk for HIV. She recently was awarded two grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to conduct research focused on using mHealth technology to help people with HIV manage their symptoms.
The AHRQ-funded project will use avatars on a mobile platform and deliver self-care strategies to these individuals, Schnall said. This work is based on the previous paper-based tool developed by William Holzemer, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean and distinguished professor at the School of Nursing, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, while he was at the UCSF School of Nursing.

Similarly, the NIH-funded project seeks to help patients with HIV and comorbid conditions manage their symptoms using a mobile tool. Via a national survey, this project will identify the symptoms these individuals experience.

Maximizing the tool

Schnall sees other benefits to apps that support patients with symptom management strategies. “HIV is a chronic condition, and the findings from this work can reasonably be transferable to other chronic conditions,” she said. “Given the proliferation and growth of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease and our aging population with comorbid conditions, [mHealth] work is timely and of great import for helping improve the lives of persons living with chronic diseases.”

Anne Teitelman, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN, also knows about maximizing the capabilities of an mHealth tool and enabling patients and consumers in managing their care. Recognizing the need to augment patient education outside of the office setting, Teitelman, who is the Patricia Bleznak Silverstein and Howard A. Silverstein Endowed Term Chair in Global Women’s Health, associate professor of nursing, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Philadelphia, created a computerized preassessment tool focused on patients’ barriers to preventing cervical cancer. Once patients complete the profile and preassessment tool in the provider’s waiting room, a nursing student, who serves as a research assistant, provides tailored information, based on the patients’ responses.

Both the preassessment tool and the one-on-one informational sessions focus on adherence to receiving the three doses of the HPV vaccine, using condoms and having regular PAP smears, as well as the need for smoking cessation. “Cervical cancer is higher in minorities and low-income groups, and we also know that these particular groups need to be supported in completing the HPV vaccines,” Teitelman said. “We’re targeting the 18-26 age group with our project since that group is lagging behind in receiving the HPV vaccines.”

Teitelman and colleagues didn’t stop there. She received funding to create the free downloadable app called Now I Know, which evolved from another prototype app, Everhealthier Women, described as an app “that could save your life” by O magazine.

In the Now I Know app, the consumer will receive notifications offering two theory-based, educational stories every week for six months on HPV vaccine completion and other cervical cancer prevention strategies, as well as links to other information and resources. It also includes a discussion board and feedback from other users and experts in the field. Users can receive test results and be reminded of when they are due for their next vaccine.

From concept to reality

It was Nancy P. Hanrahan’s foresight and passion that led to the creation of University of Pennsylvania’s Nursing’s Health Technology Lab where she developed and coordinated the Health Tech incubator program. Working with undergraduate and graduate students from all disciplines, she helped them find appropriate technology and marketing components for new ideas, innovations, pathways and products. “The students actually began start-up companies, and we partnered with business students and faculty and corporate businesses that offered their expertise in marketing and testing of the innovations in the marketplace,” she said.

One nursing student played a key role in the development of a mental health app designed specifically for college students, while another nursing student designed the gaming methods used for the app, said Hanrahan.

Hanrahan, PhD, RN, FAAN, is now dean and professor for the School of Nursing and associate dean of Bouve College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston. In her new role at Northeastern she and the school will work closely with other schools within BCHS on mHealth projects. “An integrated, interdisciplinary approach is essential in education and technological innovation, and our moving away from silos will only enhance our learning, our thinking and our creativity,” she said.

A strong proponent of technological advances in mHealth, she believes mHealth will improve patient advocacy and healthcare delivery and increase efficiency of care. “Nurses are advocates and experts in patient care and the patient experience. In this powerful dual role they can be leaders in technological innovation — and now is the time to get involved,” she said.

Hanrahan speaks from experience. Funded by the American Nurses Foundation, Hanrahan created a Web-based PTSD nurse toolkit in 2014 that teaches nurses about the condition and uses a gaming component to reinforce learning. It is now being developed in app form. Hanrahan plans on adding a list of provider support resources for patients. “Nurses work with veterans and their families in every possible setting, and they need to be able to determine at what level of suffering they are and reinforce help-seeking behaviors with them,” said Hanrahan. “With support from the toolkit, nurses can be facilitators to help PTSD sufferers receive care.”

Hanrahan credits the interprofessional team who worked together to develop the program, “enabling others to deliver the best possible care and overcome care barriers in the process.”

Targeting patient needs

Nurse experts agree mHealth technology has the potential to transform healthcare delivery. It’s also clear that mHealth tools need to be tailored to meet specific patient needs, said Ryan J. Shaw, PhD, RN, assistant professor, School of Nursing, Center for Health Informatics, Center for Precision Medicine, Duke University School of Nursing, Durham, N.C.

Shaw is part of a team that includes a programmer, physician and health scientist, who are developing an app that measures walking and balancing abilities of the elderly. The ultimate goal is to use the data collected to predict those at high risk for falls and provide preventive interventions to them. “These data have huge implications for our elderly and us, and [the app]is an easy-to-use tool that can be used as an objective assessment in our communities and in retirement communities,” he said.

Along with colleagues, Terri H. Lipman, PhD, RN, CRNP, FAAN, created a Web-based text/short messaging system targeted specifically for youth with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes. Lipman is an assistant dean for community engagement, Miriam Stirl endowed term professor of nutrition and professor of nursing of children, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Philadelphia, and nurse practitioner at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Designed for patients age 10-17, MyDiaText provides text message reminders that help participants work toward a healthy diabetes lifestyle and improve self-management practices. “Using the American Diabetes Association guidelines, we collaborate with our patients to select particular health goals,” Lipman said. “For example, if the goal is to eat more fruits and vegetables, daily text messages provide a reminder, a link to an appropriate site on the topic or a game to play reinforcing knowledge.”
After creating a profile on MyDiaText.com, participants earn points toward their goal as they rate their progress and take quizzes. As an incentive, points earn printable certificates.

The short messaging system is a collaborative initiative among the School of Nursing, the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at UPenn and the Diabetes Center for Children at CHOP. Initially created as part of a University of Pennsylvania Year of the Games challenge in 2012, the SMS won first prize in the school of nursing’s Game of Solutions for Healthcare.

Lipman and her colleagues have determined the feasibility and functionality of individuals receiving SMS educational and motivational messages. “It’s been quite a learning experience, right from its inception,” Lipman said. “While engineers had the expertise in technology development, nurses were invaluable in their input related to diabetes management, national diabetes guidelines, issues affecting youth and adolescents and reasonable expectations of providers. The nurses also were adamant the design could not move forward without the input of youth with diabetes and their families. This program, like other mHealth tools, provides a unique approach to interact with patients in a manner that is familiar and age-appropriate. Our learners can access information at their convenience, and they collaborate with us in identifying their health needs and priorities.”

Challenges, opportunities ahead

There are more than 100,000 health apps available in iTunes and the GooglePlay store (http://research2guidance.com/), and nurses are well aware of the volume of mHealth technology. “Given the robustness of the current marketplace, it can be overwhelming for providers to find ones appropriate for their patients,” Schnall said.

In his work, Shaw also has found that mHealth tools may result in data overload for those providers who are tracking the information. “When we look to the future, our patients are and will continue to be monitored, on much larger scales, between office visits, and we will need to be comfortable at looking at a lot of data,” he said, adding that tracking patients day to day results in better clinical decisions.

As reimbursement models shift more and more to pay for performance, we will need to assume, as nurses, the role of data managers, he said. “In addition, much of the data gathered from mHealth tools now are able to come back to the EHR, which is a definite advantage to all of us,” Shaw added.
Shaw created a Web-based mobile health platform, which has enabled him and his colleagues to gather patient data from a variety of devices and sensors into a secure database.

Recruiting three healthy and three chronically ill participants who provided data on 11 health indicators through a Fitbit accelerometer, wireless blood pressure cuff, wireless scale, wireless pulse oximeter and a diet app, he and his colleagues discovered that “sicker and more chronically ill patients, who could benefit from our mHealth devices, are actually the ones who often don’t use them,” Shaw said. “Results also indicate that device fatigue may be a significant problem.”

Nurse experts agree it’s important for nurses to get involved in the development of mHealth tools that support patients as well as themselves in their clinical practice. “As nurses, we identify the day-to-day needs and healthcare challenges of our patients,” Teitelman said. “When we partner with our interprofessional colleagues, it can result in fruitful collaborations, creative solutions and partners who can support us with technological solutions. Our ideas become realities.”

 

Source:
Janice Petrella Lynch, MSN, RN, is nurse editor/nurse executive.

https://news.nurse.com/2015/11/09/on-the-move-with-mhealth-nurses-develop-mobile-health-tools/

 

 

PORTLAND, Ore. (The Tribune) — Lorretta Krautscheid was growing frustrated. The University of Portland nursing professor knew she was teaching her students right from wrong.

Every one of them took a full semester course in nursing ethics. They’d had patient protocols drilled into their brains over the course of their four years of study.

And yet, Krautscheid kept hearing from students who had begun working at area hospitals that they were doing things they knew were wrong and that were compromising the health and safety of patients.

They were inserting urinary catheters into patients without following the sterilization protocols that prevent infection. They were giving hospitalized patients medications without first going over the possible side effects. They were watching doctors and senior nurses enter patients’ rooms without washing their hands. And they weren’t saying anything about it.

For years Krautscheid had believed that her job was teaching students the right way of doing things and the importance of behaving honorably. Now she was becoming convinced that wasn’t enough.

In Krautscheid’s view, her students were putting their relationships with doctors and senior nurses ahead of their responsibilities to their patients.

“How do we teach courage?” Krautscheid asks. “How do we teach backbone?”

Krautscheid started by conducting a study, recently published in the Journal of Nursing Education. The results only increased her dismay. She put unaware students through simulations of precisely the types of situations she had been hearing about, with hidden cameras filming the scenes.

In one, a senior nurse, or preceptor, is watching a young nurse preparing to give heart medication to a real patient with dangerously high blood pressure. As planned, the patient’s phone rings and he tells the young nurse he has to take the call, and could she please just leave the medications on the table so he can take them later?

Krautscheid figured some of her nurses would go along and some would at least pause, knowing they had to check to make sure they were giving the right medication to the right patient, and that the patient was aware of potential complications.

“I thought some of them would say, ‘We learned in school we shouldn’t do this,’” Krautscheid says. Only one did. She turned to the preceptor and said that’s not what she had been taught to do. The preceptor told her it was OK, she should just leave the medications next to the bed. Which the young nurse did.

Six other young nurses left the medications without so much as a question.

In a follow-up study, Krautscheid surveyed 93 young nurses, asking them what they do when a senior nurse gives them bad advice. Nearly half responded that they followed the bad advice. Her takeaway?

“It’s easier just to go along and get along, and when you drill down on that through one-on-one interviews, what they tell you is, ‘I have to keep working with these people, and it seems to be part of the culture that this is OK,’” Krautscheid says.

Tamara Mazelin was one of the students in Krautscheid’s simulation who did not speak up. “It’s hard,” she says about contradicting a more experienced nurse who is in a supervisory capacity.

Mazelin has worked at a number of Portland-area hospitals and clinics, and she says the simulation mirrored the reality she’s confronted. She recalls working at a hospital neonatal intensive care unit and watching nurses improperly inserting a catheter into an infant. Infection protocol requires nurses to discard a catheter if it has fallen out of the bladder and use a new, sterilized one. But when the catheter fell out of the infant’s bladder several times, she says, nurses simply reinserted it.

“They could have given the baby an infection,” Mazelin says. “I knew it, but I started questioning. These are real experienced nurses. They must know. I started questioning what I’d learned.”

Mazelin says later she talked to the charge nurse in what she figured was the least confrontational way possible. “I (said), ‘I thought this was a sterile procedure,’” Mazelin recalls. “She said, ‘Things are sometimes different in the real world.’”

Later Mazelin talked to her preceptor, who said she would talk to the other nurses. But she has since seen similar scenarios, including one in which she wanted to tell a physician who had left a patient’s room and come back that he needed to put on new, sterile gloves. She didn’t say anything. Next time, Mazelin says, she will speak up. But it won’t be easy.

“We’ve learned everything we should do that is ethically right,” Mazelin says. “But we haven’t learned how to have that conversation.”

Learning to speak up

Mazelin says she’d like more simulation opportunities aimed specifically at ways to confront authority figures without being confrontational. Nursing school leadership classes might help, she adds. And she’d like to see hospitals call meetings with all the nurses on hand where the message is relayed that they want people — even the newbies — to speak up if they see someone cutting corners.

Justin Britton is one of those students who told Krautscheid how difficult it was to practice to the standards Krautscheid had taught him. Britton is in his last year of nursing school at the University of Portland and has been working as a certified nursing assistant at a number of local hospitals. In one, he was stationed in acute care, where most of his patients were elderly, many with pneumonia or having suffered strokes.

He says one nurse told him he shouldn’t take so much time swabbing an IV port with alcohol. Sterilization protocol calls for 15 seconds of swabbing to kill any infectious bacteria. The nurses where Britton worked had a different routine. “They’ll do a quick swipe, a once over, and say that’s good enough,” Britton says.

The first time Britton saw this, he says, he tried to distract the senior nurse in the room so he could continue to sterilize the IV port. Later they had a conversation. The nurse, Britton’s preceptor, told him that if the patient got an infection, “Well, that’s what antibiotics are for.” Britton says he began trying to get into patients’ rooms early so he could sterilize IV ports properly before his preceptor arrived.

And yet, Britton rejects the idea that he was showing what Krautscheid calls moral courage. “I didn’t think it was brave because I didn’t confront her and say, ‘Hey, you’re doing it wrong,’” he says. “I felt like I was more protecting myself and my patient by being sneaky about doing it.”

Britton says he’s “not good at confrontation.” He’d like to see nursing schools teach students how to speak to fellow employees in a more assertive fashion. And he says he’s still not sure if he’d have the courage to talk to a physician who failed to wash his or her hands.

Oregon Health & Science University assistant nursing professor Seiko Izumi says part of the problem is that nurses “are in an in between position.” They are responsible to their employers, usually a hospital, she says, and also to their patients, to doctors and even to other nurses.

OHSU, Izumi says, is starting to put student nurses and medical school students together in some classrooms so they better understand one anothers’ roles and “develop a more equal (way of) relating.”

It might take more than that, says Portland State University philosopher Alex Sager. Krautscheid’s desire to widely teach moral courage, Sager says, is something of a paradox.

Difficult to teach courage

“Moral courage almost by definition is exceptional,” Sager says. “When we think of people who exhibit moral courage, they do what ordinary people don’t.”

It isn’t easy to teach people to behave in ways that put themselves at risk, according to Sager. “We’re pretty good at teaching things that most people learn to do. We’re not really that good at teaching people to be exceptional,” he says.

Sager says Krautscheid’s simulation experiments remind him of the famous 1971 Stanford University prisoner experiment in which students pretending to be guards were willing to abuse other students playing prisoners (see accompanying story).

“People are pretty good at doing the right thing when it’s not hard,” Sager says. “The best thing we can do is try to create environments where we don’t make doing the right thing all that hard.” That means if Krautscheid expects her nurses to stand up to authority, first, someone will have to work on the institutional culture in the hospitals.

“Most people are not going to display moral courage, we know that,” Sager says. “So we need to create institutions where people are encouraged to question authority.”

Moral imagination, not simulation

That could start with making hospitals less hierarchical and providing incentives for nurses who speak up when they see shortcuts being taken, says Sager, who says real action might take “moral imagination.” The idea is that simulations can’t cover every potential situation, but moral imagination can prepare students for situations they haven’t been asked to consider.

“Some people think of ethics simply as applying rules,” Sager says. “It’s not really like that in the real world. The real world is complex. … It takes a lot of time to learn. Moral education is being able to understand and anticipate more and more complex situations.”

Sager would have the nursing students read novels where characters show moral courage, and have students discuss the books. And teachers should talk about nurse whistleblowers in the classroom. The key, he says, is that teachers need to stimulate more than just the rational part of their students’ brains.

“Just understanding something intellectually doesn’t seem to be enough to motivate you. You have to tie your sentiments into it,” Sager says. “Begin to stimulate moral imagination and you can prepare yourself to react if you do end up in this kind of situation.”

 

Original Article by Peter Korn: http://koin.com/2014/07/31/nursing-professors-studies-suggests-ethics-problem/

 

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The National League for Nursing Center for Innovation in Simulation and Technology, one of the new seven centers that comprise the DC-headquartered NLN Home for Transformative Excellence in Nursing Education, will benefit from a five-year sponsorship by Excelsior College of NLN's Scholar-in-Residence Program. The NLN Excelsior College Scholar-in-Residence will facilitate career advancement for nurse educators with doctoral degrees, bringing them professional development opportunities and exposing them to the latest evidence-based scholarship.

Excelsior's support of the NLN Center for Innovation in Simulation and Technology represents an extension of its mission and values in promoting the nursing profession; these resonate with those of the NLN.

"The League is profoundly grateful to the leadership of Excelsior for their vision and generosity. The NLN Excelsior College Scholar-in-Residence will bring critical knowledge and experience to the NLN Center for Innovation in Simulation and Technology, supporting the NLN mission to create a strong and diverse nursing workforce to advance the nation's health," noted NLN CEO Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN.

Added NLN President Marsha Howell Adams, PhD, RN, CNE, ANEF and senior associate dean of academic programs and professor at the Capstone College of Nursing at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa: "The four core values that permeate the NLN and guide its mission – caring, integrity, diversity and excellence – are reflected in transformative strategies the League implements to lead in advancing excellence and innovation in nursing education. Thanks to Excelsior College, the NLN is poised to maximize the potential for advancing excellence in nursing education through new and expanding programming in the increasingly sophisticated field of simulation and technology. The sponsorship couldn't be more timely."

"As an NLN Center of Excellence in Nursing Education, we have an obligation to share our knowledge and experiences with other schools of nursing," said Excelsior College president John F. Ebersole. "As a transformative organization ourselves, sponsoring the Scholar-in-Residence Program means that we can help support the professional growth of the larger nurse educator community and benefit from the advances participants will achieve for the nursing profession."

The new simulation scholar-in-residence will have multiple and varied responsibilities at the NLN. The scholar will provide direction to all ongoing NLN simulation activities; collaborate with other NLN professional leadership to develop and execute simulation research; increase the NLN faculty development simulation and technology program offerings, expand the Simulation Innovation Resource Center (SIRC) website and related simulation activities; support participants in NLN's Leadership Development Program for Simulation Educators through conference calls and one-to-one meetings; and provide guidance to NLN's Advancing Care Excellence for Seniors (ACES) Project through unfolding cases and simulations; plan simulation events at the NLN Education Summit, Technology Conference and other NLN professional development programs; and collaborate with companies involved with simulation to provide resources and updates of simulation research advances, studies, and research.

Excelsior College has been an NLN Center of Excellence since 2005. That year, the college earned the distinction in the category Creating Environments that Promote Student Learning and Professional Development. Known for its innovative programs, Excelsior has been a recognized leader in providing educational opportunities for adult learners and those historically underrepresented in higher education since its founding in 1971. Its School of Nursing, introduced in 1975, has been a pioneer in non-traditional higher education, providing a competency-based, outcomes-assessment program through a distance education format that draws on the expertise of faculty from across the nation.

Dedicated to excellence in nursing, the National League for Nursing is the premier organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education. The NLN offers faculty development, networking opportunities, testing services, nursing research grants, and public policy initiatives to its more than 40,000 individual and more than 1,200 institutional members, comprising nursing education programs across the spectrum of higher education and health care organizations.

Excelsior College (http://www.excelsior.edu) is a regionally accredited, nonprofit distance learning institution that focuses on removing obstacles to the educational goals of adult learners. Founded in 1971 and located in Albany, NY, Excelsior is a proven leader in the assessment and validation of student knowledge. It offers more efficient and affordable access to degree completion through multiple avenues: its own online courses and college-level proficiency examinations, and the acceptance in transfer of credit from other colleges and universities as well as recognized corporate and military training programs. Excelsior College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Excelsior's School of Nursing is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) and is a three-time designee as a Center of Excellence in Nursing Education by the National League for Nursing.

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/04/prweb11755334.htm

 

YourCareerInNursing.com was created to support healthcare professionals at every step of their careers. For those looking to get started in a healthcare career, there are plenty of resources for diploma and certifications such as home health aide, nursing assistant, pharmacy tech, rehab nursing, long term care, and medical assistant. YourCareerInNursing.com also offers continuing education opportunities such as bridging to RN and LPN/LVN refresher resources. For those looking for job/career opportunities, there is an active board of different health care jobs across the country. Find out what the site can offer you and explore the useful tools and resources available at your fingertips.

 

1.      Where you study is important
Where you study can have an effect on how you study. Studying in the comfort of your own home is great, but it may not be the best place for everyone. The quiet ambiance and removal of personal distractions of a public library can allows you to focus more on what you’re studying.

2.      How you take notes makes a difference
Do not type your notes. Typing your notes can be advantageous because of increased legibility, but writing your notes out by hand leaves a more permanent impression in your mind. When you type you are just pressing keys on a keyboard, but when you write, you are writing out the words and concepts you need to remember.

3.      Who you study with affects your outcome
When possible, study in a group. Studying in groups can be beneficial. It allows the bouncing of ideas among peers in a stress less environment. We tend to remember what our peers tell us more than what read, so when we study with our peers, we remember better.

4.      Background distractions interfere with studying  

If you set aside time for studying, don’t leave Facebook open in the background. The notifications can wait. In fact, avoid using any social media when you study because a quick break can turn into hours of lost study time.

5.      What time you study can set you up for success
Study in the morning. Even if you’re tired, your mind is more active in the morning. Studying in the morning allows you to remember things easier. Imagine if you had to go for a run, would you have more energy after waking up, or before you sleep? The mind is no different, so be sure to pick up those books after waking up, not just at night.

Nursing school is certainly a memorable experience for many nurses–a pivotal time of hard work and new friendships. In fact, three nurses from New York who went through nursing school during the 1950s had such an notable time that they’ve written a book about it!

Mary Herbst, Maureen Ott and Maureen Weber trained at Mercy Hospital in Buffalo, N.Y. together decades ago, and recently released the aptly titled Have Mercy: A Nursing Memoir about their collective experiences.

Under the direction of the nuns who worked at the hospital, the three women had a bit of a different school experience than many are used to–Herbst described it as a “boot-camp” environment when speaking to the Niagara Gazette. For example, a nun came by every day between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., which were study hours, to make sure the students were studying.

However, the book isn’t all about studying and regimented schedules. Stories range from humorous to personal as the authors recall their entire training experience.

It’s interesting which stories stuck out as memorable to the authors after all these years. What stories from your schooling experience would you include in a book a half a century after they occurred? Share them in the comments below.

If you are interested in reading Have Mercy, you can find it at Amazon.

Originally posted on Scrubsmag.com
http://scrubsmag.com/three-nurses-share-their-story-of-attending-nursing-school-in-the-1950s/

The results of the Rue Fall Scholarship are in, and the response was incredible. We received nearly 70 scholarship applications from 30 different states across the country! We were thrilled to have such an exciting response and moved by your stories. Thank you for giving us an insight into your triumphs, struggles, and motivations in the pursuit of your futures as RNs. We are proud to announce that LPN Nicole R. from Columbus, OH, is the winner of our Fall Scholarship. We look forward to her success as an RN and we are proud to have her as part of the Rue family.

Due to the overwhelming response to our Fall Scholarship, we are glad to announce our next opportunity to reward our adult learners for taking a big step in their RN journey. Throughout November and December, Rue Education is giving one lucky winner the chance to receive all of their nursing courses, their CPNE, and NCLEX-RN prep free from Rue Education as part of our Nursing Course Giveaway! This package is valued up to $5,730, and the best part is there is no application required. To qualify for this giveaway, you simply get started on your RN journey with Rue Education in November or December. Once you get started, you are automatically entered to win, and a recipient will be chosen at random after the December deadline.

Details can be found on our website, RueEducation.com/scholarship. We look forward to be able to give back to our clients and offer another opportunity for future RNs to receive the nursing courses and preparation they need to be successful RNs.

Only a small percentage of women qualify to take the genetic test that screens for BRCA mutations, said Dr. Marisa Weiss, founder of Breastcancer.org and director of breast health oncology at Lankenau Medical Center in the Philadelphia area.

Women who test positive for one or both mutations have about a 60 percent risk of breast cancer during their lifetimes, compared with 12 percent for women without such mutations, according to the National Cancer Institute. Women with a BRCA mutation are also likely to develop the disease at a younger age and are more likely to get it in both breasts, Rader said.

"The discovery of the BRCA mutation was an enormous step forward," Rader said. For the right candidate, "the mutation is a really good indicator of the possibility of developing breast cancer."

Who should test

If you have a strong family connection to breast cancer that includes an immediate family member, you may consider genetic testing, said Susan Brown, Komen's managing director for community health.

But "not everyone with breast cancer in their family should run out and get this test," Brown said, as it's expensive, about $3,000, and may not be covered by insurance.

As we grow closer to understanding breast cancer on a genetic level and identifying precursors, molecular warnings, and genetic predispositions, we anticipate the costs of testing go down. As technology and research increase, the demand for affordable genetic testing will create a stable supply for anyone to use.

Genetic testing is recommended for those with:

►A personal or family history of breast cancer at age 45 or younger.

►A family member with ovarian cancer at any age.