January, 2014 | Distance Learning Systems (DLSI)

DSST Credit by Exam

While the DSST program offers a total of 37 examinations in unique subject matter, the 10 examination titles releasing with new material are: Substance Abuse, Introduction to Computing, Ethics in America, Criminal Justice, Personal Finance, Management Information Systems, Here’s to Your Health, Fundamentals of College Algebra, Principles of Statistics and Introduction to World Religions. A rejuvenated practice examination is also available for each title.

Regular material up-dates keep the DSST examinations certified with the extensive requirements of the American Council on Education (ACE), which suggests the examinations for credit, as well as appropriate to applicants and arranged university classes. It also increases the security and reliability of the examinations through protection of item overexposure.

“The universities that agree to DSST credits do so based on the capability of the examinations to coordinate up with certain course specifications, and this positioning is crucial to the success of the DSST program,” said Jean Steinke, DSST Senior Product Planner at Prometric. “College directors, giving programs and learners should be confident that the topic and material of all DSST examinations are indicative of course material and representative of a progressed level of information in any of the topic.”

Almost any adult who has gone back to school is familiar with credit by exam programs that allow them to earn college credit for life experience. The DSST program is Prometric’s exclusive program of 37 examinations while attending college subject matter such as Social Sciences, Math, Applied Technology, Business, Physical Sciences and Humanities. Learners who take and pass a DSST examination are given college credit applied toward their degree. DSST examinations are applied by more than 1,200 universities, colleges and military facilities globally and are recommended for school credit by the American Council on Education (ACE). Close to 2000 universities offer course credit for a passing grade on the DSSTs. Providing a simple and fast way for current or future students of any age to “short cut” their degree program by saving them the time of having to sit in a class and the money of having to pay for it by taking the credit by exam route.

Passing the College Level Examination Program

For those of you who have ever reported, “I already know this information, this class is a waste of my time,” prepare yourself for the biggest thing you have heard all year. Kept invisible from learners for some unidentified reason (money), I present the soon-to-be infamous CLEP test. It stands for “College Level Examination Program,” this test allows learners, if ready with the appropriate information, to take a test on a course they are already well-versed in and get full credit. To all the senior students living off campus, the CLEP is not news. But for some reason, nearly every person has little to no idea about it. Do not worry, there are indeed a few select people who actually care about your time and effort and do not just want as much cash they can get.

This test, appropriate to nearly every student, gives learners a chance to spend a week passing a class instead of 20. This way you can make good of the little time you have on campus; not strolling through the steps of rounding numbers. This being said, the test is not going to be a simple task. The test is basically a final examination and since you have never actually taken the class, it’s bound to be complicated. There are, however, several sources on campus with the only objective of assisting you to successfully pass the College Level Examination Program.

Speak with your guidance counselor. It would be annoying spending for the test, taking time out of your week and in the end finding out that the exam you took is not applicable to your university.
Register for the exam date/time/location. Since there are certain times and places for the test, you will need to resume a spot at a convenient time and place for you.
Study! The exam is basically a final examination for a class you have not taken, so you have to be pretty ready. In the written text, there are study guides in the library particular for these assessments.
Pass the test. Now with the appropriate planning and signing up, you are hopefully ready to take an entire class in a matter of two hours.

Accreditation Watch

Unaccredited nursing programs will gladly greet you, take your cash, and disgorge you into the job market where you will be at a serious drawback in comparison to graduates from approved programs. How does this work? State boards of nursing agree to educational institutions of nursing and have the power to shut down a nursing program. Their job is to protect the public, so if they are pleased that the university is doing an acceptable job of turning out certified, safe graduates who are passing the NCLEX at a good rate, they will agree to the program. This is done on a state-by-state level and approval is not the same as accreditation.

Two bodies take care of accreditation in the United States: the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission or NLNAC and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education or CCNE. These bodies make sure national requirements and reliability of nursing curricula and are available completely to make sure the reliability of nursing education across the country. They do not have the power to shut down a college of nursing, but they can take their accreditation to sanction the system.

Why would a nursing university not be accredited? These organizations require master’s-prepared staff, and not all programs have enough teachers with this education, particularly programs for practical nursing staff. Accreditation is also expensive. The site visits cost the program money, as do the yearly account charges for the accrediting body. In addition, the university must often pay teachers for a longer period invested in planning for the visit by the accrediting body. And, of course, sometimes the university does not meet the national requirements established by the accrediting organizations for educational institutions of nursing.

Most nursing programs that are approved by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission say so noticeably on their publications or Web sites. If the program you are looking at does not say anything about accreditation, that is a red flag and should immediate investigation work. Do not be shy about asking, either. You’re about to spend a lot of cash on your nursing education and you do not want to reach the finish line only to find that it did not really count for anything.

Anatomy & Physiology Course Overview

You probably have a general knowing of how your individual body works. But do you fully understand how all of the complex functions and systems of one’s individual body work together to keep you healthy? The Anatomy and Physiology course will offer that understanding. By approaching the study of one’s individual body in an structured way, you will be able to link what you learn about anatomy and physiology to what you already know about your own individual body.

By taking this course, you will begin to think and speak in the language of the domain while developing the knowledge you gain about anatomy to support details of the physiological phenomenon. The course concentrates on a few approaches that, when taken together, offer a full view of what one’s individual body is capable of and of the interesting processes going on inside of it. The usual themes are:

Structure and function of one’s body, and the relationship between the two.
Homeostasis, the body natural propensity to maintain a constant inner environment.
Levels of Organization, the major stages of organization in the individual living thing from the chemical and mobile stages to the cells, body parts and body organ systems.
Integration of Systems, concerning which systems are subsets of larger systems and how they operate together in balance and issue.

Developed with best methods in applied learning concept, this course offers an active chance to learn for any college student in the form of pre-tests, adequate practice possibilities, 3D interactive pictures, walk-through video clips and other special tools and programs that will increase your understanding of anatomy and physiology. Eventually, your understanding of the material provided in this course will offer you with a firm base to discover careers in the health and fitness sectors.

Average LPN Salary

Licensed practical nurse, or LPN, is the term used in much of the United States and Canada to make reference to a health professional that, according to the Occupational Outlook Handbook of the U.S. Department of Labor, cares for “people who are sick, harmed, convalescent, or impaired under the direction of RNs and doctors.” The term licensed vocational nurse (LVN) is used in the states of California and Texas.

Nowadays, LPN jobs are improving in number every year, a result of the great need for licensed practical nurses. The primary reason is because the elderly population is increasing. The elderly of course have higher cases of medical concerns and injuries, thereby requiring the professional services of licensed practical nurses. Even if licensed practical nurses share a lot of the same responsibilities as RNs, practical nursing income is still clearly lower as opposed to the income of RNs. This is so because, the registered nurse’s training and education is more intense in comparison to LPNs. RN learners spend two to four years finishing the degree, while LPN learners finish their program in one to two years.

A licensed practical nurse income can range from $30,000 to $50,000 per year. In certain situations, however, LPNs can generate more than $53K based on several factors. The first part could be the facility they work in. Individuals who are employed in health care institutions generally make more than those who work in home healthcare facilities. The licensed practical nurses who work in medical centers typically have the lowest rates. Another part which could impact income is the location. LPNs who work in larger places usually get paid more, because the population of people and living costs are both great. LPNs with longer experience also have greater incomes. Those that are new to the job usually make around $29,000. LPNs with ten to 20 years of experience generate around $39,000. Normally, those who want better income continue their education and training to become RNs.

Advanced Placement Courses Empowerment

The College Board, a not-for-profit account company dedicated to quality and value in education with a goal to link students to college achievements and opportunity, lately granted 21 Sauk Prairie High School students for showing college-level accomplishment through advanced placement courses and examinations. Sixteen members from the class of 2013 and five members from the class of 2014 qualified for these distinctions.

Recipients of the AP Scholar award, granted to students who get grades of 3 or greater on three or more advanced placement examinations, are Casandra Bradley, Emma Kreitzmann, Abigail Liverseed and Andrew Stangl for the class of 2013, and Rachel Leege for the class of 2014. Recipients of the AP Scholar with Honor award, granted to students who get an average ranking of at least 3.25 on all advanced placement examinations taken and grades of 3 or higher on four or more of these examinations, are Michaela Pfeiffer-Mundt and Brendan Sullivan for the class of 2013, and Sue Albers, Bailey Breunig and Lianna Mack for the class of 2014.

Recipients of the AP Scholar with Distinction award, provided to students who get an average ranking of at least 3.5 on all advanced placement examinations taken and ratings of 3 or greater on five or more of these examinations, include Dallas Breunig, Kassandra Hodges, Chloe Johnson, Tara Loether, Elizabeth Molitor, Angus Mossman, Anthony Renger and Zoey Shultz for the class of 2013, and Tyler Ballweg for the class of 2014.

The receiver of the National AP Scholar award, provided to students in the United States who get an average ranking of at least 4 on all examinations taken and ratings of 4 or greater on eight or more of the advanced placement examinations, is Anthony Renger for the class of 2013. Advanced Placement courses encourage students to get a feel for the rigors of college-level studies, while they are still reinforced in the Sauk Prairie High School environment. When students take AP programs, they illustrate university entrance authorities that they have sought out an academic experience that will prepare them for achievements while attending college and beyond.

Patient Care and ICU Visitors

What do you do if your mother, sister, husband or father lands in an ICU? Do you stay or do you go? There are more than 5 million sufferers admitted to an ICU a year. The ICU is a special unit where sufferers who have severe and deadly illnesses are given patient care by specialized doctors and nursing employees. These sufferers require constant monitoring and support with unique devices and medications to maintain normal bodily processes. The majority of U.S. healthcare centers have restrictions on visitation rights. Close relatives need open visitation rights because it decreases patient anxiety and improves their comfort.

Most adult intensive care units have some type of limited viewing hours that limit the number of family members who can visit and the time they can stay at the room. Across ICUs there is no standardization in viewing guidelines. Moreover, there may even be different visitation rights guidelines in various ICUs in the same hospital! Close relatives can be limited to 10 minutes of visitation rights every hour or be allowed to visit any time they want. Also, how healthcare center employees implement and understand the same visitation rights guidelines can be dissimilar. This variability is a cause of pressure for nursing employees, families and sufferers. Hospitals are attempting for excellence and are now focused on family-centered patient care. Close relatives play an essential part in the ICU individual’s recovery, so an essential part of family center care is open visitation rights. Patients place a high value on having family members at their room, offering them a sense of security in a highly technological innovation driven atmosphere.

The ICU is a stressful place full of sounds, unknown people and devices. Having a familiar face at the room can decrease individual pressure and duration of stay and help respond to questions in the ICU. Also, it improves individual quality, safety and satisfaction. To see relatives, it improves communication with healthcare employees, allows family members to be involved with patient care and contributes to better understanding of the healthcare world. In addition, families cannot affect the functioning of the ICU. Infection disease precautions may be needed that can restrict visitation rights. If an ICU patient is in a shared room and this can happen, guests may be asked to leave temporarily if immediate lifesaving measures are required or sensitive conversations need to occur with another patient.

Hospital Executives and the Affordable Care Act

Of hospital executives surveyed, 65% indicated that by 2020, they believe the wellness care program as a whole will be somewhat or significantly better than it is today. And when they were asked about their own organizations, the positive outlook was even more impressive. Fully 93% expected that the quality of care provided by their own wellness program would improve. This is probably related to initiatives to reduce hospital obtained conditions, medicine mistakes and needless re-admissions, as motivated by financial penalties in the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

On price control, there was similar optimism: 91% expected developments on analysis of price within their own wellness program by 2020. A large proportion, 85%, expected their company to have decreased it’s per individual working expenses by the end of the decade. Overall, the common working reduction expected was 11.7%, with a range from 0% to 30%. Most professionals believe they could save an even higher amount if Congress introduced regulation to speed up the move away from fee-for-service payment toward models like included payments. In such a case, the hospital executives estimated regular yearly benefits of 16.0%, which, if used across the wellness care program, would amount to benefits of nearly $100 billion dollars per year.

How can such benefits be achieved? Hospital executives anticipate three strategies rising to the top: decreasing the number of hospitalizations (54%), decreasing the number of re-admissions (49%) and decreasing the number of E.R. trips (39%). Other likely resources included decreasing expenses for medical devices (36%) and medicine (27%), along with enhancing back-office performance (23%). These leaders believe that benefits can be found through a mixture of better management performance, price discount rates and decreased dependency on hospital services.

Health Psychology Course

The results of the latest studies have demonstrated that most human diseases are caused by patients’ unhealthy lifestyle. For this reason, health psychology is especially popular among postgraduates nowadays. Deciding to continue their studies after getting an undergrad degree in Psychology, students expand their information of the scientist-practitioner approach to healthcare. Researching various issues of health and disease psychology, students may apply their education in practice, creating more effective care plans for their sufferers and impacting their inspiration for getting the medical care services.

Taking a Health Psychology course, postgraduates are allowed to participate in the professionals’ reviews as well as to conduct studies of their own. Deepening their information of innovative research methods, techniques of behavior-change treatments and efficient communication exchange with sufferers, postgraduates enhance their expert abilities and improve the degree of medical care services provided. The forward-thinking viewpoint of the course, putting emphasis on the psychological aspect of medical care, is beneficial for both practitioners and their sufferers.

Career opportunities after finishing a Health Psychology course

Health Psychology programs provide postgraduates with substantial theoretical information and develop their practical abilities which could be applied within their profession activity. This is why the degree is an important stage in a person’s professional growth and following profession marketing.
The first profession option is a position of a Chartered Health Psychologist, working at management and managing degrees of medical care institutions.
Another opportunity is marketing in the area of research. Performing reviews in health-related perspective aimed at preventing diseases or adjusting sufferers to their serious diseases, an individual can contribute to the existing medical information.
Completing the course, a person can even fill a place in the government, creating efficient health advertising strategies and playing policy making.

Care Lapses in Nursing Homes

Eight Connecticut nursing homes have been penalized by the state Department of Public Health for lapses in proper care. On Nov. 7, Beacon Brook Health Center in Naugatuck was penalized $2,180 in relation to a citizen who passed away May 23 of cardiopulmonary arrest and a bowel impediment, DPH records show. DPH discovered that the house’s healthcare record did not indicate that an abdominal evaluation was done on May 23 after the citizen reported of feeling sick and a stomachache on May 22. Also, healthcare records did not indicate that a doctor had seen the citizen after May 21 and the home did not have a policy about stomach tests. On May 23, the citizen was discovered without a pulse and CPR was started. The citizen passed away after paramedics came and took over the CPR.

In a similar case, a Beacon Brook citizen with congestive heart failure incorrectly was not given drugs for fluid retention and no excess weight factors were mentioned in the resident’s history that would have activated a doctor’s notice. The citizen gained nine pounds between July 10 and July 21 and was put in the medical center for difficulty breathing and liquid excess. DPH discovered that the drug was mentioned in a doctor’s purchase but not in the drugs history, so the elderly care facility ceased providing it to the citizen on July 9. The citizen spent five days in the medical center.

Beacon Brook’s manager, Betty Garcia, said that the occurrences happened before she took over, so she could not comment. On Nov. 6, Manchester Manor Health Care Center was penalized $2,250 in connection with two occurrences, including one on May 29, when a nurse’s assistance had left a citizen in a bathroom, heard a thump and then discovered the citizen on his or her legs with a deep cut on the temple. The cut required five stitches to close and personnel discovered that the assistance had breached a safety rule at the nursing home by leaving the citizen alone.

A health professional was observed on Oct. 30 providing a citizen with Alzheimer’s disease coffee without a lid in breach of a doctor’s order that the citizen be given a lid on all hot drinks. State records show the citizen had been burnt off on the hip and legs Aug. 2 and on the stomach on Oct. 2, after dropping hot coffee that was provided without a lid. Administrator Jane Ellen Gaudette said the staff has been retrained since the occurrences and the property is in full conformity with state guidelines. These lapses in care, although minor can have very relevant effects in nursing homes.