January, 2014 | Distance Learning Systems (DLSI)

Nursing Education Grants

In its pursuit to back up extensive, high-quality studies that promote the growth of the technology of nursing education and learning, the National League for Nursing has put out its yearly call for suggestions. The NLN’s Research in Nursing Education Grants Program, which started more than several years ago with $12,000 to spread among worthy health professional faculty-scholars, today awards more than $80,000 yearly, with financing from the NLN and the NLN Foundation for Nursing Education.

In addition to three named research grants, the Nancy Langston/Ruth Corcoran, Joyce Griffin-Sobel and Dorothy Otto Research Awards, two prizes are made specifically to doctoral/DNP candidates: the Jane Angel Rizzolo NLN Dissertation/DNP Project Award and the Midwest Nursing Research Society/NLN Dissertation/DNP Project Award. All grantees must be NLN members or a member of the school at an NLN-affiliated school or college.

To be qualified for assistance, grant suggestions must meet at least one of the NLN’s research priorities for 2012-15, defined in a document accepted by the NLN Board of Governors. With a particular focus on changing nursing education and learning for the modern nursing care environment, these main concerns fall within three wide categories: 1) Leading Change in Nursing Education; 2) Improving the Science of Nursing Education; and 3) Creating National and Worldwide Management in Nursing Education. Awards will benefit multi-site, multi-method tasks that include relationships between practice and educational learning surroundings. The due date to publish programs is Feb 20, 2014.

Dedicated to quality in nursing, the National League for Nursing is the top company for health professional staff and leaders in nursing education and learning. The NLN offers professional growth, social media opportunities, examining services, scientific research grants and public policy tasks to its 39,000 individuals and 1,200 institutional members. NLN associates represent nursing teaching programs across the number of college and nursing care companies and organizations.

The Focus on Credit by Examination

Too many students are targeted on the classes they need to take. English, Psychology, Chemistry, Accounting etc. It’s simple to see why. Choose a college course book and you will see that degree programs are set out as series of classes to take. Successfully pass them all and you graduate with the degree you desired. Yet, this is actually a superficial way to look at higher education. As it turns out, credits are the real foundations of degrees, not classes.

Take a closer look at your college’s course book. What you will see is that you actually need a certain variety of credits to graduate, usually 60 for an associate degree and 120 for a bachelor’s. This is a key understanding, because once you move your focus from classes to credit, you can begin researching methods to buy them for less. The costly classes your university provides are just one way of getting those credits, even though most learners thoughtlessly believe it’s the only way.

In reality, there are three methods to generate higher education credit:

Classes at four year public colleges/private universities
Classes at community colleges
Credit by examination

Most students are acquainted with the first two choices. But hardly anyone knows about credit by examination and even less understand its full potential. Credit by examination represents college-level subject assessments like CLEP and DSST. With this strategy, you take a large test covering an entire subject (say, English) rather than a semester-long course. Successfully pass the examination and you get credit just as if you had taken the class. What this implies is that you can possibly cut lots of money off the price of graduating by replacing as many of these examinations for classes as your college will allow. Unfortunately, many colleges and universities have tight “residency requirements” restricting how many attributes you can get this way.

Taking The DANTES – Credit by Examination

DANTES, CLEP and Excelsior examinations are Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES) Financed for active duty, Nationwide Guard members and Reserves which means they are generally free. The DANTES credit by examination is a nationally-recognized credit-by-examination program that most universities agree to for credit towards a degree plan. One tremendous benefit is to soldiers who may be separated from army bases such as recruiters who can still take these examinations for free at private analyze facilities. Any army college student with an accepted degree plan should be able to use these examinations towards their degree. There are 38 DANTES credit by examinations and these can be taken at a base education center or at an approved off base computer examining center.

There are steps to taking and passing a DANTES credit by examination:

Step 1. Find and Schedule – Once a testing center is located, they must be approached to confirm testing procedures and scheduling for army learners. DANTES credit by examinations are developed to analyze proficiency in various college-level course materials. The evaluation is similar to the final evaluation given in lower degree college programs.

Step 2. Get a Fact Sheet – There a few strategies to successfully passing a DANTES that utilize the actual test development to ensure a passing grade. The examinations are developed based on and summary from subject experts and the questions are examined for stability based on a subject’s knowledge of that particular topic. Basically each fact sheet has a content summary that describes the content and the exact percentages of that content on the evaluation.

Step 3. Get Books – The next phase in using the fact sheet is to test the area known as sources for study material, because this is where the guides used to design the test question originate from. Generally, an evaluation details several books for an evaluation however there is usually a seminal written text. The best way to purchase lessons is to search Amazon.com for the book. In most cases, the most recent version need not be bought, as the explanations and concepts in the guide do not change that considerably over time.

Assisted Living Centers and Families

Many families do not learn about the costs of long-term care until the crisis hits and many get the sort of rude awakening that people who underwent this experience felt, said Jon Howell, president and CEO of the Georgia Health Care Association, an industry group that represents assisted living centers, nursing homes and companies that coordinate home care across the state. Seventy percent of individuals now turning 65 will need long-term care at some point during their lives. Only a fraction of those who will need proper care have long-term care insurance, which can pay for services at home or in an elderly care facility or assisted living centers.

Such plans grew in popularity during the 90’s, but sales have dropped recently as some insurance providers exited the market and many of the remaining insurance providers have hit policyholders with steep premium increases. When speaking to civic groups, Howell said, he shares lots of key facts that catch individuals off guard, including: Medicare covers elderly care facility care after a hospitalization, but at day 21, a co-pay requirement kicks in that could cost up to $12,000 over the next 80 days of care. To qualify for State Medicaid programs, residents must effectively impoverish themselves, spending all but $2,000 of their non-exempt resources and also using all but $50 of their monthly Social Security checks to pay for their care.

Medicaid pays an average of $158 a day in Georgia for elderly care facility care; private pay prices are higher. Medicaid doesn’t cover assisted living, only nursing home care. After a resident’s death, State Medicaid programs can take the resident’s house equity and other resources in an estate to cover the price of care paid by the government, although there are protections for surviving spouses. The requirements represent a harsh reality for many once solidly middle-class individuals, individuals who have spent a lifetime working toward financial security, who find they have no option other than switching to State Medicaid programs to cover nursing home bills.

Respiratory Therapist 101

If you have complications in breathing or are affected by suffocation, heart stroke, heart- and lung-related illnesses, it is better for you to search for therapy and immediate care from respiratory practitioners. They would know what to do as they are the best in cardiology and pulmonology. And one more thing is that, this kind of job is on the trend.

As this is a job that needs abilities and knowledge, the wage is usually good and much like other medical center employees. The figures on respiratory therapist wage range from $40,000 to more than $70,000 and those rely on many aspects such as credentials, experience, states. Respiratory practitioners with more than 5 years of experience live in a suitable state such New York or Washington could actually generate more than $70,000, while people who have credentials as Licensed Respiratory Therapist and stay in colleges and universities could generate around $60,000. On the other hand, the common wage for respiratory in nursing care facilities and workplaces of other health practitioners’ is around $58,000, while the common medical centers pay about $55,880. The variations between states also matter. If a respiratory therapist lives in New York, he could generate around $70,000 while in Northern Dakota, the number is just $57,000. As described above, the requirements of experience is also taken into consideration: the more you have, the higher your wage is.

As mentioned above, a respiratory therapist provides care and therapy to sufferers who have complications breathing or cardiopulmonary problems. It makes no difference who you are, how old you are, if you have lung-related or respiratory illnesses, they would be the ones who treat you. In many medical centers, with regards to immediate cases such as a heart stroke, drowning or shock, respiratory practitioners would be called for immediate care. This job is not only engaged in many types of sufferers but also available in many places. A respiratory therapist could work in various environments: from working in nursing care facilities, medical centers to teaching in universities, colleges and vocational schools. They might choose to work in a private office with frequent hours or medical centers, treatment centers with opportunities to work at evenings, Saturdays and Sundays in case of emergency.

Senior Care and Technology

Hitting into an approximated $7 billion baby boomer spending potential, big businesses are focusing on technological innovation as it pertains to senior care and aging in place, writes USA Today. That technological innovation varies from supporting or changing the diminishing number of care providers comparative to those who depend on them, to distribution of medicine and smart houses that are prepared with receptors and other tracking devices and they are focusing on the aging inhabitants in groups.

Increasingly seen as a safety net for older parents and family members, electronic receptors and other home-based gadgets are giving satisfaction to family members of the aging inhabitants. This “technological trend of international significance” is offering alternatives from medicine management to safety and interaction and is increasing the ability for senior citizens in America to age in their houses. “Imagine bottle caps that shine when it’s time to take medicine, seats that take your vital signs and even carpeting that evaluate walking styles and predict physical damage and psychological infirmity. All are here or coming soon and will be a benefit to the country’s 78 million Baby Boomers, those born from 1946 to 1964, who are experiencing the possibilities of getting old with a reducing population of care providers.”

The technological innovation benefits those who use it, as well as the community in general, as a care provider shortage is approximated to match with the population of child boomers reaching their 70s and 80s. But difficulties are plentiful, too, with different gadgets and technological innovation current on a single platform, as well as the worry associated with tracking people in their houses, the article notes. Medical care and aging technology for senior care, however, is a big business and those who are creating alternatives now are on the cutting edge of what will amount to a large pattern later on. That includes technical leaders from Intel-GE to Qualcomm and many others that are in the field currently, or have programs to get into in the near term.

CLEP Free for Military Personnel

Army workers who are seeking to enter college may have quite a bit of life experience under their belt. That experience may be enough to meet up with some college credits without getting college courses, what the College Boards’ CLEP makes possible through examining. Those assessments (exams), when passed, may be replaced for credit at hundreds of universities across the nation, saving military workers cash. CLEP examinations have a price, but for our men and women in uniform, the price for getting any one of the 33 determining introductory-level subject examinations can be waived. Through an agreement with Defense Activity for Non Traditional Education Support (DANTES), active duty, reserve and National Guard personnel have their CLEP examination expenses covered.

The coverage refers to Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and U.S. Coast Guard personnel, as well as members of the Army Reserve, Air Force Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, Navy Reserve, Coast Guard Reserve and the Army and Air National Guard. Moreover, partners and private workers of the Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard, Army National Guard, Army Reserve and Coast Guard Reserve qualify for CLEP fee waivers too.

Under the military’s CLEP agreement, the first examination attempt is free. However, if military workers want to retake a test previously financed by DANTES, they must wait six months and pay both the $80 examination fee as well as the administration fee. The administration fee, however, is waived if the test is on base or is base subsidized. Is CLEP worth it? Absolutely. If you have the experience and knowledge, then getting and passing at least some of those assessments can reduce your degree pursuit. You will also reduce your overall expenses when you engage in CLEP through the DANTES program, yet another way to contain your college expenses.

NLN Creating Inclusive Environments

Health professional teachers must master novel techniques and strategies to make and maintain a racial, social, gender-diverse nursing labor force ready to provide excellent care to individual communities of varying backgrounds and sources across powerful, complicated wellness techniques.

As the Affordable Care Act (ACA) takes full effect with the start of the new year, nursing professionals must keep pace with the law’s inherent call for social understanding and inclusivity. For nurse teachers, that means mastering novel techniques and strategies to make and maintain a racial, social, gender-diverse nursing labor force ready to provide excellent care to individual communities of varying background scenes and sources across powerful, complicated wellness techniques. In keeping with this challenge, the National League for Nursing or NLN presents its 2014 Leadership Conference in Savannah, Georgia, Friday through Saturday, February 6-8: Academic Leadership Excellence: Developing Inclusive Environments.

NLN CEO Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN, will open the conference on Friday evening with her talk: “Now Is the Time: Developing Inclusive Environments to Advance the Nation’s Health.” The next morning, following welcoming comments from the NLN’s president, Marsha Adams, PhD, RN, CNE, ANEF, Antonia Villarruel, PhD, RN, FAAN, will provide the keynote address, “Integrating the Three Ds: Diversity, Differences, Social Determinants, Nursing’s Perspectives.” Dr. Villarruel is lecturer and Nola J. Pender Collegiate Chair at the University Of Michigan School Of Nursing. Throughout the three-day gathering, national experts will guide conference members in plenary sessions, panel conversations, and large classes to:

Explore inclusivity and its importance to nursing education and nursing care.

Understand the Affordable Care Act’s impact on nursing education’s role in preparing students to provide culturally competent care to different communities.
Take part in courageous dialogues about inclusivity.
Identify action techniques to develop a base for social due diligence and inclusivity in nursing teaching programs.

Distance Learning in the 21st Century

The emergence of the knowledge economy had a powerful effect on business and education and studying. First, technology greatly affected training, educating, studying and handling practices. Companies were able to eliminate middle managers whose primary function was sending information between the top management and front line workers. Companies went “flat,” when leading supervisors could directly connect with front line workers using information technology innovation. Also, workers who were directly engaged in production or providing services were included in “quality circles” to share the pressure of handling the company with the managing class. This “downsizing” or “rightsizing” of the company also removed the stand up instructor in many organizations. Training could be placed on the World Wide Web, without the need for an instructor or company to present such details to students. Further, workers could access instruction at their convenience thus reducing time they would spend away from their projects in training, at times hundreds of kilometers away from their work stations. This way of training, known as distance learning, was developed in the organization separate of the theoretical and practical improvements in distance education in European countries and the United States. Concept and practice of online studying in educational surroundings strongly prescribed connections with an instructor and highlighted its importance. Nevertheless, the telecom and computer nexus allowed some businesses to incorporate training with working, giving rise to new ideas, such as, just-in-time training. This was obtained in certain cases through the creation of performance support systems, which directly allowed workers to link studying to projects at hand.

Today distance education is successful among home school students, K-12 educational institutions and universities, many of which require synchronous or asynchronous connections with an instructor while depending on instruction on the Web. Distance education, however has grown extremely in organizations and government organizations, including the army, where there is little or no interaction with an instructor.

While the number of those who are engaged in various forms of distance learning may pale in comparison to those who are studying in traditional ways, the important aspect is the steady rate at which distance students are increasing. If current trends continue, it will be just a matter of time for online studying to become the prominent way of studying and educating.

Credit by Examination Need to Knows

A college is commonly viewed as a financial commitment into your future. Invest your cash into college, and your return is a degree and hopefully a well-paying job. Testing out, or credit by examination, gets you the same return for a smaller financial commitment of both cash and time. Simply put, it’s a faster, more affordable way to generate college credit by passing one standardized evaluation per course. So, here are some things you need to know about credit by examination.

You can get college credit on your schedule without sitting in a classroom – Credit by examination, or testing out of college programs, is a method that focuses on the elements of college that are valued most, gaining the college credits you need while saving cash. Separate studying and testing out of a course allow you to structure the studying process into your current life schedule, no matter what your life routine may be.

Passing one standardized evaluation can give you up to 12 college credits – A passing score on a standardized evaluation indicates that you have the same level of information as someone who took the same topic in a traditional class room. Think of it as skipping right to the final exam in an excellent course and having your entire grade based on that test. The number of credits earned depends on the evaluation topic and the university or college you plan to transfer it into.

Testing out can save you money – By using your knowledge, you can reduce costs on tuition, transportation costs and child care and save lots of money along the way.

Testing out is not just for the army anymore – For many years, the army has used independent studying to allow army personnel the flexibility to independently learn and then test out of college programs, as well as army specific programs. Today, there are many people, army and non-military alike, who get a four-year degree using nothing but independent studying to aid in testing out of programs. Their passing grades are transferred to a school of their choice that accepts the passing standardized evaluation scores and the college issues them credit toward a degree.