Author: Erik

Types of Hospital Jobs Available

As the intervention to improve the quality of health care services increases. The need for more hospitals, as well as healthcare professionals, also increases. Hospitals have two different types of workers. These are the clinical workers and the non-clinical workers. When you hear about the term “clinical worker”, it refers to jobs that provide direct care like the nurses, physicians and other health care professionals. This means that non-clinical workers don’t offer direct patient care; they are either in the management or administrative department of the hospital, like the executives or the utilities.

The different departments in the hospital have different functions and require a lot of labor force to work properly. The following are examples of departments inside a hospital:

  • Radiology / Imaging
  • ER – Emergency Room
  • Labor & Delivery
  • Surgery
  • ICU – Intensive Care Unit
  • Cardiac Care
  • Pharmacy
  • NICU – Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
  • Morgue
  • Cafeteria
  • Gift Shop
  • Nursery
  • Lab

The following are examples of clinical jobs:

  • Physician
  • Nurse
  • Pharmacists
  • Medical Lab Technologist
  • Dietician
  • Techs
  • Therapist
  • Medical Assistants

If you are still considering a career in the hospital, you may try the above-mentioned careers. It is best to know more about the specific career if it suits your personality and your capability. Working in the hospital can be stressful and physically demanding, so your health must be considered. And the daily routines might be different and challenging. However, these careers are secure since the healthcare industry is continually growing and supported by the government.

Improving Patient Care

Every health care provider aims to provide the highest level of care for their patients. They are molded to become not only skilled in their field but also exhibit the utmost patient care as well as professional dealings. Medical professionals are always faced with the issue of how to improve patient care. They are aware that skills are not the only thing that matter to deliver the best patient care. More often than not, patients appreciate it when they are handled in a most human way.

Patients are now more aware of issues underlining the medical practices like malpractice and they fear being involved in one. This creates a reason for them to seek medical practitioners who will deliver the best patient care. They will likely go to someone whom they trust rather than someone who is popular because of being expert in their field. People will go for competent, affectionate and empathetic health care professionals. For this reason, professionals in health care system are now seeking ways to develop interpersonal skills as early as during their education. Patient care is now emphasized in educational curriculum.

The quality of patient care is not only quantified through technical and personal skills. The health care system needs to ensure that delivering patient care is at its best because of the new technology and infrastructure. The advancement of technology is a contributing factor in innovating new equipment and methods to efficiently get results from patients’ diagnosis.

Moreover, patient care needs to be accessible to the patients anytime and anywhere. This is a great challenge to all health care professionals considering that there are still areas around the globe that are far beyond reach.

 

 

 

The Assisted Living Facility

As your parent or loved one get old, it becomes undeniably difficult to care for them knowing that you already have your own family to take care also. You might be considering getting help at home from professional health care providers. However, this might be a very expensive option for you. Another option will be bringing them to assisted living centers.

There are many assisted living facilities in the United States who provides the best geriatric nursing care. Most of these institutions have employed professionals like practical nurses and registered nurses. It is an advantage for old people who have no one to take care of them full time. Assisted living centers guarantee that your loved ones will be taken care of.

It may be a very stressful experience to place your parent or loved ones in a home care facility. This will sometimes put you in a dilemma whether or not it is the best decision. However, before choosing the right assisted living facility for you, check on your options:

Choosing the right assisted living center for you.

There are many assisted living facilities in the United States. It is important to consider the facilities that are nearest you. Your loved ones will appreciate it more if you can still find the time to visit them. It is best that you choose a facility that will be accessible to you.

Another important matter to consider is the facility of the institution. Knowing that the center has facilities to provide the care that your loved ones need will certainly give you the assurance that they are in good hands.

Above all, and the most important matter to consider are the people who work in the nursing home facility. You will feel more at ease and worry-free when you know that the people who you trusted your loved one to, gives them the best care that they need. Choose an assisted living center that gives a certain atmosphere that is comfortable, friendly, and caring. Look at the staff of these centers and try to evaluate if you can confidently entrust your loved one to them.

Fundamentals of Nursing: Depression, Loss and Grieving

Overview

As nursing students, you need to learn and finish the subject Fundamentals of Nursing. As part of the course, it will tackle Depression, Loss and Grieving. These subjects are very critical towards understanding patients, what they are going through when they are facing depression. Below is an overview of these subject:

Depression is one of the leading cause of death in the United States. There are a lot of depressed people all over the world. Most of them are teenagers who are victims of bullies, sexual harassment and family issues.

If you are depressed, you will experience severe sadness, disorientation and confusion. You will detach yourself in reality. You will also feel that no one understands what you are going through. In this article, we are going to discuss things about depression, loss and grieving.

In psychology, there are 5 stages of depression. There is a mnemonic called ‘DABDA’, meaning Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Anger.

First stage – Denial 

It is the stage wherein we cannot accept that fact that there is an underlying problem. It is the brain’s normal and temporary response that we detach ourselves to reality.

Second stage – Anger

Acknowledging the problem exist in this period. Meaning, we already know that there is a problem. And as a response, we show anger and we tend to blame others.

Third stage – Bargaining

This is the hardest part. We make a deal from the highest power and God. This is the stage wherein we want to delay the inevitable.

Fourth stage – Depression

In this stage, we already know that we are sad and depressed. This is the time where you can openly share your thoughts and problems to others.

Fifth stage – Acceptance

This phase is manifested by removal of grief and calmness. We have to remember that this is not a sign of happiness. It is just a sign of acceptance of the problem.

Treatment

Group therapy is the best solution to depression. We can overcome sadness easily because we recognize the fact that we are not alone.

Activities in Nursing Homes

Supplying nursing home residents with stimulating and engaging activities is an integral part of enhancing their quality of life. Managing directors, nurses, and therapists need suggestions for various kinds of activities which will satisfy the various needs of those within their care. Activities aren’t all bingo and watching television. Actually, activity programs can be very creative which stimulates the resident’s mind. And also the health and well-being advantages of a great program are becoming a lot more important.

The greatest challenge for just about any activity coordinator is matching the best activity to every resident’s physical and cognitive abilities. Leisure practitioners should also work carefully using their nursing staff to select an activity that will be most advantageous for the needs of every individual resident. Activities can be achieved individually or perhaps in groups if your particular activity is appropriate for the residents.

The following activities can be included in the existing activities in a nursing home facility. 

Exercises: This may include gentle calisthenics which are modified towards the residents’ physical abilities. Bouncing, throwing and kicking beach balls offer physical activity and mental stimulation. For instance, wheel chair-bound residents may still manage to use their arms to simulate actions like moving a bowling ball or swinging a baseball softball bat.

Gardening: This activity is seeing revival in recognition. Some residents might enjoy growing herbal plants inside a window garden or planting flowers in containers. Given that many residents cannot do it on their own, so staff must be able to assist them.

Games and Handcrafts

Simple games that are suitable to their physical ability and age can have a positive effect on the residents’ health. Indoor games specifically board games are healthy past times and great mental stimulants. Handcrafting can also be included in the set of activities to be offered to the residents.

Psychology in Medical Education

Psychologists have to acquire a much better knowledge of the fundamental biological sciences if they wish to engage in a much bigger position in educating medical students, and take part in study and treatment inside the health care process.

Health-related schools are switching from being organized on biologically based departments to multidisciplinary organizations, and that study funded by the National Institutes of Health is requiring a much more interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary strategy. These changes generate a chance for psychology to play a better role in medical instruction and health investigation.

The inability for making psychology highly relevant to the biological fundamentals of medicine can lead to psychology getting minimally highly relevant to medical education and practice. For instance, a psychologist who would like to work in an interdisciplinary treatment plan targeting cancer must provide expertise about a few of the behavioral aspects in the start of cancer – but should know something about oncology and defense mechanisms function, as well.

Definitely, in order to comprehend and educate about these topics, it is essential that we have a number of this fundamental knowledge. There’s a necessity for clinical health psychologists to understand more about anatomy, physiology and pharmacology. For college students studying to become pharmacists for example, psychology offers quite a bit to educate about patient decision-making, social support and problem management and self-care. For example, research has discovered that asking a patient, “Any questions?” when they pick up a prescription decreases the likelihood that a patient will in fact ask a question. By contrast, asking, “What questions do you have?” results in more connection between patient and pharmacist.

Psychologists may also provide important communication instruction on how to build a connection with patients – whether it’s working with children who won’t sit still in the chair or adults who become stressed when dealing with a dental appointment.

A lot more has to be completed to help make education and training possibilities readily available for psychologists within educational health centers.

Humanities and Medicine

Medical humanities is an interdisciplinary field of medicine consisting of the humanities, social sciences and the arts. When we say humanities, it involves different studies like the literature, religion, ethics, philosophy, and history. Social sciences, on the other hand, involve cultural studies, psychology, anthropology, sociology, health, and geography. While the arts include theater, literature, film as well as visual arts. These subjects are used to determine the application and relation of specific factors in health and medicine.

Medical humanities is also understood to be an interdisciplinary, and increasingly international undertaking that pulls on the innovative and intellectual skills of diverse disciplines, including literature, art, creative writing, drama, film, music, philosophy, ethical making decisions, anthropology, and history, in pursuit of medical educational goals. This approach to medicine is a wider and generalized view on how individuals are affected by many elements surrounding us.

The health care system recognizes the value of the humanities in preparing health care professionals to tackle the learning and practice of medicine. The interdisciplinary humanities educate students to check out the historical, linguistic, cultural and aesthetic contexts in which we live. It also allows students to discover and attend more fully to the lasting question of what it is to be human and think deeply and critically and react successfully to the complex situations by which we find ourselves.

The intellectual practices of the humanities, along with the expertise in creating a capstone research and studies that deals with the intersection of the humanities and medicine, have the potential to affect students in many ways that will increase their future performance as physicians managing and reaching patients drawn from across different life circumstances and contexts.

Types of Medical Therapy

Therapy usually involves a kind of treatment that is repetitive or recurring on a regular basis to heal an affected person of a physical or mental illness. Therapy is a remedy for condition or disorders, as by some restorative, rehabilitating, or medicinal process.

Generally, an individual who offers any kind of therapy is referred to as a therapist. There are lots of forms of therapy and there are various sorts of therapists.

Physical Therapy 

Physical therapy, as its title suggests, offers relief or remedy for a patient’s physical health problem. The affected person might be dealing with a surgery, or might have been in an accident or injury. Also, physical rehabilitation can be used on patients with degenerative illnesses or other issues that deteriorate their physical condition.

Respiratory Therapy

Respiratory therapy is among the therapy careers that doesn’t need a graduate education. Nonetheless, job opportunities are better for respiratory therapists who definitely have at least a bachelor’s degree, although some respiratory therapists only have an associate’s degree. The majority of respiratory therapists work in hospitals. The majority of their patients are having trouble breathing. Respiratory therapists make use of equipment, machines, or physiotherapy to aid and relieve patients’ breathing difficulties.

Psychotherapy and Behavioral Therapy

Psychotherapy is a form of therapy usually utilized by mental health professionals like psychologists or psychiatrists. This is used to help treat a variety of mental conditions such as depression or anxiety.

Music Therapy

Music therapy is the clinical and evidence-based utilization of music treatments to perform customized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who may have finished an authorized music therapy program. Music Therapy is a recognized health profession in which music is utilized within a therapeutic relationship to deal with physical, psychological, intellectual, and social needs of a person.

Massage Therapy

Massage therapy involves the usage of touch, and massage, to deal with stress, muscle pains, and other conditions.  Massage therapy doesn’t require a high-level degree, and this profession is exclusive in that many massage therapists are self-employed and contract their work out by appointment, which requires good business skills.

National League for Nursing: Striving for Excellence

The National League for Nursing was founded with a vision to promote excellence in the nursing education. They encourage nurses to be educators of the new generation of nurses. NLN identifies itself to be a leader in the Nursing Education which strives to build a strong and diverse nursing workforce of the nation and the global community.

With this goal at hand, it is understood that the National League for Nursing wants to give those nurses in education several opportunities for advancement in their profession. By doing so, NLN  continuously designs and creates initiatives that will develop and promote the nursing faculty. This gives nursing professionals the motivation to work as a mentor to the new breed of nurses.

The role of the nurses in the health institutions does not revolve around the patients alone. They also have responsibilities that encompass the facilitation of  learning of the nursing students. Every profession in every generation needs a mentor. And to become an effective and inspiring mentor, a certain organization is needed to make opportunities for development. The NLN has seen this and has responded to the need of the nursing educators. Hence,  they have established objectives for the betterment of the nursing faculty and the nursing education institution.

When nursing educators affiliate with NLN, numerous opportunities await them. Other than faculty development programs, NLN has become the voice of nurse educators and support them in  their interests  in politics, academic and professional practice. NLN also initiates to promote evidence-based teaching practices which opens privileges for further study and research. Presently, the National League for Nursing has outlined numerous professional opportunities for nurse educators like educational research grant, write or review items for NLN tests, immersion programs, courses and workshops and many more. Check on their website to learn more about the National League for Nursing.

Clinical and Non-clinical Profession

The main difference between clinical and non-clinical jobs is pretty simple. Simply because you work in a clinic or healthcare facility doesn’t suggest that your function is “clinical”. If you take care of patients or supply direct patient care of any type, in which particular case your job is considered as “clinical.” Types of clinical functions in healthcare are:

  • Physician (ER doctors, hospitalists, surgeons)
  • Nurse (CRNA, LPN/LVN, RN, CNS)
  • Pharmacists
  • Medical Lab Technologist
  • Therapist (Physical Therapist, Radiation Therapist)
  • Techs (Ultrasound Tech, Radiology Tech, Surgical Tech)
  • Medical Assistants
  • Dietician

Non-clinical roles are the ones that do not offer any sort of medical attention, or testing. It consist of medical billing and coders, receptionists, hospital executives, transcriptionists, and anyone who works as a support staff at a hospital such as Human Resources, IT, administrative assistants, etc. Some non-clinical workers do interact with patients, but don’t essentially offer medical care. There are plenty of additional non-clinical roles in the health care industry like pharmaceutical reps, medical gadget sales, medical recruiters, biomedical engineers, biostatisticians, case workers and patient advocates. Other examples of non-clinical hospital jobs:

  • Case manager / Social Worker
  • Human Resources & Recruiting
  • Accountants
  • Executives
  • Administrative Assistants
  • Information Technology

If you appreciate dealing with people and do patient care, working in a hospital may very well be appealing to you. A typical hospital has countless workers, along with patients coming in and out on a daily basis, it brings new challenges. Also, because healthcare is really a growing industry, hospital jobs are comparatively secure when compared with corporations which may be more unstable occasionally.