- Part 19

Role of Sociology in Nursing

Nursing is more than just taking blood samples, recording patient data or assisting the physician. Nurses are well-educated and prepared to handle sophisticated tasks and procedures to best assist the patients towards recovery. Additionally, learning the medical terms as well as the procedures is not their only job. Nurses, to be more effective, must be able to learn the proper way of approaching their patients. They must also be able to understand how people think, feel and react. This may seem like a job for a psychologist, but it is very important to be able to provide quality and effective health care services.

As a nurse, you will be able to experience different types of patients with different health issues and from different social backgrounds. Patients react differently on a particular condition or medication which will have a direct impact on their recovery. Through the knowledge of sociology, nurses will be able to look past what is obvious. It will give them another perspective of the situation which will give an idea on what approach or medication to take.

Incorporating sociology in nursing helps develop skills that will make nurses provide nursing care to patients in a more effective way by considering many other factors and forces that directly affect recovery and care. Determining the factors that may hinder recovery or promote it may help avoid malpractice and fast track recovery.

The fast recoveries of the patients don’t just depend on the quality of the medicines the patient took or the use of the advanced medical facilities, it also depends on how well the nurses determine the true needs of the patient.

LPN to RN Bridge Course

License Practical Nurses experience certain challenges in their career. As much as they would want to do more for a patient, their skills are limited. LPN’s are trained and educated to be bedside nurses in the hospitals. They assist the registered nurses and physicians on taking care of the patient. LPNs are mostly limited to basic patient care, administering medications, wound care and some basic nursing assessment with the intervention of RNs and physicians.

Today, the work of an LPN involves more than bedside care and paper work. While the role of LPNs gives them limitation in performing patient care, there are opportunities for LPN to advance in their field.

LPN RN bridge is a course designed to assist Licensed Practical Nurses in the transition of their role into Registered Nurses. LPNs who get into this course will get the opportunity to further their skills and knowledge. This serves as a stepladder for them to be trained and learn more. They can advance in their field with more understanding of the human body. LPN RN bridge programs vary from one school to another. They will be trained to conduct patient assessment and care planning. as well as advance pharmacology, pathology and physiology.

LPN to RN bridge programs are structured on LPNs’ knowledge which they have gained from their experience. They will be offered credit for LPN education or working experience. LPNs take test on certain subjects. If they obtained a high score in that particular subject, they will be given credit even without them taking the class. As stated earlier, LPN to RN bridge courses vary from one school to another. There are also online schools that offer LPN to RN programs. This provides a flexible option for LPNs. Be sure to look at the educational requirements or if there are any prerequisites for the program.

Highest Paying Nurses

In accordance with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), over 2.5 million nurses are exercising across the country, making nursing the biggest labor force within the health care industry. There are plenty of different types and degrees of nurses; it may be mind-boggling to determine which nursing field to select.

If settlement and tons of employment opportunities are at the very top of your list of selecting factors, this list will let you slim the selections for you. Listed here are the top three nursing fields, according to yearly salary, and industry demand. Since they’re the highest paid, these nursing functions also require the most education and learning and training when compared with some other kinds of nurses. This list includes clinically practicing nurses, and doesn’t include of roles which mainly consist of management or managing obligations.

All listed here are advanced practice nurses, which mean they are highly customized and qualified at a graduate level.

Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA)

Having an average yearly salary of $100,000 or even more, CRNAs have one of the largest salaries on the list of nursing field. In case you are already a licensed registered nurse (RN), you might be allowed to enter a graduate education program to turn into a CRNA.

Nurse Practitioner (NP)

Nurse practitioner, known as “mid-level provider,” offers immediate patient care. Several states require NPs to operate within the supervision of a licensed physician, while other states allow NPs to practice relatively independently. NPs are certified and authorized to do patient exams plus some minor procedures and tests and may fulfill many of the same responsibilities as a physician.

Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS)

A clinical nurse specialist is a superior practice nurse who also aids with customized study, education, advocacy, and quite often management. Clinical Nurse Specialists also hold a Master’s of Science degree in Nursing (MSN) and they’ve finished the extra CNS certification for their particular specialization.

Nursing and Sociology

Sociology assists a nurse in understanding more the patients, how they think and react to certain medications, the same way psychology really does. The only real distinction is the fact that sociology does it from a “group” or “community” viewpoint. These are generally essential simply because apart from medical understanding, a nurse genuinely has to be kind, considerate and compassionate. The details learned by even a basic study in those fields might play a role toward being a kinder, milder, nurse. Furthermore, there are several ethical questions in medicine which may be partly covered using the research of sociology.

Nowadays, nursing goes past concentrating on disease and pathology to include a significantly wider concept of both ill health and personage. Nurses are significantly linked to producing sense and giving objective to life, disease and death.

Sociology is involved in study regarding human societies. Sociologists have concerns with comprehending society in a disciplined way. Sociology deals with difficulties which are generally subjects of major dispute in society, like the relationship between cultural class and illness, the changing function of religion, the rising of separation and divorce rate and the altering dynamics of work.

Sociological inquiry can light up that assistance and help understand the relationship between private difficulties like illness, premature death, and cancer of the lung and public concerns such as tobacco advertising.

Sociology may be of value to nurses in order to question the values and beliefs of their expert and the organizational framework in which they work. We have to comprehend the social forces which usually shape and restrict our lives to be able to modify them.

Being familiar with many people is very important. Think about this – a nurse has to inquire about if a customer is using illegal drugs. Without knowing this detail may cause the doctor to prescribe incorrectly. But how are you able to ask to get an honest answer? Knowing how people think can lead to learning how to phrase the question. Also being familiar with cultural differences is highly essential for too many good reasons to go into here. Nurses work with people, and they need to comprehend them. The participant who said – no significance is clearly ignorant.

The Effectiveness of E-Learning in Organizations

Research has proven that students showed positive academic outcomes when learning are integrated with technology. For instance, students who took all or part of their learning process online performed better compared to those who took the same course in an actual student-teacher face-to-face environment.

Because of this, many organizations today, including the RN community, have increasingly adopted learning methods and tools to train and develop, not only students, but also employees. This article will tackle about the usefulness of distance learning systems in the work environment. Before anything else, let us familiarize ourselves with this new found process.

What is Distance Learning?

Many organizations use distance learning as a training technique to meet the difficulties faced in the fast-tracked work environment. The use of videos, audio recordings, computer, and internet in training and disseminating information for effective workforce is one example of using this method. Management development, job skills, improving customer service, and new products are some of the topics being taught.

Due to the fact that learning distance is broadly diffused in the educational and organizational setting, its definition is undetermined. Despite of this, one commonality of distance learning is that training takes place synchronously. This means that the material is covered to multiple participants all at the same time even though they are distance apart. Another common attribute is the utilization of electronic mediums such as video, audio, multimedia technology, and computer.

The most fitting term that can also be used for distance learning is “E-learning.” Though few authors separate the two, e-learning is quite synonymous to distance learning due to the use of electronic-based materials. The only difference is that e-learning can take place on-site, while distance learning does not. In this article, we will use e-learning as another name for distance learning.

What are the Benefits of E-learning?

E-learning is advantageous in the organizational background and we’ll name some of the benefits it can bring:

Fast way to train employees from across the country.
An opportunity to utilize the best instructors and provide information that is up to date.
Training of more people in a short learning session that is easier to schedule and coordinate.
Higher rates of course completion and retention.
Convenient to employees due to delivery at work or home sites.
Easy accessibility on learning resources and experts.

Distance Learning Systems History

Distance education has been utilized even before the telephone, television or the computer was invented. It has existed already since the 19^th century. The founders of distance education utilized the most effective technological innovation available on their day.

Distance education was created to create possibilities to individuals who desired to study, but were unable enroll in standard schools. Individuals who took advantage of such distance learning education included individuals with physical handicaps, ladies who were not permitted to register for educational facilities open only to men, individuals who had jobs during regular school hours and people who resided in distant regions where educational institutions did not exist.

Isaac Pitman, an Englishman, is considered as the early founder. He started educating shorthand by distance learning in Bath, England in 1840. Learners were required to copy short passages of the Bible and send them back for rating using the new penny post system.

American higher education level distance education started in 1874 at Illinois Wesleyan University where bachelors and graduate degrees could possibly be acquired in absentia.

The teaching of educational and vocational classes by distance learning became very popular by 1900. However, issues on good quality and ethical exercise arise, giving bad reputation to some of the schools offering distance learning. The National Home Study Council (NHSC) was established in 1926 partly to deal with these problems. Certification of college and university distance courses fell to the National University Extension Association in 1915.

The creation of educational radio in the 1920s and the introduction of television in the 1940s open a new means of distance education. Teachers made use of these technologies to transmit educational courses to countless students, thus stretching learning chances past the walls of standard teaching institutions. The introduction of efficient long-distance phone systems in the early 1900s also improved the capability of distance educators to get to new student populations. However, telephone systems never performed a notable part in education until the release of new teleconferencing systems in the 1980s and 1990s. Teleconferencing systems made it feasible for instructors to speak with, listen to, and see their students live – that is, without any setbacks in the transmissions – even if they were situated across the nation or around the globe.

Distance education more and more uses mixture of various communication systems to improve the relevant skills of teachers and students to talk with each other. With the spread of computer-network communications in the 1980s and 1990s, many more people acquired usage of computers associated with telephone lines, permitting instructors and students to communicate in meetings via computers.

Improving Nursing Education

Health care today is continually facing different challenges as the need for improvement in technology, effective approach and quality health care professional increases. As the American population increases and the number of senior citizen swells, the presence of nurses in hospitals and other health care facilities is in demand.

There is a shift in the country’s health care needs which is now more related to chronic conditions like hypertension, arthritis, cardiovascular disease and diabetes as well as mental health conditions. This is due to the increasing aging population and spread of obesity in the country. Though it is known that chronic diseases are predominant today, our health care system is designed in favor of acute illnesses and injuries.

This shows that there is a need to make a change in nursing education. Nurses in the 20^th century are educated in a different approach and the teachings and lessons are more into caring acute illnesses as well as injuries. Though it is still vital, it won’t be enough in the current health situation of the country. The patient health needs are more complex today than it was before; therefore nurses must acquire a more advanced and focused education.

Nurses today must acquire leadership qualities, evidence-based practice, research experience, improved teamwork and collaboration abilities as well as competency in particular areas like geriatrics and community and public health. Due to the development of health care technologies, nurses are expected to master technological tools and apparatuses as well as be prepared for expanding roles. That is why nurses are required to get higher levels of education. They must be educated in new ways and approaches that best suit the health care situation today. New and emerging competencies in quality improvement, decision making and team leadership must be included in nursing education.

Improving Healthcare Services

From healthcare discoveries to the most recent treatment options, America’s healthcare educational institutions and teaching hospitals, as well as their doctors and experts, possess a legacy of developing treatments and establishing the standard for the best patient health care. By way of a multi-year initiative to enhance the standard and security of health care, it is vital to work together to generate guidelines for better quality health care.

Through guidelines for much better Healthcare, it is necessary to integrate verified methods to guarantee more secure surgeries, decrease infections, and reduce hospital re-admissions. We must built an even tougher tradition of quality and protection in medicine by passing these guidelines to each new doctor educated and make sure high quality and safety is part of medical training from day one. Through good research and evaluation, best practices will be improved, learn new ones, and discuss our knowledge with others to enhance health care.

It is, of course, the responsibility of a hospital to secure their patients by giving quality standards, updating procedures, regular maintenance and developing technology. The health care education facilities must be able to educate the next era of doctors with quality and patient security. Through continued research and study, patients must be more secure with safer surgeries. Hospitals must as well develop or enhance a program that will reduce the hospital re-admissions especially for high-risk patients. This will reduce the hospital cost and the stress of staying long in hospital wards away from home.

Lastly, there must be a continued investigation, research and examination of new and efficient health care practices as well as the use of efficient technologies to establish a better future of the health care industry.

Healthcare Waste Management

Hospitals can efficiently protect public health by lessening the quantity and toxicity of the wastes they generate, and also by employing a variety of ecologically sound waste management and disposal alternatives. As part of a healthcare program, they must not only focus on treating the patients inside the hospital, but protecting citizens as well outside from harmful waste materials.

All over the world, health care waste management is underfunded and inadequately executed. The merging of contagious and other dangerous properties of medical waste symbolize a significant environmental and public overall health threat. It is indeed frightening to think that chemicals and other toxic substances may reach our neighborhood. A current literature review came to the conclusion that over half the world’s population is in danger from illness caused by healthcare waste. It was also found that plenty of inadequate waste treatment methods cause violation of fundamental human rights.

There is certainly no international convention that directly addresses medical waste management, so classification systems vary from country to country. Nevertheless, waste is frequently categorized based on the risk it carries. The vast majority of medical waste (around 75-85%) is comparable to normal municipal waste and also considered as low risk, unless burnt. The rest consists of more harmful forms of medical wastes, which include infectious and sharp waste, chemical and radioactive waste and hospital waste water.

Burning medical waste products creates numerous hazardous fumes and compounds, such as hydrochloric acid, dioxins and furans, as well as the toxic metal lead, cadmium, and mercury. The disposal of biodegradable waste produces greenhouse gas pollutants, including methane, which can be twenty-one times stronger than carbon dioxide. The government, as well as international organizations, must have a strong stand in managing hospital waste materials. This is to improve the quality of healthcare and avoiding possible spread of diseases in the community.

Quality Distance Learning Systems

Distance Learning Systems today has been an important means of gaining knowledge and acquiring a degree without attending a traditional classroom and paying higher tuition, transportation, boarding etc. However, not all schools offering this program are offering a relevant and effective curriculum.

A good Distance Learning Program must be, of course, relevant and updated. The content must be significant to the course and must be suited to the online environment. Every module must be in connection to the course objectives. Students must not be perplexed whether the content is in connection with the course they enrolled in or not. A great distance learning course leaves no ambiguity within the students mind concerning how content is applicable to the objectives. The course must be planned properly and must be using a great approach since online learning is different from traditional classroom set up.

Teachers must be able to engage students on the more personal level. As distance learning gets to be more ubiquitous, teachers and college managers shouldn’t forget how they can personally and properly engage students. The approach is different in making students involved with the topics and discussions. The instructors must be updated with the latest tools and software to best meet the interests of the students.

The instructors of a quality distance learning system must have proper training in managing an online classroom. They must be aware that students have difficulties in focusing on the course since they are away and distractions are everywhere in the internet. The management must be able to supply enough support to the instructors; supplying enough tools, references, trainings and sufficient budget to fully develop and continually improve the program.