Author: Erik

Population Increase in Hospice Care

Many individuals are still passing away in hospitals, despite the fact that there has been a loss of the variety of sufferers who spend their final days in a setting that most would rather avoid, a new government review reveals. While the variety of individuals admitted to U.S. medical facilities improved 11 % between 2000 and 2010, going from 31.7 million to 35.1 million, the variety of individuals who passed away in medical facilities decreased 8 %, from 776,000 to 715,000, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The fall in medical center fatalities happened mostly among females, the researchers found.

“That could just be that there were older women who were able to be placed in alternative configurations, because women live longer. That is just a speculation,” said review writer Margaret Jean Hall, from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Overall, the in-hospital loss of life amount is 20 % lower for individuals who die from their clinically diagnosed disease, Hall said. For some circumstances, however, the decline is even greater. For example, the in-hospital loss of life amount is down 65 % for kidney disease, 46 % for cancer and 27 % for stroke, Hall mentioned.

Many sufferers could be going to hospice care or to long-term care features, Hall recommended. “But these solutions are less extreme and maybe nearer to a setting that would be much better than the high-tech medical center,” she described. The one area where the in-hospital loss of life rate has improved engaged cases of life-threatening blood infections, moving 17 percent from 2000 to 2010. Whether these infections developed in the medical center is not known because the review only offers with the circumstances sufferers were clinically identified as having when they were admitted to the medical center, Hall said.

Avoiding Common Distance Education Mistakes

An on the internet course may look like a doddle at first glance: you can work at your own speed, only study what you need to, and hand in projects when you prefer (although, still within deadlines). However, it can be difficult, especially if you have never used distance education before. If you are too informal with your effective time control and planning, it’s simple to lag behind and possibly not even complete your program. Here are three typical errors individuals make, and some guidelines to help you keep on track.

1) Bad choices – When it comes to on the internet, sometimes the most affordable and simplest course suppliers are not actually the best. They can even be a significant pitfall! Look out for so-called ‘diploma mills’ that provide “hassle-free” degrees that are not worth the document they are printed on. Before searching for any distance education program, do a little research and ensure that the organization is above board and reliable.

2) Procrastination – This is probably the single greatest problem with distance education. If you are a procrastinator by nature, you need to nip it in the bud, fast! Otherwise you will never graduate, as distance education requires good effective time control and a lot of self-discipline. You must set clear objectives, and adhere to them. It allows setting your own work deadlines too. It’s, therefore, better to work according to small, more controllable work deadlines, such as per month, every week, or even everyday objectives. That way you can accomplish your objectives on a stable and constant basis.

3) Not using additional resources – Many distance education programs provide free access on various web sources and research components. It’s usually not a precondition to look at these materials; so many individuals usually miss them. This is a big error, as these sources are intended to complement your abilities and information. It’s often simple to neglect these components and just do the lowest amount, but if you do this, you are only harming yourself. In order to get the most out of your course, you need to make use of this useful, readily available information.

Doing a distance education is practical, as you do not need to be present at actual physical sessions. However, distance education needs to be treated the same way as a conventional academic setting, especially when it comes to effective time control, self-discipline, being practical, and making sure that your preferred course is the right one. By preventing these typical errors, you can remain targeted, complete your major, and accomplish your academic objectives.

Advanced Placement Courses Makeover

To the many in the world of education and learning change, the newest AP Report to the Nation released lately by the College Board is cause for party on two fronts. The first accomplishment has to do with value.  During the program’s early history in the Sixties, Advanced Placement Courses were generally applied by white students.  Even as late as the mid-1990s, 80 percent of AP examinations were taken by whites or Asians.  Today, however, approximately a third of learners on the program are non-Asian learners of color.  And that number is growing every year.

The second accomplishment has to do with learning and training.  By the twenty-first millennium, AP was being assailed by its experts for unable to progress.  While college teachers progressively advised learners through closer examinations of topics with an alignment toward critical thinking and hands-on work, the Advanced Placement Courses continue to highlight survey-style coverage and content recall skills.  This newest report, however, details a course and examination upgrade that brings Advanced Placement Courses back to normal with “current methods while attending college education.”  And according to the College Board, changes in all subject matter will be significant. Both of these improvements are the result of effort, financial dedication (the Department of Education alone has invested one fourth of a billion dollars on its AP Incentive Program), and serious initiatives by everyone concerned to advertise the twin goals of value and quality. The problem, however, is that AP can do very little to actually recognize those goals.

Plan leaders, of course, are conscious of the restricted achievements of their labors, both through the Advanced Placement Courses and through other technically-oriented university enhancement initiatives.  Still, they keep favoring centrally-designed changes that can be applied in a top-down way because they get around the unforeseen and time-consuming work of engaging stakeholders, developing university potential, and creating a politically brave plan.  Consequently, their initiatives, while well-intended, never deal with the actual problems that impact school quality and academic value.  To use a metaphor of Larry Cuban’s, they make storm-tossed wave on the ocean’s surface without distressing the strong current below.

Credit By Exam and Gifted Students

Educational acceleration is one of the cornerstones of exceptional gifted education methods, with more analysis supporting this involvement than any other in the literary works on gifted individuals. Research from the National Association of Gifted Children or NAGC shows that all forms of properly applied acceleration strategies for intellectually blessed and educationally skilled students result in academic benefits and positive results. These research-based best methods include grade skipping, telescopic, early entrance into pre-school or higher education, credit by exam, and acceleration in content areas through such programs as Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate at the secondary school stage.

Credit by Exam is commonly practiced at the college stage.  The College-Level Examination Program or CLEP gives a college student the chance to receive higher education credit for what is already known by earning qualifying ratings on any of 34 exams. Most colleges allow credit score for CLEP exams, but not all. There are 2,900 schools that allow credit for CLEP and each of them sets its own CLEP policy. Each institution decides for which exam credit is awarded, the ratings required and how much credit score will be granted.

For some gifted students, taking an occasional AP or “honors” or “gifted” class may not be enough.   Credit by Exam provides a way for pre-school through fifth grade students to take a test to progress one grade stage. For junior high school and high school kids, Credit by Exam provides advanced students an opportunity to earn credit score in a course that they have not taken in school, yet know the material well enough to “test out” of the class.  By doing so, the student moves to the next stage (and more challenging) course. Not all school regions provide Credit by Exam and even if they do, it usually is not commonly marketed or advertised.  What does your district offer?

EMR and Patient Care

The EMR or electronic medical record’s guarantee of participation to health care price benefits got a second look recently, and the results were inadequate at best.  But what I found interesting was the “second look” was from the same company that did the first look: the corporately-funded, non-profit think-tank called the RAND Corporation.

From their second and more recent report:

A team of RAND Corporation researchers estimated in 2005 that fast adopting of health information technology (IT) could save the United States more than $81 billion dollars yearly. Seven years later, the scientific data on the technology’s impact on health care performance and safety are combined, and yearly health care expenses in the United States have grown by $800 billion dollars.

Who would have thought that such a famous company like the RAND Corporation could have made such a little, tiny multi-billion dollar mistake? After all, their 2005 study was financed entirely by several of the major EMR producers who have gained enormous amounts in income on EMR sales since.  Is there any wonder that now the same RAND Corporation sensed that the EMRs deficiency of price benefits is really the end-users’ fault?

In our view, the frustrating performance of health IT to date can be mostly linked to several factors: gradual adopting of health IT techniques, in addition to the choice of techniques that are neither interoperable nor easy to use; and the failing of medical service providers and organizations to re-engineer patient care procedures to obtain the benefits of health IT.

What a superficial evaluation.  There is no talk of the price of these techniques, their maintenance, deficiency of interoperability, inadequate user-interfaces, and in many cases, deficiency of design support.  Even more interesting, there was no consideration that someone might actually figure out a way to efficiently dress the government’s arcane certification requirements for compensation that would permit more patient care spending.  No, those tests would have been too obvious.  Instead, the Rand Corporation informs us that there were no price benefits with the EMRs because doctor- and hospital-customers did not re-engineer their patient care procedures or “adopt” poor first-generation techniques.

National League for Nursing New Curriculum

Between 5.6 and 8 million, nearly one in five elderly people in America suffer from at least one illness impacting psychological wellness, according to an escalating report released last year by the Institute of Medicine. Among these devastating cognitive/emotional conditions is Alzheimer’s, a study often associated with multiple physical problems and psycho/social co-morbidities that occur during a period of life transition  Today, however, too few medical professionals, nursing staff included, are effectively equipped to handle the unique difficulties of looking after for this weak, insecure population, one bound to grow as Baby Boomers age.

To address this worrying gap in medical knowledge and clinical practice by the medical workforce on the frontline of primary care for elderly people, the National League for Nursing will create specific curricula and sources for the National League for Nursing’s nationally renowned trademark program in geriatrics education: ACES (Advancing Care Excellence for Seniors). With a $125,000 grant from MetLife Foundation to the National League for Nursing foundation for Nursing Education, funds will be used in 2013 to develop three inter-professional training techniques and three unfolding web-based case research for ACES.

Related models, also to be developed as part of the new project, will provide staff with classroom-ready templates for training and guidelines for developing new knowledge into the core program. In addition, the unfolding situation research and relevant models will emphasize complex medical care situations experienced by Alzheimer’s disease sufferers and their families, introducing learners with opportunities to think and act in ‘real time,’ using evidence-based medical evaluation and involvement techniques. “By adding specific program sources for training about proper care for sufferers with Alzheimer’s and their care providers, the National League for Nursing will be an important resource for staff to train learners in recovery, wellness promotion, medical care and public service recommendation for the specific care for elderly people with mental problems, specifically Alzheimer’s,” stated National League for Nursing chief executive Judith A. Halstead, PhD, RN, FAAN, ANEF.

Anatomy & Physiology Classes Online

Nursing education has a lot of challenging pre-requisites and learners are often in a rush to get them done so that they can get started with what they really want to do…become a nurse!  So it’s very attractive to take short-cuts in an attempt to speed things along.  That is not necessarily a bad factor, unless your “shortcut” backfires.  A quick way that does not work will waste your efforts, energy, time and money.

One typical quick way that pre-nursing learners look for is classes on the web.  On the internet classes are excellent because they allow for a versatile routine where you can work at your own speed.  Actually, I’ve often seen nurses ask about getting their Anatomy & Physiology classes online. Here are the significant factors you have to consider before getting an internet based Anatomy & Physiology class.

All Anatomy & Physiology classes should have 2 parts:  Lecture (3 credits), and Lab (1 credit).  In general, if you discover an Anatomy & Physiology class that says to be absolutely online…stay away!!!  The Lab part of an Anatomy & Physiology class should always be finished in person.  Yes, that means that you will have to actually go to a school and get involved in laboratory exercises, but it also means that you will get the complete 4-credits of Anatomy & Physiology that you need to be admitted to a nursing school.  I have never seen a nursing school that allows an Anatomy & Physiology pre-requisite that does not consist of an in-person lab element, so it would be pointless for you to take a class like that.

However, many schools now provide a “hybrid” edition of Anatomy & Physiology.  This allows you to take the Lecture part of the class online, while still visiting school about once weekly to join in the Lab.  This is an awesome bargain that still allows you to have a lot of versatility, while still making sure that you fulfill the nursing school pre-requisite specifications.  Just bear in mind that some schools may still need you to take examinations on school in the computer lab, while other educational institutions might let you take examinations at home on your laptop or pc.

Realities in Assisted Living Centers

Assisted living centers are places where people, who are less than independent but not in need of full time care, are provided with guidance or support in the activities of daily life. It is a proper care option typically employed by the elderly who do not require the 24-hour health care typical of an elderly care facility. It gives seniors help in housing, support services and health care, on a needed basis. The setting is similar to a person’s own home; however, assistance is provided in the form of meals, housekeeping, entertainment and other lifestyle support. The senior gets the security of having assistance when needed and residing in a structured environment, while maintaining an overall stage of independence. Options include staying in a separate apartment or condominium type residing quarters, or if more assistance is required, staying in a dormitory. The stage of interaction with staff varies, depending on the stage of need.

One of the major drawbacks for those seeking assisted living is the cost. The median monthly cost for assisted living is $2,575. While this may be comparable to assisted living centers prices, covering the expenses is much more difficult. Medicare A and B, the traditional sources of funding for a senior’s care, do not offer comprehensive protection for long term, ongoing care in an assisted living center. Medicare A, which pays for hospital coverage for seniors, may provide partial coverage for care in an assisted living center for rehabilitation following hospitalization, but will only last up to 100 days. Coverage will decrease throughout the 100 days. Medicare B, which covers physician care, will not provide any coverage for assisted living expenses separate from treatment by a doctor. Private insurance is the most effective way to pay for assisted living care.

Medicaid, a state and federal program which provides health care for low income individuals, may cover some assisted living expenses. However, the availability of State Medicaid programs coverage will vary by state, and likely will be decreasing coverage rather than expanding in the coming years. In contrast, traditional assisted living centers are covered by Insurance coverage if the senior stays in Insurance covered certified house after a qualified hospital stay (at least three days).

Nursing Home Inspections

In reaction to a Freedom of Information Act demand by ProPublica, the government has launched unredacted write-ups of issues discovered during nursing home examinations around the country. We’re making them available these days for anyone who wants to obtain the complete editions. For several weeks now, ProPublica has made redacted editions of this same information available in an easily retrievable format in our Nursing Home Inspect device. These editions, which are posted on the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services website, Nursing Home Inspect, sometimes empty out patients’ age groups, health circumstances, schedules and recommended medicines.

The organization has said the redactions are designed to balance individual comfort issues with the need to notify customers about the quality of care. ProPublica asked for the unredacted reviews because they are public records and because the included information can make them more useful. For example, prescribed information in the unredacted write-ups can help recognize situations in which sufferers obtained medicines such as antipsychotics that are risky for those with dementia.

Sufferers and workers are not determined in either the redacted or unredacted reviews. Nursing Home Inspect allows patients and their loved ones to recognize nursing homes in their states and recognize those with serious inadequacies and charges in the last three years. The entire national collection of reviews, record more than 267,000 inadequacies in nursing homes nationwide, is retrievable by keyword and key phrase. At this point, Nursing Home Inspect is constantly on the link to only the redacted examination reviews. To search through the unredacted editions, you’ll have to obtain them and use a program like Microsoft Excel or a text manager that enables you to search for keywords and phrases.

National League for Nursing

Members who wish to join in the NLN need to first engage in a course in nursing. NLN generally encourages quality in nursing education. This results in motivated and different nursing employees. Many learners, before starting on a profession in nursing, always wish to understand what is nursing. This is a royal profession that has been around for hundreds of years and generally includes helping physicians for and supporting sufferers so they get well. Once a college student studies this course, whether at degree or diploma level, they will graduate college and then get a well-paying job. Basically, a nurse will receive an eye-catching program upon employment in line with the national nursing wage at the time.

However, the road to getting nursing qualifications starts with enrolling in a nursing course at a university or college. This is what most learners do. There are certain conditions before a college student can be registered to study a nursing course at an accepted school. Courses trained at nursing educational institutions, whether university or college, degree, diploma or master’s stage, have to be accepted by the NLN. This is an important body that works with nursing staff and nursing educational institutions, guaranteeing that the needs of the individuals, learners and nursing staff and their instructors and trainers are taken care of always.

At these organizations of greater learning such as at college, students get to understand what is nursing when they seek various medical qualifications. These qualifications programs include nursing degrees in various areas of nursing. Many graduate nurses have gone on to have a successful career in nursing. The nurses can specialize in a chosen field of practice. There are theater nurses, internal medication nurses, medical nurses, dental nurses and so on. The choice of a career is determined by nurses. When learning for a nursing degree under a nursing program at any school, a student can at all times receive help, assistance, guidance and support from the NLN.