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.

CLEPYou 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.

Comfort and Support in Hospice Care

While most hospice services are designed to care for sufferers in their own homes, associates may provide care in assisted living or skilled nursing features if appropriate. Some hospice solutions also have their own features or are associated with hospice programs, such as Scripps. Scripps’ hospice care ensures that Scripps patients have continuity of care. The hospice group continues to help coordinate proper care with primary physicians as well as specialists as may be required.

Hospice benefits not only sufferers, but their close relatives and friends as well. Team members provide support for those facing the loss of a loved one. In addition to offering bereavement services after a patient passes, hospice can be there to help loved ones with the grieving process.

4.1.1Most insurance companies, such as Medicare, will cover hospice for qualified sufferers. Although many sufferers are older, hospice care is available to sufferers of any age, including children who have a terminal diagnosis with limited life span. Generally, a physician must agree that a patient’s life span is less than six months in order for hospice care to be covered; however, because it is nearly impossible to predict exactly how long a patient will live, some sufferers may receive hospice services beyond six months.

Like hospice care, modern care also concentrates on offering support and comfort to very ill sufferers, concentrates on the whole person and evaluates the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs. Unlike hospice services, however, modern care is offered to sufferers who are still being treated for their illnesses and are not necessarily near the end of life; in fact, many make a full recovery. Palliative care is provided in parallel with curative treatments and can be a tremendous resource. A patent with cancer, for example, may receive modern care to help with the side effects of chemotherapy treatment or can evaluate and treat pain.

Humanities and Education

“What’s the objective of learning the humanities: literary works, ‘languages’, philosophy, history and the arts?” You see, hordes of directors orchestrating the financing and therefore developing the framework of college have insisted that it’s essential to develop our universities around the study of “useful” topics, mainly math, chemistry and the managing of international currency, to the near exemption of the humanities. I do not think it’s such a hot idea.

humanitiesAdministrators who market education as a ticket to success instead of interpreting it as process to learning are, basically, suggesting for the training of employees rather than for the training and learning of people. Of course we want our children to discover useful and successful work when they graduate from college, if indeed they are lucky enough to have been able to be present at one. But, we also need to remember that a real education is not simply the acquisition of a set of skills. Each of us, regardless of birth or class, should get to be part of the bigger discussion that life provides. Ever pay attention to what the people who really run things discuss? CEOs, CFOs, political figures from all parties, designers of both ball gowns and software, lyricists, technicians, physicians, art gallery curators and manufacturers of non-reality-based TV programming? They do not talk about work: They find mutual understanding in life. They talk about books, movies, art, music and poems. Maybe they talk about the roller derby; it depends on the audience. You will find physicians studying Alice Munro and technicians grieving the loss of Lou Reed while comparing him to Leonard Cohen.

And there is another reason to study poetry: As one sincere buddy announced, the study of literary works can be validated by the fact that nobody ever thrilled a lady by reciting a formula. Public universities and colleges are in particular risk of contorting and, at their most severe moments, crippling their student body if they define themselves as merely a way for learners to get better jobs. In such a caged perspective, universities are in risk of becoming service institutions: We will train the Workers of the World, sure, only we will not give them anything in the humanities to merge them, motivate them, sensitize them or enlighten them.

Why High Schools Should Focus on Credit by Exam

credit_by_examWhat is “credit by exam,” such as CLEP, DSST, and AP? It represents a test one can take and earn college credits at participating universities. Some examinations can be taken at any age, while others have some age limitations. Here’s why credit by exam should be the focus on a high school?

Reduce College debt – This is the #1 reason we are concentrating on getting college credit without taking college classes! If we can pay $100 per examination, each being worth either three or six credits, it significantly reduces down the cost of a university education.

Pose a challenge – Since an honor student generally has done quite well in school, she is used to placing in 50% effort. This is a risky habit to pick up and giving her the task of passing a college level examination helps her step up her game.

Reduce the period of time in college – The earlier he or she can get started in “real life,” the more experience he or she can have as he or she gets to her primary adulthood. As a 30 year old, he or she could have ten years experience in a given field rather than six or eight. Decreasing the period of time in college also decreases some of the contact with the insane college lifestyle, in which many teenagers leave their principles for what seems fun and interesting in the moment.

Take a course once – There are many programs that a student would rather not do, such as Literature. Some students dislike literature with a passion and it’s definitely the topic in which they nag the most about things getting done. Now, does the student want to do literature once in high school, or have to do it again in college? If the student passes the examination, then he or she will not have to finish that same course in college. It’s a win-win situation!

College Level Examination Program News

Though learners are given the opportunity to earn credit before college, some credits might not be transferable to Northwest. The College Level Examination Program provides many different choices for learners to get credit without getting a formal course. Students at Northwest are permitted to take these assessments for certain subjects detailed in the yearly catalog. There are several programs provided that learners can test out of, a few examples being American Government, financial accounting, college algebra and western civilization.

“In the catalog, there are certain scores we need,” said Tamera Grow, associate director of admissions. “These (in the catalog) are the ones that have been analyzed in the past by our teachers. It reveals the ranking that is required to get the credit for the classes that are here.” There are no specifications learners need to fulfill to take this test. Freshmen through seniors are able to test out of programs using College Level Examination Program. However, though many learners think this program is a simple and fast way to generate credit, some programs detailed in the catalog as having the test-out choice are not approved at all at Northwest.

“If a college student had another (subject), we could have it analyzed,” Grow said. “I think this is a traditional record of what has been done in the past. I have not gone through all College Level Examination Program choices in the last few years to say ‘OK, this is the one that we should do.’ I have just kind of left it up, but if we got a demand, I could look at it.” Each test costs learners $100, said Beth Mason, assessment office administrator. Of that, $80 goes to the CLEP examining company and the other $20 invested on the 90 minute test is kept by Northwest. Students may not have obtained credit for certain subjects at Northwest for a few reasons: They could have not scored well enough for the Northwest specifications, or the individual departments at Northwest may not think the credit is worthy of passing.

NLNAC Accreditation, A Sign of a Good Nursing School

There are so many nursing educational institutions, so many degrees and so many stages to train and learn. In addition to educational costs, how can you tell which ones are quality nursing schools? Here are tell-tale signs to look for. The best way to discover the following details is to first look at the college’s web page. Some can be hard to get around. Use an online search engine if you cannot find a particular product. If you still cannot find it, contact them and ask for the admissions person. Use this record to “interview” your university. They should be beneficial and offer the details easily. If they are unhelpful or reluctant, that can be an idea to the overall culture of the school.

1. NCLEX Passing Rate – Every student health professional has to take a national examination known as the NCLEX to lastly get certified as a health professional. Examine the college’s rate of learners who pass the NCLEX. Every school should have it either released or revealed easily if you contact them. If they are reluctant to tell you, that is a red flag.

2. Accreditation – Accreditation is a nationwide “stamp of approval” for a college. A graduate from an approved university is able to transfer or continue their education in other educational institutions. It can also be an indication of the great quality of training and learning you will get. The two programs that accredit educational institutions are the NLNAC (National League of Nursing Accrediting Commission) and the CCNE (Commission on College Nursing Education). The CCNE is only for bachelor’s and master’s degree levels, while the NLNAC may accredit at any stage. Look at the college’s web page or ask them straight to make sure they are accredited by one of these companies.

3. Class Size and Retention Rate – Is it a big university or a small school? What is the common class size? And most of all, how many learners make it all the way through in one try? This is probably one of those things you will have to call and ask about. A higher failing rate can mean a few things. Nursing programs are usually challenging. That isn’t a bad thing, since you will be better ready for the NCLEX. However, be careful if they have too great of a failing rate. They might not be beneficial enough to their learners.