A Collaborative Model of Nursing Education

Getting Ready For Your Nursing Education

Preparing for your nursing education is not a walk in the park. There will be plenty of times when you have to do a ton of things in a short span of time. Nursing is not like any other course that takes minimal preparation. What you are actually preparing for is a career right from the get-go.

There is a list of things to do that will go a long way as far as preparation goes. So jot them down and start tinkering on that list in preparation for your nursing education.

Get Organized
This is a to-do in your list that demands constant attention. Nurses are organized people. Learn to organize, set priorities and make a monitor out of it, so you may know your progress as an aspiring nurse.

Get a Group
Don’t isolate yourself. Nurses don’t work that way. They even create bonds with their patients. They talk and spend time with them. It takes a gathering or a committee of medical practitioners to perform an operation, not just a single nurse. Grow with your fellow nursing aspirants.

Go Get It
Keep things in perspective. Never lose sight of your ultimate goal which is to graduate and be a successful nurse. Stay motivated, even if you are discouraged at times, because you will learn from it. Don’t also be afraid to ask questions from your teachers or superiors when you have any.

Get Some Sleep
This may well be a trivial matter, but because nurses work with different time schedules, it is best that they grab some rest in between their shifts. And what better time to start conditioning yourself with work shifts than in nursing school.

Get Connected
Try to connect with your fellow classmates immediately after enrollment. This will eliminate the pressure of handling your lessons alone. Always remember, you don’t work in isolation; there are doctors and medical specialists you need to get in touch with so that you can survive your nursing education.

Steps to Becoming a Competent Nurse

A nursing education has its own procedure. You can’t just finish a certain course and be eligible for a nursing job. There are steps that you need to do for you to become a legitimate nurse.

First, you need to complete an accredited nursing program. This can be accomplished through nursing diplomas, associate programs for nursing and even a bachelor’s degree. This is your initial step before proceeding to a higher level of nursing education. After which, you need to pass the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCLEX-RN). The purpose of this exam is to assess how much you have learned after taking associate courses in nursing. This exam is crucial since it will pave the way for your nursing license.

And speaking of license, nurses should have proper licenses for them to function as legitimate nurses. It goes without saying that those who don’t have licenses of their own are not allowed even to diagnose a patient, let alone take care of them.

After completing these initial three steps, it is advisable that any nurse should get employment. This is the fleshing-out part of having a nursing degree. Unless you do this employment thing, your calling as a nurse is not so much complete. When you are employed, you have the opportunity to widen your options as well as developing certain skills like decision-making. Get training, if need be. This will further enhance your capability as a nurse and will increase your chances of getting promoted if you so desire to become a preceptor or a medical specialist in the future.

These are the steps to becoming a competent nurse. These may vary depending on the need of the hospital. But with these steps, your chances of becoming nurse are as sure as a waiting patient just outside your door.

Advanced Nursing Education is Empowering Nurses

Today, the role of nurses is rapidly evolving as they are tasked with an even wider range of health care responsibilities. The health care system is dealing with an increasing number of complex illnesses that means caring for the sick has gotten more complicated. Thankfully, nurses are rising to meet these challenges.

Advanced nursing education is empowering nurses to lead the way. With nursing education continuously advancing, nurses are not just caring for the sick anymore; they are also changing the notion of modern medicine and health care delivery.

Charles Tiffin, PhD, Senior Core Faculty at Capella University, said, “Nurses are giving TED talks, publishing scientific research, developing mobile medical applications, and actively addressing health care policy. They’re collaborating with their colleagues, from social workers and oncologists to hospital administrators and public safety personnel. The field is growing, and so are opportunities for nurse practitioners, DNP and PhD nurses, nurse educators, nurse-anesthetists, and nurse researchers.”

In addition, Tiffin said, “New health care technology is also creating opportunities for nurses. More and more aspects of the profession are electronic: Test results, X-rays, blood work, and ordering medication. An array of new technologies [such as] mobile devices, electronic medical records, cloud computing, and teleconferencing, invite nurses to be digitally ambitious.”

Nursing education is not what it used to be, even more, nursing has become more complex in ways that we could not have imagined a generation ago. More than great caregivers, nurses are becoming great innovators too. A new generation of thinkers who want to be agents of care and innovation are in high demand in health care. The nursing profession is for the intellectually curious, lifelong learner.

However, amidst the innovation and advancement of nursing education, the job of a nurse is first and foremost a caregiver and advocate for the most sick and vulnerable members of our communities.

Nursing Fulfillment

There are so many good things about selecting a nursing career. Choosing a course in nursing education may be challenging but rewarding. The nurse assists individuals on a regular basis, and more often than not finds the job to be really satisfying. Nurses have the ability to select their particular specialty, doing work in the field of nursing or medicine that meets their preferences. Nursing offers many options for development into management, in addition to having more employment opportunities, even in troublesome periods. Nurses are compensated well for the work that they execute. Nursing can provide a chance to travel in different states. Giving the leisure to see other places and meet new friends.

Nurses are capable of helping individuals achieve wellness on a regular basis. Many individuals see nursing as a noble profession, permitting the nurse to deliver care to others. The job is often quite fulfilling. Numerous nurses find great fulfillment in aiding patients as they regain their own health.

The profession of nursing permits the nurse to select her own niche. Nurses can choose to function in most of the many nursing fields accessible, and can also decide to become certified in a specialty of preference. Selecting a career in nursing can provide opportunities for leadership, and lots of times, nurses find their way into management in large healthcare corporations.

Even if job prospects are gloomy for the remainder of the industry, the requirement for nurses never diminishes, giving the job strong employment security. Nurses will also be paid well for their work, with many registered nurses generating well over the median salary of the United States for full-time employment.

You can find a great many possibilities to the nurse, and lots of advantages to selecting a career in nursing. Nurses discover great happiness in their profession, and are compensated well. They’ve got unlimited possibilities for improvement, and are able to travel to work in new areas. If you are heading towards nursing education, it’s a noble and decent course to take.

The Nursing Baccalaureate Program

Nursing is one of the most in demand profession in the country today, and is expected to rise more in the coming years. This makes the profession more appealing; the higher the demand, the better chances of employment. The baccalaureate program offers courses that prepare the student to become a professional nurse.

The program is composed of classes and trainings that best prepare the students to handle medical care, treatment and support to patients. The students will learn the basic nursing care, fundamentals, theories, medicines, terms etc. At some point of the curriculum, the nursing student will be exposed in an actual situation. Wherein they will learn how it the real scenario looks like; this is done to better prepare the student before they graduate. Once the student satisfies the requirements, they will be qualified to take the examination for licensure to practice as a registered nurse.

The objective of the BSN program is to prepare graduates to work as professional nurses in a number of scenarios. Graduates are envisioned as having acquired fundamentals for ongoing professional development. Nurses are expected to be fully equipped once they graduate; there’s no more time to practice once the nurse is on duty. The patient’s recovery and safety depends on how the nurse handles the treatments and medications.

The curriculum is developed to assist the student to develop skills, stimulate intellectual curiosity and also to develop the capability to work with other health workers. The professional nurse is dedicated to the function of maintaining health insurance and ensuring the quality of health care services. The nursing school plays an important role in preparing the nurse to become well-equipped with skills and knowledge needed for efficiency.

Nursing Home Quality

Many reports have published information on the quality of care administered by nursing homes. This includes data on resident and family satisfaction and care outcomes. Information regarding a nursing home must be reviewed if you know that a family member needs nursing home care. Of course, we need to be sure that the facility is secure and the services they offer are above standard. You can also visit nursing homes yourself to check it or ask friends and family for their thoughts and experiences.

There are agencies that monitor and check nursing homes regularly. The Office of Facilities Regulation examines nursing homes to guarantee that they follow state and federal standards. You can contact them to learn more about a facility’s inspection results and recommendations.

The Healthcare Quality Reporting Program issues reports comparing the quality of care provided by different nursing homes in the state. Use the reports to learn about the outcomes that resident at different nursing homes experience and how often they get health conditions that good care may prevent.

Learn what residents and families say about their experiences with nursing homes by viewing satisfaction survey results. You may have heard horror stories about the quality of nursing home care. However, there are good nursing homes as well as bad ones. The nursing home should be hygienic and well maintained. A bad smell may indicate the staff is too busy to help residents to the bathroom or to change clothes. Rooms and public areas should be comfortable. The dining room and kitchen should be clean, and the food should be hot and appetizing or else their patients will lose weight due to lack of appetite.

Another thing, find out how the nursing home complies with the state and federal government regulations such as patient/staff ratio and training. Notice how staff members treat residents. Your choice will be a big factor to the health of your family member. Make sure you make the right decision and to continually monitor their program.

A new effort designed to ease the conversion between associate and baccalaureate degree nursing programs started out to its first class of learners this summer. Based at the School of Nursing at California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA), the program enables learners with associate degrees in nursing (ADN) to earn baccalaureate degrees in nursing (BSN) in 12 months. Supporters of the program see this as a big improvement over the typical ADN-to-BSN conversion, which can take learners two years to complete and often includes repetitive training because of unreliable curricula across nursing educational institutions. It will also enhance diversity in the nursing employees and help develop more wellness professional management, followers said.

“The idea is that learners will get their BSN in a year with no repeating of courses,” said Mary Dickow, MPA, state-wide director of the California Action Coalition, a group of wellness professional management and nurse champions who will work to enhance nursing and nursing care in situations by changing the nursing career. The California Action Coalition is a part of the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, a national campaign supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and AARP that is attempting to convert health care through nursing.

The CSULA programs draws from a white paper on nursing education upgrade, called the California Collaborative Model for Nursing Education (CCMNE), which was released in 2008 by the California Institute for Nursing & Health Care. The model set out in the white paper and now implemented at CSULA, has been duplicated in other configurations around the state.

The program’s overall goal is to create a more highly knowledgeable nursing workforce, which is needed to ensure there is an adequate supply of nursing staff and to enhance the quality of care. Research has shown that BSN-prepared nursing staff provides more secure care, in part because of their background in pathophysiology and because of their understanding of disease procedures, Judson said. Equipped with this type of nursing education, many companies in the region are now demanding that new nursing staff hold bachelor’s degree or higher, leaving ADN-prepared nursing staff with less job opportunities. This program is a life line that allows many to continue their nursing careers.