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Pursuing your Nursing CEU online is the key to a rewarding career in Public Health and greater financial mobility.

Nothing means more to frightened patients than knowing they are in the skilled, capable and caring hands of a trained nursing staff. Given current trends in medicine, and long-term projections for the health of the nation, a nursing career can be as challenging as it is fulfilling.

Fortunately, the foundation for growing your success and maintaining the public wellbeing is possible through a managed structure built around your Continuing Education requirements and aspirations.

Time is our most precious resource, and Quality Time is the most fleeting off all.

Whether you are dealing with your License Renewal or State Mandatory CE requirements, an accredited Nursing CEU online provider makes extremely affordable, high quality courses easily accessible for all state required subjects, courses all nurses should be familiar with, and courses within your nursing specialty.

Not only are nurses required to meet certain ongoing continuing education criteria, staying on top of the latest practices and methodology is essential to forwarding a nurse’s career. While there are many ways to remain current with all state requirements, continuing education online courses have become the most convenient, and most cost effective method for nurses to maintain the broad scope of knowledge they need to call upon each day in our constantly changing health care industry.

All specialties are readily available for online study, from Ambulatory Care to Bioethics, from Cardiology and Endocrinology to Immunology and Infectious Disease Control.

Advantages of Online Nursing CEUs

• No Upfront Charges: (Test, Re-Test as Necessary, Pass & Receive your Certification as Receipt of Payment)
• Study in the Comfort of Your Own Home
• Convenient: (Taking time away from work and family is no longer an issue)
• Study at Your Own Pace: (Log online hours around your schedule, pick up where you left off)
• Best Way to Stay Current With Latest Advance
• Geography is no longer an issue: (No matter where you are located, everything you need is at your fingertips)

The key is finding a nursing CEU online provider with whom you are the most comfortable.

Your chosen provider will keep an official record of all courses completed as well as credit hours earned and should allow nurses who completing testing and course work to print their own certificate upon completion.

In so many ways, nurses are the frontline of healing. Pursuing your Nursing CEU online is the easiest and most cost-effective way to stay out in front, to excel and bring the gift of healing to those who need it most.

Jesse Dugan is a part of an elite team of writers who have contributed to hundreds of blogs and news sites. Follow him @JesseDugan.

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Assisted living facilities are a middle ground for individuals who need some supervision, but do not require 24-hour medical care. This service is not just for the elderly, although that is often the clientage. This environment is for anyone with a disability. The expense of nursing homes has given new life to this industry along with jobs opportunities.

Administrators

The administrative staff handles all the accounting and paperwork. A typical member of this office community would need to have training in medical coding and billing practices including terminology. This is not a medical position with hands on resident interaction.

Nursing Staff

The certified nursing assistant, or CNA, is responsible for basic care of patients such dressing and bathing. For medical procedures that require a nursing degree, facilities rely on licensed vocational and practical nurses. They see to managing patients records and monitoring the residents overall health, as well as dispensing medication and supervising CNA staff. Registered nurses are the top management that supervise LPN and LVN staff plus deal with emerging care for residents that become suddenly ill.

Therapists

A number of therapists find employment at assisted facilities. A recreational therapist, or RT, provides hobby and leisure activates to help keep residents active. Physical therapists come in to improve mobility for patients healing from a fracture, dealing with the after effects of a stroke or to do range of motion exercises for patients with disabling conditions. Occupational therapists educate patients in basic living skills to improve their quality of life. For example, a OT might help train a resident going back to living in an unassisted environment. All therapists require education in their professional and state certification.

Support Staff

Support staff would include building maintenance, kitchen and front desk crew. The educational requirements will vary by facility. These positions do not necessitate advanced degrees or formal training. The facility may hire maintenance or cooking staff based on experience, instead of requiring specific training. Cooks may undergo special in-house training to deal with restricted diets.

Social Worker

Depending on the size of the facility, a onsite social worker may monitor the quality of life for residents. The social worker could be a part-time position that serves as a liaison between the facility, residents and the government. They would help process forms for Medicaid and other state and federal programs.

Assisted living is a good alternative for individuals who require medical supervision, but not full care. It is the ideal environment for elderly on medication or who require monitoring. The decision to put a love one in any facility is difficult. This is an option that goes beyond a nursing home.

Learn more about Assisted Living Facilities in Ohio. Need an author? Contact Stephen Craig

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Choosing a nursing school can be difficult. Not only do most state and private universities offer nursing degrees, but the programs in various schools can vary by quite a bit. If you want to choose a good school, then, you will need to make use of every resource at your disposal. One of the easiest ways to look for a great school is to look at rankings – the easy-to-read lists are a quick way to find out which schools are at the top of the heap, after all. Unfortunately, these lists are not always as transparent as one might hope.

Remember How Names Impact Rankings

Reputation is a huge part of the ranking process. While there are other issues considered, almost every nursing school ranking depends largely upon what others in the field think about the school. As such, a few major names will always dominate the top of the list simply because they have been on the lists in the past. These schools may be wonderful, of course, but that does not mean that they are really the best. Before you spend money applying to all of the top-ranked schools, do a bit of digging. You might find that there are better schools in your area, or that some of the top-ranked programs have begun to coast by on reputation alone. Your job as a nursing student should always be to find the best possible degree from the school that is really the best in the field.

Read the Fine Print

Nursing schools are ranked on a number of criteria, some of which may be less important to you than they are to those who compose the list. Some of the criteria used are invaluable of course – including graduating percentages and starting salaries of recent grads – but others tend to matter more to academics than nurses. You may not care what other universities think about the facilities at your school, for example, or how often your professors are published. If you see that a school in which you are interested has a lower ranking than you may have otherwise imaged, try to find out why. You might find out that the school is actually a great fit for you, even if other academics have dismissed it due to reasons that do not really concern students.

Look in Your Area

While having a “big name” university on your diploma can be helpful, your best bet for future employment is to find out where the majority of the nurses around you went to college. Networking is a huge part of getting a job, and it is often better to look for a higher ranking university around the area in which you wish to be employed than it is to look for the best overall university. There are few, if any, nursing schools that will actually leave you unprepared for your future in nursing, so your job is to find the best school that will give you the best chance of getting a job in the future.

If you must look at nursing school rankings before you apply to school, try to exercise a bit of common sense. Lists are not always accurate, and the opinions espoused by the lists are not always relevant to your needs. You are always a better judge of what school will give you the best opportunity in your area, and never let one piece of random information sway you. Do all the research that you can, and always do what you can to make sure that you make a choice that will set you up for a better career in the future.

About the Guest Author

Liz Park is a Wichita-based nurse educator and advocate of unbiased nursing school rankings, a topic she covers for Nursing School Rankings, a resource for prospective nursing school students.

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Whether you have just decided to become a nurse or want to make a career transition, carefully evaluate your options to make the right decision. A nursing degree program should have many qualities to prepare you for a position in the medical field. The journey to become a nurse can take you in many different directions. The following three tips can offer some guidance on evaluating programs that align with your career goals and aspirations.

1. Regional Accreditation

Generally, working as a nurse does not require graduating from a regionally accredited degree program. However, transitioning into a graduate program is much easier if you attend an accredited school. Even if you do not plan to pursue an advanced nursing degree, your career options increase by graduating from an accredited program.

Most positions require applicants have a degree from a school that is recognized by either a national or regional organization. The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) accredits undergraduate, graduate and residency programs. The National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) also accredits these programs in addition to practical nursing and diploma programs.

Typically, regional accreditation is the highest level of an official academic approval to the curriculum provided. The online nursing degree program at Jacksonville University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. This regional accreditation helps to ensure the quality of Jacksonville’s educational program offers proper training. Additionally, the School of Nursing at Jacksonville University is accredited by CCNE.

2. Requirements for Clinical Studies

Another important consideration is the clinical studies of a nursing degree program. As with traditional on-campus schools, online nursing degree programs must offer clinical studies to help you gain hands-on experience. Evaluate which online program includes a clinical portion and the specific requirements to participate. Restrictions may apply based on your primary residence.

Online nursing degree programs should have partnerships with local medical facilities. Several questions may help you determine which program is best for your goals. Some questions include:

• Am I required to travel to a different city?
• If I am required to travel, are the travel costs included n the tuition?
• Does the program offer flexibility in selecting a facility?

Besides clinical studies, you want to evaluate programs based on the teaching techniques during course instruction. Some schools offer lectures in video and audio formats to provide interactive learning sessions. Discussion boards help you interact with your peers and course instructors to supplement your learning experience.

Kaplan University offers online nursing degree programs with a clinical component. In addition to clinical settings, you will participate in laboratory exercises to fulfill degree requirements. Of course this program requires that you live in a city where Kaplan has a physical campus. Nevertheless, Kaplan University is a good example where you can apply textbook teachings in a real-world setting. This can help to build your self-confidence.

3. Tuition and Fees

Educational costs are a legitimate concern for students. Having the ability to pay for a nursing degree determines whether you can successfully complete the program. Each school offers different financial aid and unique scholarship programs to help students pay for college.

Most educational institutions charge an assortment of fees in addition to tuition. Some fees include technology usage and application fees. Your evaluation of the costs for nursing degree programs depends on your financial situation.

Walden University offers a $1,500 scholarship to students who are fully admitted to an online degree program. This can help to offset any costs related to completing a RN to BSN program at the university.

About the Author

Jess Langford is a nurse instructor and blogs on such topics as Top Online Colleges for Nursing.

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