Traditional Education vs. Distance Learning from Nurse Together

I have often heard nursing students and colleagues proclaim, “If a nursing school isn’t accredited, it is no good.” “Regional accreditation is more important for getting a job.” “A traditional degree is better than an online one.”

What makes nursing education good? Is a traditional education program better than an online one? Do you receive better nursing education from an accredited program versus one that is not? Let us consider everything with a grain of salt and look at the facts as well as the reality.

The merits of receiving an education from an accredited institution speaks to the point that the particular school ranks average or better than average within a conglomerate of similar institutional programs. According to the US Department of Education, which does not accredit nursing schools but provides rationale for its purpose, an educational program that is accredited has shown that they provide quality higher education according to standards set by a private regional or national accrediting agency. Accreditation is a peer review process that evaluates educational programs based upon agency-set criteria. (US Department of Education, 2011)

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Time to Adapt from H and HN

PHOENIX— If there's one thing I've learned in my 20-plus years as a journalist it's this: listen to the experts. Or did my Mom tell me that? Either way, it's a valuable lesson.

For instance, the old newspaper reporter in me was all set to write a blog focused on the Advanced Payment ACO Program, which is aimed at testing the ACO concept in rural settings and among physician-owned organizations, but when I asked rural administrators and trustees what the highlight was of day one at the 25th Rural Health Care Leadership Conference, a number of them immediately mentioned the opening keynote address by Bridget Duffy, M.D., CEO of ExperiaHealth. Before joining the San Francisco-based company, Duffy was chief experience officer at the Cleveland Clinic. Her message today: hospitals need to focus on creating an exceptional patient experience. Central to that, she says, is for all staff at the hospital to show compassion or empathy for patients. It's something that is lacking throughout health care, she says. It's also something my colleague Bill Santamour has been writing about recently in H&HN Daily.

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The Pros and Cons of Continuing Education from Nurse Together

As Registered Nurses or Licensed Practical Nurses, fulfilling continuing education credits or units (CEU) is a requirement for the profession—it is necessary for relicensing. In certain states we are required to fulfill a certain number of CEUs every two years. Obtaining an education credit can be accomplished by reading a journal, attending a seminar, watching a video—any of these would relate to the practice of nursing. Completing CEU’s sounds like a wonderful idea, however, some members of the nursing profession disagree. After all, competence has been demonstrated by the proof of licensure and associated renewal, so mandating further credit hours seems redundant. To fully examine the debate: “Should Continuing Education be Mandatory?” consider the following pro versus con arguments:

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7 Myths of Online Learning from Nurse Together

I am a proud RN and (many years ago) attended a traditional classroom program to earn my nursing degree! In 2007, I graduated the University of Phoenix's online program with my MBA. I can attest to the many myths regarding online or distance education, and can affirm the FACT that these are simply myths.

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Tests for biomarker may diagnose heart attack within hours from CNN

One of the most common reasons people go to the emergency room is for serious chest pains. Time is crucial when someone is having a heart attack. If doctors don't make a diagnosis quickly, it can mean the difference between life and death.

Now, there may be a new tool to help ER doctors make a quicker diagnosis. A new highly sensitive test can detect troponin, a protein in the muscle tissue, according to new research in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). According to cardiologists, the higher the levels of troponin, the more likely it is a person will have a heart attack. If tropin isn't present, the likelihood of a heart attack is much smaller.

Researchers say this new test could also help physicians monitor patients who present with chest pains but no heart attack symptoms in the hours after being admitted to the hospital.

"Early identification of individuals at high and intermediate risk for myocardial ischemia (insufficient blood flow to the heart muscle) is crucial because they benefit the most from early and aggressive treatment," said the study's authors.

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What Makes Anesthetics Work from Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Dec. 22, 2011) — Physicians use inhalation anesthetics in a way that is incredibly safe for patients, but very little is known about the intricacies of how these drugs actually work in children and adults. Now, researchers have uncovered what cells respond to anesthesia in an organism known as the C. elegans, according to a new study from the Seattle Children's Research Institute. C. elegans is a transparent roundworm used often in research. The study, "Optical reversal of halothane-induced immobility in C. elegans," is published in the December 20, 2011 issue of Current Biology.

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The 6 Best Foods for Winter from Yahoo News

It’s the first snow of the season, and it’s so heavy and wet that it clogs your snowblower. You have two choices. Option 1: Shove your arm between the augers and remove the blockage. The downside: You’ll lose your arm in the process, and having it reattached will probably bankrupt you. Option 2: Turn off the machine, grab a broom stick, and chip at the blockage until it crumbles.

You might be thinking, “What kind of lunatic would choose option 1?” Well, lunatics like the American people. The U.S. spends more than $2 trillion on health care each year, with much of that cash going toward the treatment of obesity-related complications like heart disease and diabetes. We’re fixing our health problems retroactively, with medication and surgery, even though we could prevent most of them by making smarter choices about what we eat.

There’s no better time to put this notion to the test than the winter months. Winter is not necessarily conducive to good health; the season conjures up images of calorie-loaded comfort foods, fireside naps, and runny noses. Read on for six everyday foods that will keep you healthy and strong from December to March and beyond, compliments of the all-new Eat This, Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide, which includes thousands of smart swaps that can help you shave 20 pounds or more in just 6 weeks.

For the full article please go here.

The Critical Need for Continuing Education from Nurse Together

In writing my book and preparing educational courses for nurses, I have devoted much study to critical thinking and its application to nursing. While critical thinking is a very large subject with many parts, one component stands out in our world of evolving technology, mass communication and frequent research updates; accurate information.

In our initial training, we were exposed to the most up-to-date information available. This was the frequently cited reason for always having to purchase the newest edition of text books. We dutifully studied and were tested on information that would allow us to practice state of the art nursing. Later, we were tested on this same information to earn our license. After all of this training and testing, we were set free to be nurses. Having graduated from my nurses training in 1973, there was no continuing education requirement for my state at that time.

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Improving Cancer Care Via Patient Empowerment And System Transformation from Medical News Today

Physicians can use medical records to track the quality of cancer care and determine whether their patients are receiving the right treatments at the right time. Yet the patient is the only one who ultimately can evaluate the quality of his or her experience while receiving treatment.

In "Quality Measurement and System Change of Cancer Care Delivery," published in the Regenstrief Conference supplement to the December 2011 issue of the journal Medical Care, investigators from the Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University School of Medicine explore current cancer care quality measurement and discuss new ways to empower patients and promote system transformation to improve quality of care.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death after cardiovascular disease in the United States. However, the federal government and health care quality organizations have fewer reporting requirements for quality of cancer care than for treatment of many other diseases.

For the full article please go here.

Winter holidays are peak time for heart attacks from USA Today

It's the grimmest of holiday statistics: Heart-attack deaths peak on three days of the year, and one of them is Christmas. The other two are the day after Christmas and New Year's Day.

Salt and alcohol can raise blood pressure, fatty foods can boost cholesterol and even one rich meal can adversely affect blood vessels.

Salt and alcohol can raise blood pressure, fatty foods can boost cholesterol and even one rich meal can adversely affect blood vessels.

Talk about your lump of coal.

And it gets worse. The holiday peak is just part of a larger, well-established pattern: More people die of heart attacks in winter than at any other time of year. In other words: It's truly the season to know your risks — and reduce them, if you can. But first, it may help to ponder why these days are so deadly.

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Do you really want to know what your doc is writing about you? from MSNBC

By Kimberly Hayes Taylor

Have you ever been tempted to sneak a peek at those notes your doctor is scribbling about you? If you have, you’re like most patients, new Harvard research shows.

But chances are, your doctor would rather you keep your nose out of his notes. A poll of 100 primary care doctors nationwide conducted by Truth On Call for msnbc.com found that 68 percent of physicians have written something in a patient's chart they wouldn't want that person to see.

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Bombast, Negativity … and Yet … from H and HN

If I had to sum up 2011 in one word, that word would be "peeved." You can probably think of more colorful words but, for this space, that'll do.

From all those folks on the other side of the globe who got so fed up with the bullying and the oppression and generally being treated like crap that they finally chased the despots out of their gilded fortresses to the Tea Partyers and Occupy Wall Streeters here at home who want to throw our own bums out but can't agree on which of those bums ought to be first down the gangplank, 2011 has been a banner year for aggravation, exasperation and just plain bad moods.

I don't know about you, but it hasn't been 365 days of unadulterated bliss for me either. My buying power isn't all that powerful and my life savings ought to be put on life support. Not only that, but my Chicago Cubs — well, let's not even go there, OK?

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Are Antibiotics Making Us Fat? from Yahoo News

Farmers have long used antibiotics to fatten up livestock—and now there’s growing evidence that these drugs may have the same effect on people. What’s more, instead of being miracle cures, there’s now scary speculation that antibiotics could be jeopardizing our health by making us more prone to lifestyle diseases, from type 2 diabetes to heart attacks and fatal strokes. If that sounds far-fetched, consider this: States with the highest rates of antibiotic prescriptions also rank as the least healthy, Wired magazine reported on November 25.

When the nonprofit research group Extending the Cure recently mapped antibiotic prescriptions by state, it found the heaviest use (measured per 1,000 people) in the eastern half of the US, particularly West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Alabama, all of which comprise the so-called Stroke Belt, due to the high rate of stroke fatalities. According to CDC data, Wired adds, these states (and to a lesser extent, much of the eastern US) also have higher rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart attacks, compared to the western US. While these correlations don’t prove that antibiotic overuse triggers these diseases, studies suggest that it could drive up obesity by changing how our stomachs work. Here’s a look at the findings.

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What was I just saying? 9 reasons you can't focus from MSNBC

You walk into a restaurant to meet a friend and remember you were supposed to meet somewhere else. You leave your boss's office and, quick as that, forget the deadline she gave you for a new project. You had your keys in your hand, you were just holding them, and now they're gone — again. What's going on? Here, nine possibilities for why your mind is wandering, and expert advice on how to get your concentration back.

For the full article please go here.

Two dead in Louisiana after unclean water used in neti pots from CNN

Louisiana health officials are warning residents not to use nonsterilized tap water in neti pots after the deaths of two people who exposed their brains to a deadly amoeba while flushing out their nasal passages.

The amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, can be found in lakes and ponds as well as in contaminated lukewarm tap water. The organism doesn't pose a threat when ingested, but if it becomes lodged in a person's nose it can end up in the brain and cause an infection.

The infection, lethal in 95% of cases, triggers an array of symptoms that resemble those of bacterial meningitis, including vomiting, headaches and sleepiness. As it progresses, it can cause changes in a person’s behavior and lead to confusion and hallucinations. It usually causes death within one to 12 days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs May Reduce Mortality for Influenza Patients from Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Dec. 16, 2011) — Statins, traditionally known as cholesterol-lowering drugs, may reduce mortality among patients hospitalized with influenza, according to a new study released online by The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

It is the first published observational study to evaluate the relationship between statin use and mortality in hospitalized patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza virus infection, according to Vanderbilt's William Schaffner, M.D., professor and chair of Preventive Medicine.

"We may be able to combine statins with antiviral drugs to provide better treatment for patients seriously ill with influenza," said Schaffner, who co-authored the study led by Meredith Vandermeer, MPH, of the Oregon Public Health Division.

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Top 10 medical innovations of 2011 from Time Magazine.

It's not quite human cloning, but it's close. Researchers reported using a variation of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) — the same technique that created Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned, from a skin cell of a ewe — on human cells. SCNT involves replacing the genetic material of an egg cell with the DNA from a mature cell (a skin cell, for example). The egg is then stimulated to divide, and if it develops fully, produces a genetically identical clone of the animal from which the mature cell was taken.

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Get Headaches? Smart Ways to Deal from Health.com

By Winnie Yu Scherer

Sometimes you know exactly what's causing that pounding in your skull. Other times, you're blindsided. Headaches—whether debilitating migraines or less-painful-but-still-annoying tension headaches—are often set off or made worse by a key trigger, says Brian Grosberg, MD, director of the Inpatient Headache Program at Montefiore Headache Center in New York City.

Here, the seven most common pain provokers, and how to head off the hurt. (See your doctor if these DIY fixes don't do the trick; for those plagued by headaches, prescription meds may help.)


For the full article please go here.

Researchers Design Alzheimer’s Antibodies: Surprisingly Simple Method to Target Harmful Proteins from Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Dec. 9, 2011) — Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new method to design antibodies aimed at combating disease. The surprisingly simple process was used to make antibodies that neutralize the harmful protein particles that lead to Alzheimer's disease.

The process, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), could be used as a tool to understand complex disease pathology and develop new antibody-based drugs in the future.

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A Health Care System Tailor-Made For Patients from H and H Networks

Incorporating patient perspectives into the design of health care delivery was one of the major themes of the recently concluded Institute for Healthcare Improvement 2011 National Forum in Orlando. The meeting marked the first time patients were on the IHI faculty, and session after session featured patients and advocates describing their firsthand experiences to an audience of hospital administrators and clinicians.

Of course, excellent patient care has always been the desired end result in health care — the hard part is delivering on that promise, and an emerging school of thought suggests that listening to patients is an essential part of achieving excellent outcomes. During a press briefing at IHI, Gary Kaplan, M.D., chairman and CEO of Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, noted that his system puts patients at the top of its care "pyramid," and emphasizes listening to their stories as one way of meeting that goal.

"We asked [patients], how did it feel lying on stretcher outside the operating room?" Kaplan said.

For the full article please go here.