When Nurses Assume Leadership Roles

Nurses have evolved through the years. They have assumed different roles in the health care industry. They are now more than just doctor's assistant. They have become health care professionals who are part of shaping the future of the health care industry. One of the roles that nurses assume is the leadership role. It can be supervisory or simply because you are the senior nurse. Some nurses are reluctant to take the leadership roles because they feel that they are not well equipped. Another reason is that they think they already have many responsibilities with their patients.

However, the increasing need for nursing leaders have become very vital. It is completely necessary for the benefit of the patients. Nurse leaders are important because they are the ones who will be involved in organizing, controlling and managing the activities of other nurses and patients.

Positively speaking the role of nurse leader is not as hard as one might think. You already possess all the needed qualities, all you have to do is up it in a much higher level and you are good to go.

Coordination

When you are just a staff nurse you are so used to coordinating with different things during your shift. You coordinate schedules of patients, doctor's visits and even hospital records. As a nurse leader you will still do these things, but in a more massive scale. It would involve managing other nurses. This would also entail managing difficult situations from the nursing shifts, motivation of the staff and performance quality of the nurses.

Flexibility

Schedules can sometimes be changed. Sometimes there would be unexpected events that can happen. When you become nurse leaders this would be part and parcel of your role. There would be changes that you do not expect but you are trained to respond to these kinds of changes.

Encouragement

One of the things that we do with our patients is helping them feel encouraged to get better. We also help our colleagues get over an extremely difficult day by saying a few words of encouragement. When you assume the role of the leader you are the one who help junior nurses feel their way in the new environment that they entered. You will be the person they will look up to for strength and guidance.

Examining The Role Of A Nursing Home Consultant

Nursing and rehabilitation centers of today have come a long way in the services they offer and in their quality of care. These positive improvements happened in large part due to the role that professional consultants play in the health care field. Without the guidance and knowledge of these professionals, many rehab homes and other similar facilities would be a lot different than they are today.

When it comes to changes or improvements in a system, nursing homes are usually focusing on the care provided for residents. Constant improvements in patient care starts at several levels. Some homes may need greater training for the nursing assistants in basic patient care. Some facilities must work hard at developing specialized care plans for the patients.

The assisted living and long term care industry has grown tremendously in the past few decades. The need for prioritized requirements within a facility is essential to providing the best patient care. Many consulting groups offer speakers for seminars and conferences. Learning a new way of doing paperwork at the end of a shift or better ways to achieve sanitary conditions within a facility could be some of the topics covered in a seminar for facility medical employees.

Some situations that could arise in a nursing or rehab center require the experience and knowledge of social workers. Hiring a consulting professional to help implement the attention necessary for social work is a good way to help your present employees ease into a new circumstance. Social improvements in this type of medical environment can have great benefits for everyone involved.

When a facility gets into trouble with things like code violations, professional care consultations could be a penal aspect of breaking code rules. The consultants role is to visit the home for constructing a plan to correct the risk of code violations. This could mean more detailed incident reports or higher standards for cleaning.

Administrators can benefit from consulting services as much as residents can in some cases. Knowing you have someone taking care of planning and helping employees to learn the best ways for putting those plans to work is a great relief. Administrators generally have a lot of responsibilities. The support administrators get from consulting experts is greatly beneficial.

Making changes in your facility starts with hiring professional, experienced nursing home consulting companies. By doing so, you and your employees can experience benefits of professional planning. Residents can also have greater levels of care and attention when expert planning is implemented inside a facility.

Critical Thinking for Nurses

Each of us has different thought patterns. We use thought patterns to study, solve equations and to do almost anything. It is necessary for us to be able to acquire the critical thinking skills. This is also very important for paramedic nurses. When you talk about critical thinking, this is a systematic and logical approach in processing things. It is crucial so that patients will be given the right care and due treatment.

As paramedic nurses, they have duties that they do mechanically because it is almost done every day. But that is not the case, to us it may seem methodical to a regular observer but it goes deeper than that. One of the things that they learn when they are in nursing school is to have the ability to think while on their feet. This means that they do just do certain things without thinking about it first. For a normal person, we can take our time when making decisions. Paramedic nurses do not have that luxury. The deal with life and death situations, they have to make decisions at a flick of a finger or it may have dire consequences for the patient.

Developing the critical thinking skill is a must for every nurse. It can be the foundation of sound nursing practices. This can help them focus clearly, get the right information and use this information to treat the patient in an effective manner. Just imagine what it would be like if the nurse starts to do something to the patient without giving it any thought. It can be scary for both nurse and patient.

If one would think that critical thinking can be difficult to learn, then probably if you think about it negatively then it can be that way. However, just like in most things when we view it in a positive light then we can learn and try to develop it through the years.

Since critical thinking was taught in nursing school, one has to continuously practice doing it so as to sharpen ones skills. There are exercises that one can do to improve. There is writing and reading practices that you can to do help you stay focus. One should remember critical thinking can help you save the lives of patients. It can also help you deal with your workload in a more logical manner. Best of all it can be used in other aspects of your life outside of the nursing profession.

Getting Your Associate's Degree in Nursing

So you've heard the call, you saw the light, you made the decision -- whatever your reason, you have decided that nursing is the profession for you. Congratulations, you have a very rewarding career ahead of you. But now that you've made such a momentous step in your life, how do you put the grand plan into action. One of the most popular and attainable ways to become a nurse is by going to school for your associate's degree.

Since you have decided to further your education, you will need to take a look at your previous studies. Did you do well in high school? Did you graduate? Some programs will waive certain subjects like algebra and chemistry if you took and passed them with a high grade in high school. Most associates degrees in nursing will take between 2 and 3 years to complete, depending on what, if any, credits you are coming in with, and the intensity of your course load. Some choose to get their associates while keeping a full time job, to offset the costs. In this case, expect at least 3 years, but no debt.

An up and coming way to earn an associates degree these days is online. There are many different colleges and universities now offering a nursing degree over the internet. When researching schools, visit the National Council of State Boards of Nursing website and use the links they have to whichever states you'd like to apply to school in. And if choosing the online route, be sure that the entire degree is offered through online courses and not just some of the more basic classes. It would not be fun to do a year's worth of classes online with the University of Alaska and then discover that all of the remaining classes have to be taken in person, on campus. Hope you like the cold!

Once you have applied and been accepted to a school, then comes the real work. You will be put through classroom theory, lab work, clinical experiences, direct patient care experiences and take classes in everything from anatomy to psychology. The classes are pretty grueling and require you to do more than just show up. Nursing school is what separates the dreamers from the achievers. You have to want to be there, you have to study, and you have to perform. But once you have finished that last test, you get to enter the world with a higher level of education, a brighter future, and a more promising pay scale.

After achieving an associates degree, you will need to pass a national licensing examination, called the National Council Licensure Examination, or the NCLEX-RN. Upon passing this, you will officially have the title of RN, Registered Nurse. Now that you hold the title, all that remains is finding a job. The healthcare industry is still on the rise and is expected to boom in the next 4-7 years -- perfect timing for when you graduate with your newly acquired associates degree in nursing.

Board of Registered Nursing

There are so many nurses working out there with so many different job titles and in so many different locations that it seems almost impossible for anybody to keep track. It is managed by every state having their own board of nursing, with each setting specific responsibilities for their members and their state.

Basically, every state board of nursing is responsible for regulating and upholding safe nursing practices. These boards were originally created over 100 years ago, in an effort to keep the public safe and provide a system of checks and balances in the healthcare world. Each state has a varying number of members, generally ranging between eight and twelve board members. The qualifications differ by state, but most members are RN's or LPNs, and usually a few, or at least the president of the board, has a PhD.

The boards are charged with designing guidelines for suitable and safe nursing and making sure these standards are followed by all registered nurses in the state. In addition to this, the boards issue licenses for RN's and are responsible for keeping track of all expiration dates, and keeping an eye on any nurses who might not be acting in accordance with proper nursing practice.

Every state decides who its board of nursing will report to, be it the governor, a state agency, or another official organization. Whoever they are reporting to is simply double checking that the board is upholding nursing standards as well as the Nurse Practice Act. Every state has their own Nurse Practice Act, but they all cover basic licensing qualifications, which nursing titles are deemed usable, what nurses are allowed to practice, and the consequences for not following the law.

Most, if not all by now, states have their own website for their board of nursing, which are generally very helpful and informative. California, a state that is believed to have the most nurses out of all the country, has a quite descriptive site that details all the duties of their board of registered nursing. They have also created a 24 hour free system to check on RN licenses, available online and over the phone. This way people can verify if a particular person is actually a RN, if they have been inactive or if their license has expired, and if there is any disciplinary action chronicled against the license. You simply need the RN license number, and if that cannot be attained, the board of registered nursing will attempt to help you during business hours with whatever information you do have.

A comprehensive group called the National Council of State Boards of Nursing is a very helpful company for the nursing community that allows all of the separate state boards of nursing a place to discuss issues affecting them all. This organization develops the national examinations and maintains a database called Nursys, which makes nurse licensure information available to the public. Called the NCSBN, they have sixty members on the board from all 50 states as well as other US territories. They have a lot of area to cover and need nurses at the ground level to get involved as well. Stay on top of your license dates, don't let expiration dates lapse, and report unsafe practices. What can you do to help the world of nursing improve?

Starting A New Career With Online Nursing Courses

A lot of people are holding back from pursuing their professional goals, particularly in the medical field because of the common misconception that attaining nursing courses is difficult. With the coming of the internet, attending courses in the medical field has been made easier. The internet helps people who cannot leave their current jobs to attend classes and acquire a degree even at the comfort of one's property.

Online classes are becoming more and more rampant. Today, many people can attend and acquire valuable education without having to leave their houses and attend an actual school, five times a week. Making use of the internet can give an individual a chance to become a registered nurse while at the same time, raising a family, living in a remote location, taking care of the family business, or even work full-time.

When it comes to quality, online tutorials will not disappoint. The reason is that most of these websites are being offered by prominent medical institutes around the world. The ones giving classes are professional nurses so you are sure to get the ideal knowledge and skill that you will need and incorporate in the field.

Getting your desired medical course in the field means getting firsthand knowledge. This can be attained by allowing the students to attend and participate in lab exercises conducted by actual schools. However, classes with no lab exercises can be taken at home.

Aside from the fact that you'll sometimes need to attend actual classes and sacrifice important time, one of the disadvantages of taking tutorials over the web is that some courses must be completed within a period of time. Failure to do so could cause you to retake the course all over again. Other than that, most tutorials can be taken at one's leisure time.

Experts have predicted that by the year 2020, the need for people who are adept in the field of medicine will double. This is because the number of aged individual is also expected to rise in number. You will be surprised to know that the average income of a nurse is around 70,000 thousand dollars. However, the income of the professional may vary from location and employer.

Without the help of the World-Wide-Web, people who long to acquire a degree in medicine will only be just a dream or he will have to sacrifice much of his leisure time just to attend actual nurse training. If the individual is able to pass the course while going through intensive training and exercises, then he will have no difficulty getting a job and starting a new career.

Ways to Become a Registered Nurse

If you love helping people, but the idea of going into the healthcare field or becoming a doctor is just too overwhelming, consider becoming a registered nurse. Nurses are knowledgeable professionals who treat patients, and the road to becoming a nurse is very accessible path. Nursing is a steady field, with good pay that generally increases with education and experience, and there are a slew of different jobs to meet your desires and specialities.

Now that becoming a future RN is on your mind, it's time to get your education in order. You will need to have graduated high school or have gotten a GED. If you happen to still be in high school, make sure to take all offered science courses and try to keep your GPA up. Nursing schools also look at attendance and are hesitant to offer admission to students who don't seem to always show up to class. It also helps to get a competitive SAT or ACT score, as many universities hold these in high regard.

There are a few different routes to becoming a registered nurse. You can get an associate's degree, a bachelor's degree or become a Licensed Nurse Practitioner, or an LPN. The quickest path is to choose to be an LPN, however, this means you are really more of a nursing aide or nursing caregiver. The pay is lower and the job options are more limited in location and variety. The most popular nursing path is through an associate's degree in nursing. Generally, achieving this will take about two to three years. Students like these programs because of the manageable term length and the hands on education approach.

The last education option to becoming a nurse is through a bachelor's degree. This degree will usually take four years and will be at a university or college. Bachelor's programs are a bit more rigorous, harder to get into, and will have a variety of non-nursing classes like English and History to round out your education. The great thing about a BSN is that finding jobs straight out of school is incredibly easy. Often hospitals will recruit employees straight out of university. Also, the pay is higher than for those with an associate's degree and nurses with a BSN are eligible for supervisors and some administration positions.

Once you have received some sort of education, the last step to becoming a registered nurse is to pass the national licensing exam, called the NCLEX-RN. This is a comprehensive exam that tests all of the skills deemed necessary to be a competent nurse in this country. It is difficult, but can be easily passed if you paid attention to your studies and took your classes seriously. Once you have a license, all that is left to do is get a job. The nursing industry is very strong and there is a big boom coming in the next 3-5 years, that is supposed to open up thousands of jobs. Perfect timing for when you graduate and receive your license.

Best Jobs for Nurses

As a nurse, your main goal in life is helping others. However, it would be nice to help others in a comfortable work environment, with decent pay and benefits, without stressing yourself beyond belief, right? To help nurses find they best jobs for them, here a few different options for nurses that are well paid, with some taking you off the normal beaten path.

- Nurse Anesthetist. By far the best paying nursing job out there, with salaries ranging between $80,000 and $150,000 a year. The hard thing about this job is that in order to find training, you may have to move across the country for your education. The schools are very competitive and have extremely limited class sizes. The program will take 2-3 years, and once you've become certified, you will be administering and maintaining anesthesia in hospitals, doctor's offices, pain clinics and other healthcare centers.

- Flight Nurse. If you value excitement over high pay, consider getting a position as a flight nurse. There are limited positions, but the adrenaline provided is quite tempting. You will need at least a BSN, if not an MSN, and have excellent skills in trauma nursing. Be ready for intense weather conditions and all kinds of disaster situations.

- Forensic Nurse. Like solving problems and riddles? As a forensic nurse, you will be a part of a criminal investigation, collecting evidence at crime scenes and working with victims, both living and deceased. Very CSI, but an extremely rewarding career for those who can handle it. A BSN is required, as MSN is desired, and there could be some law-enforcement training in your future as well.

- Nurse Educator. While the jobs above are specialist positions and can be difficult to find a job in, there is a huge demand for nurse educators. There are even students being turned away from nursing schools due to a lack of nurse educators. The downside is the amount of schooling required -- you will need your masters, though a doctoral degree would be even better. You will get to work with students in a variety of environments and with a schedule far more flexible than most nurses have. The pay is generally around $70,000 a year, but you usually get school holidays off as well.

- Nurse Case Manager. If you'd like the chance to be away from the day to day duties of a nurse, this is a perfect position for you. You will study the progress of patients, scrutinize their care, offer different forms of treatment. You might be asked to find the most cost-efficient treatment plans for an insurance company or medical facility. Your pay will be in the $60,000 to $70,000 range, but you only need a BSN or at most, an MSN, to be qualified for the job.

Keep in mind that these are not the only jobs out there. There are countless opportunities for nurses, including travel nursing, nurse midwives, nurse researchers, and cruse ship nursing, just to name a few. Realize that however you want to help people, there is probably a job out there suited to your wants and needs. Now, do you know what you want?

Alternative Jobs for Nurses

Every year, thousands of freshly graduated nursing students flood into the healthcare market looking for work. Most will go into the much needed and steady world of hospital and bedside care, but for the few who are looking for something different, or for long time nurses who have grown tired of their current work, what are some of the alternative options out there for nurses?

The most obvious is teaching. The education field is always looking for more help and it is an incredibly rewarding place to be. Some schools are actively searching for more nursing educators to keep up with the demand of students. Of course, this kind of employment requires more schooling, at least a masters degree, to be able to obtain a position, and also a special kind of patience and understanding, to deal with frazzled students. Along this same line is the option of becoming a nursing tutor. You need to have passed the board exam, but the ability to work freelance and set your own hours is hard to beat.

Like more money and less hours? Consider becoming a legal nurse consultant. As a legal consultant, law firms and lawyers will hire you to assist them on various cases. You will review medical records and offer advice based on your nursing experience and wisdom. You get to set your own hours and you don't have to wear scrubs.

If the science end of nursing is what gets you going, then find a position in clinical research. Pharmaceutical companies are always hiring clinical research companies. Independent research facilities are often looking for associates who have experience in the field as well as in the laboratory. You could also go into the sales end and become a medical representative. Basically, you sell medical supplies, instruments, and services to hospitals and offices. Knowledge of the nursing field will give you an edge over other representatives and make your job a lot easier. Plus, you get wear business clothes and work in a variety of locations.

Travel is a hard bug to beat, so instead of fighting it, why not try a job as a travel nurse? There are countless jobs all over the world for registered nurses. You will get to experience new cultures, learn new medical technologies, and help people in different places, while somebody else organizes your travel and housing, and then gives you a paycheck on top of it all. If you want to travel, but still maintain a home base, try flight nursing. Go to work everyday with no idea where you'll head and care for patients while the plane or helicopter is in the air. If air isn't your element, then look into being a cruise ship nurse. Your food and housing is provided and moves with you, and you are able to travel to new places while taking advantage of all the cruise ship amenities.

These options are just the tip of the iceberg. There are dozens more options available, you just need to know what kind of work you like doing, and get creative. Like working with kids? Check out school nursing. Like solving mysteries? Look into forensic nursing. Endless possibilities are waiting.

Nurses Changing Specialties

Do you love the nursing specialty you've chosen? Is it all you expected it would be? Are you even working in the specialty area that you had hoped to be in? These are all questions nurses must ask themselves at some point.

I remember how devastated I was when I did not receive a job offer in the specialty I had hoped for upon receiving my nursing license. I thought my world had ended. I had this specialty based career all planned out since before I even entered into nursing school.

I didn't know it at the time, but I was very lucky to have been able to get a job in the specialty that was my second choice. It has become MY specialty, and now, I wouldn't take a job in what had been my first choice for any amount of money, (well OK, I'd take a million dollars and hour, but I bet I wouldn't be as happy)!

Most nurses don't even get the chance to be employed in a specialty area straight out of nursing school. Most, planned for or not, will be employed on general med-surg units at the beginning of their career. Though this may be heart-wrenching for some, at first, it is probably the best experience you can ever get for your nursing career. Med-surg nursing applies to ALL areas of nursing care and will greatly elevate your skills and knowledge far beyond that of the nurses who have always only worked in one specialty area for their entire career.

But what if you've done your time on the med-surg unit, and still want to change to a specialty area, (and yes, med-surg is a specialty itself). Most hospitals offer the option to let you change to another unit or position after a period of time, usually 6 months, but often times, there can be a lot of red-tape, in the form of facility politics which can prevent this from happening easily. This is not across the board at all hospitals, but it does happen at many.

The problem is that at most facilities, both your present supervisor and the supervisor of the unit you wish to be transferred to must both approve the transfer. This can cause issues, especially if you are a good nurse and employee. This is because good nurses can be hard to find, (though there are many). Your present supervisor may not want you to leave and may drag her heals on the approval.

This can be unfortunate, especially if you are an exemplary employee. If after a few tries the transfer does not seem to be moving forward and you really want to change, you may need to look at another facility. This in itself can be hard, because many places so not want to place experienced nurses on units where they will have to be trained. It sometimes seems like it is even harder to get into a specialized area after you've been a nurse for a while, than it is straight out of school, and as I've said, that isn't easy either.

So what can be done? There is a little bit of a secret that most nurses so not know. Many hospitals will have a certain time of the year when they take applications for new nurses straight out of nursing school to try to obtain a specialty position which they will train them for. It is highly competitive for these students, as most facilities will take very few new nurses at once. But, what most people don't know is that these are also great opportunities for experienced nurses who want to change their specialty and these nurses usually have a very good chance of being hired for these positions.

So if you are looking to change your specialty and keep hitting a brick wall, check with the HR department of a few facilities to see of they offer an internship program for new nurses and when the application process begins. This may just be the next best way to get your foot in the door to the position you have always dreamed of.

Certified Yoga Nurse

The medical care staff have always been known as being amazingly enthusiastic and looking after individuals, always going out of their way to help others. Well nowadays, some nurses are basically flexing over in reverse to help their sufferers. Medical Yoga exercises is a growing field that many individuals are using. Not only can you exercise yoga as a health professional, educate medical care yoga as a yogi, but now there is something called a qualified Yoga exercises Nurse, giving you the best of both planets.

The medical care benefits of yoga have long been known and are widely used in Southern medication. In The united states, yoga has become hugely more well-known in the last several years and can be found in essentially every city. Many different types of yoga can be used for treatment, but the most well-known in the medical industry is medical care yoga. Medical yoga is a combination of modern technology of the system and traditional hatha yoga. With this particular treatment, there is usually a medical care analysis, resulting from X-rays, blood vessels assessments, tests, ultrasounds and other assessments to evaluate a sufferers complete and try to determine the real issue. Once a problem has been determined, the affected person will be given yoga asanas designed to help impact position and physical processes. These presents are usually very simple and not unpleasant, available to even the most fitness or versatile of individuals. Often they are combined with equipment to make the present more easily possible -- things like yoga seats and yoga straps. This kind of yoga is used to cure all kinds of conditions, from throat issues to bronchial asthma, diabetic issues to osteo arthritis.

One of the most common conditions handled with medical care yoga is back spondylitis, or serious reduced returning problems. Research has revealed that individuals who attended a yoga study for 6 months had a lesser amount of discomfort and improved activity after exercising a few times a week. Similar studies have also proven that a regular yoga exercise can lead to less stress and stress, 'abnormal' amounts of depressive disorders and sleeplessness, and reduced pulse rate and blood vessels pressure; in addition to the apparent results of better strength and versatility.

These times it's not just sufferers benefitting from exercising yoga. The medical care staff are now being determined as a market that needs extreme help in decreasing job stress. Small yoga plans are being provided to nurses as a way to handle stress while on the job. Consider getting two minutes to find a lounge, close your eyes, and take a couple of calming deep breathing. Take a second and pick up onto the returning of a seat and do a standing down dog to feel immediate launch though shoulder area, spinal. Practicing yoga regularly before a move has assisted nurses to maintain emotions of relaxed for longer and though more trying circumstances.

As a health professional, you can also include yoga into your work. Becoming a qualified Yoga exercises Nurse is easier than it might sound. Rns only need to take a 2-5 day training course and no past yoga experience is required. The creator of Yoga exercises Nurse, Annette Tersigni, qualified with the best of the best in the Nineties -- individuals like Deepok Chopra and Bob Simon Mds. She created Yoga exercises Nurse after recognizing that by being an RN and a qualified medical care yoga instructor at the same time, she could help even more individuals. Providing knowledge of the