The knowledge needed to work with patients inside a health care setting is obtained by pursuing formal training. Professional nursing assistants help patients complete every day tasks. The coursework offered inside vocational college programs prepares students to enter careers within this healthcare profession.

Education is concentrated and lasts anywhere from six to fifteen weeks. Programs are dedicated to providing students with theoretical knowledge and clinical experience pertaining to the work conducted inside healthcare facilities. Students obtain the knowledge to provide patients with care, which can include assisting them when bathing and eating. A wide variety of areas are explored within educational courses that cover clinical tasks. By entering a certificate or diploma program students develop the skills to care for patients. Training topics cover areas that include nutrition, hygiene, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and emergency care. Students are able to understand these concepts by successfully completing coursework that breaks down each major area. Possible training courses may include:

*Health Evaluation

Since nursing assistants spend the most time with patients they need to understand how to properly monitor and assess an individuals’ health. Programs usually take the knowledge gained in introductory courses such as taking vital signs and range of motion techniques and apply it to health evaluation. Students learn to assess a patient’s health and report any change that may need to be looked over by a physician. Diet and exercise are some variables that are discussed in correlation with good health.

*Medical Ethics and Law

Students will explore the guidelines used to work with patients inside a health care setting. The state and national laws regarding patient rights and privacy are learned to prepare students for professional work. Ethics are also highly focused on, which teaches students patient treatment standards. This is an important course when pursuing careers.

*Communication

Courses in communication train students to understand how to interact with patients, doctors, and families. The nursing environment is examined and students participate in role-playing scenarios that address these areas.

Students also learn basic skills that explore the proper care of patients. Courses in first aid, human anatomy, infection control, and nursing care are major subjects that train students to become today’s leading nursing assistant professionals. Programs also give students a chance to establish their skills prior to obtaining careers by having them work directly with patients and their doctors. Patient safety and communication is developed in courses that have students working inside healthcare facilities.

Upon completion of training students must pass a written and clinical section of state administered examinations. Exam subjects typically include repositioning patients and taking vital signs. Written portions include information on ethics and communication. Common careers available to students include:

Private Home Care Assistants Orderlies Nursing Assistants

Students should consider vocational nursing assisting training options and begin completing the required coursework to enter careers. Accredited education is important to successfully obtaining jobs in this popular area of the health care industry. Agencies like the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools ( http://www.abhes.org/ ) are approved to fully accredit programs that offer a quality education.

DISCLAIMER: Above is a GENERIC OUTLINE and may or may not depict precise methods, courses and/or focuses related to ANY ONE specific school(s) that may or may not be advertised at PETAP.org.

Copyright 2010 – All rights reserved by PETAP.org.

By: Renata McGee

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Duquesne University School of Nursing offers several online graduate nursing programs, which includes two PhD nursing online programs. It also affords graduate students to complete all necessary nursing prerequisites courses online. Degrees may be complete with little or no on-campus attendance, utilizing the school’s state-of-the-art learning technologies and the Internet. When compared to on-campus courses, nursing courses taken online are identical in their objectives and rigor. Online students pay the same tuition as on-campus students; online course credits are structured no differently than the same course taken in a classroom. Whether a student chooses to take all nursing courses online or in combination with on-campus study, their diploma, certificate, or transcript will bear no distinction from that of a traditional Duquesne on-campus student. However, students are required to visit the campus once a year for a period of one week, which is usually the week prior to Thanksgiving.

All applicants to the online graduate nursing programs must have fulfilled the following nursing prerequisites prior to admissions:

Undergraduate statistics course or equivalent Undergraduate physical assessment course required for the Family Nurse Practitioner and Nursing Education programs Computer literacy (including the ability to send and download attachments) or completed courses in word processing, spreadsheet, database management and presentation graphics

Duquesne’s graduate distance learning allows students to complete their education with the flexibility that not all nursing schools offer, because virtually no on-campus classroom attendance is necessary. The only prerequisites to taking nursing courses online are basic computer skills including:

Send and receive email Attach, send and open documents from email or Internet sites Participate in online chats Research topics using the Web resources Use Internet library databases

How does it work? Students enrolled in the PhD nursing online programs, complete all their courses online. Course instructors use special Internet-based software for instruction, as well as post their lectures and reading assignments online. Student participate in the virtual classroom by using several formats including contributing to an online thread or message board, online chats, live virtual classroom meetings, and phone conference calls with other students and their instructor. The educational platform that Duquesne uses is the popular, Blackboard, a Course Management System (CMS) used widely among universities. In addition to learning, students can access their grades, course calendar, course descriptions, transcripts, student loan, or tuition status. Information about their instructor is also posted online, such as their educational background, areas of expertise, areas of research, other classes taught, office hours and location, phone contact, and email.

The two PhD nursing online programs that Duquesne offers is either a PhD, which focuses on research, or a DNP, which has a clinical focus. The student on the PhD track must complete the following nursing prerequisites courses online or on-campus:

Graduate course in Statistics (6 credits) Graduate course in Nursing Theory (3 credits) Graduate course in Nursing Research Methods (3 credits) Computer literacy or completed courses in word processing, spreadsheet, database management, and presentation graphics

The DNP track requires that applicants have completed only two nursing prerequisite courses online or on-campus prior to admission – either an undergraduate or graduate course in Statistics (3 credits) and a graduate course in Nursing Research Methods (3 credits).

The online Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) currently offers three areas of specialization – Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP), Forensic Nursing, and Nursing Education. Prior to beginning core course work and clinical requirements, students must complete 21 credits of FNP nursing prerequisites courses online. The maximum allotted time to finish the MSN program is six years. The MSN student pursuing a career in Nursing Education must complete 14 credits in nursing education in addition to coursework required by the MSN program including clinical core courses.

Whether you plan to apply to one of Duquesne’s PhD Nursing Online Programs or one of their other online master nursing programs, holding a degree from this prestigious university will be very impressive to future employers. Be sure to check the department’s website for updates to their program – including prerequisites.

By: Brenne Meirowitz

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The Internet has opened up a whole new avenue for people to take college courses. If you are interested in a career in nursing, many online college courses for nursing are available. Offered through accredited colleges and universities around the United States, they offer the training your need for the career transition or start you wish to make. Online nursing schools offer the information you need so that you can learn how to become a registered nurse.

College nursing courses online offer you as a student the convenience of working toward a new career while you still work at an old one, so you do not have to bring your life to a screeching halt in order to attend college. Internet access makes taking classes much easier to fit into your busy schedule as well, because you can go online when you have the time.

Online nursing courses will vary a bit depending on the degree you are pursuing. If you wish to become an RN, or registered nurse, you can do so by participating in a two-year associate degree program at a community college, a four-year university program, or a diploma program that takes three years to complete. If you wish to pursue a shorter college experience, you might want to consider becoming and LPN, or licensed practical nurse. This training can be completed in twelve to twenty-four months, and allows you to work with patients providing health care under the supervision of a doctor or a registered nurse. Nurses take courses covering anatomy and physiology, biology, organic chemistry, psychology, maternal and child health and pediatrics, mental health nursing, community health nursing, bioethics, management, pharmacology, and health assessment; these are just a sampling of the wide variety of classes that nursing students experience on their way to becoming registered nurses.

Registered nurses and licensed practical nurses must also, in addition to taking online college courses for nursing, pass the nurses’ licensing exam. This is called the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses, or NCLEX-RN. LPNs must also be licensed to work in any state, and the exam they take is the NCLEX-PN, PN referring to practical nurse. Each license must be periodically renewed, and in some instances continuing education classes are needed for license renewal. Online nursing courses make it easy for you to fit education into your busy nursing career so that you can keep up to date with continuing education requirements in your state.

Online nursing schools provide ample oppurtunity to those individual wishing to advance to graduate degrees in nursing. Nurses with Master’s degrees in the field can pursue work in the exciting areas of nurse practitioner, certified nurse-midwife, clinical nurse specialist, and certified registered nurse anesthetist. Online college courses for nursing can make all of this possible for you to attain.

By: Susan Slobac

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