Monthly Archive for May, 2010

Diversity Opportunities in Nursing Education

Published
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admin
on May 13, 2010
in Nursing Education
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i_nurses_4For many different individuals in all stages of life, the prospect of becoming an RN can shine a bright light at the end of a tunnel often filled with job loss, repossession of the household car and the threat of loss of housing or foreclosure.

For single moms, the opportunity to earn a lucrative nursing salary means a way to provide for one’s family and create a future for their children. For low-income minorities, earning a career as a nurse is a way of maximizing earning potential, providing new financial opportunities for the next generation while giving back to the community.

A career path in nursing offers endless options that can be added to the already attractive RN salary (over $65,000 per year on average – double the national median salary). Nurses can start at the LPN level, working as a practical nurse while going to school for their Bachelor’s degree. After earning their BSN degree and RN license, there are opportunities for additional certifications in specialty areas such as critical care or oncology as well as option to continue one’s education to the primary care provider level and a very lucrative career as a nurse practitioner.

The opportunities are endless and statistics show that, on average, minority nurses are more likely to take advantage of them. 52% of African-American nurses go on to earn the bachelor’s degree in nursing, versus 46% of Caucasian nurses. 46% of Hispanic nurses also earn their BSN (12% of all Hispanic women across the board of any sort of bachelor’s degree). Minority nurses are also more likely to use their career earnings to start a second career while also giving back to their home communities with their newfound health care knowledge and expertise.

There are several national scholarship programs geared towards promoting diversity in nursing by attracting minority students. The U.S. Indian Health Service offers financial assistance for American Indians who agree to work for their department following graduation. Chicago offers a free practical nursing program that prepares minority students to sit for the LPN boards by high school graduation.

Finally, on a national level the United Health Foundation’s Diverse Scholars Initiative grants scholarships that average $5,000 per student to African American, American Indian, Asian American and Latino American students.

Sources: Center for the Study of the History of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Businesswire.com

Learn to Work as a Team in Nursing School

Published
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admin
on May 5, 2010
in Nursing Schools
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i_nurses_2During nursing school, there is the tendency to live in a learning vacuum. The only interactions you have as a student are with your instructors, fellow students, and, if you are lucky to have them and can properly manage your time, friends from other majors and extracurricular activities.

Even on the bustling floor of a hospital during a clinical, when you are surrounded by a slew of other health care workers, it is easy to get a bad case of tunnel vision and see only your two or three patients, your instructor, and your fellow students.

This kind of tunnel vision is immediately shattered as soon as you hit the real world running. Suddenly, as a new grad, you are responsible for working in harmony with other nurses, doctors, nurse’s aides, lab technicians, unit clerks (the heart of every floor that you learn quickly to worship) and others on the health care team. The fact is, health care is a team sport and the sooner that nursing students can put this principle into practice, the better.

While you are still in nursing school, make a concerted effort to take the blinders off and observe how the finely tuned (most of the time) environment operates in hospitals, nursing homes, and other clinical settings. Each facility is different and there are valuable lessons to be learned in each of your clinical locations.

For instance, I learned during my nursing home rotation how the top priority of all the nurses and health care workers is maintaining a “homey” feel; it’s all for one and one for all when assisting residents (not patients) without such a strict “my patient versus your patient” delineation of care. In the fast paced settings of hospitals, however, the nurse is essentially the CEO of a care team for each patient.

Some savvy nursing schools are now implementing programs that teach nursing students how to work with other members of the health care team. Whether your school offers such an approach or not, this is still a learning experience that you can seek out for yourself that will ultimately give you an edge after graduation.