Nursing is one of the best careers a person can go into: there is job security, good benefits, and the job is rewarding. However, if a person can not afford to attend traditional nursing classes at local colleges, there is another option: online nursing degrees. These degrees are recognized by many healthcare facilities and are more flexible and cost-effective than traditional classes. This is a great way for a person to enter the nursing world or to pursue a degree while they work a full-time job or care for their children.

There are many different online nursing degrees to look into. The key is to find institutions that are recognized by the healthcare industry. Thus, one should take the time research everything they can about online nursing degrees before they decide on the one that is right for them.

Online nursing degrees offer individuals flexibility: they give a person time to complete the degree. This makes the degree easier for people who have a full-time job, can’t leave the home, or if they are already caring for their own children or family members. Thus, if a person wants a nursing degree but needs a program that is flexible to their lives, they should look into online nursing degrees.

Have you been considering a career in the medical field? Even with the falling economy, nursing jobs are still in demand for trained professionals. No matter if you are just beginning a nursing career, or if you would like to further your current nursing skills, online nursing schools may be the answer.

There are many online nursing schools available, for the nursing industry. There are some courses that will require campus visits, but don’t worry most courses will not require any sort of campus visit at all. The price may range any where between $100.00 to over $500.00, there is also financial aide if you qualify.

Most online nursing schools will be taught through an online classroom, where assignments will be posted. Most interaction will be completed through emails.
This way you are able to work at your own pace.

Let’s face it, there are many of us out here that would love a better job, but we seem to think that there isn’t enough time in our busy schedules to fit school into our lives. Choosing an online nursing school, may give you the upper hand that you need to better yourself for the future.

With our nation facing such uncertain economic times, many people find themselves left suddenly without a job and looking for new employment. Some will wander aimlessly from one dead-end job to another until retirement; others will do something to secure a better future for themselves with a proper education.

For many of us, that means pursuing a nursing degree – the only problem is that many of us can’t simply drop our day-to-day lives in order to commit the amount of time it takes to get a nursing degree; or any kind of degree for that matter. But with the high quality of online nursing programs these days, you can earn your nursing degree online from the comfort of your own home and in your own free time before you even know it.

And even in this struggling economy you won’t have to worry about future job security once you’ve obtained your online nursing degree – it is one of the few careers today that are actually not on the decline. With a lucrative career in nursing you will gain pleasure in knowing that you’re helping others every single day, and you will be able to take pride in knowing that you were able to earn a nursing degree online without having to put your life on hold. You’ve got nothing to lose – get enrolled right away in an online nursing degree program and secure your future now; once you’re working your dream nursing job, you’ll be thankful that you did.

An online degree in nursing is meant for those who wish to pursue their career as a nurse but cannot attend the campus courses due to time constraints. The best thing about securing an online degree is that you can concentrate on your career growth without leaving your existing job. There are plenty of opportunities as countless accredited universities and colleges offer Bachelor’s or Master’s online degree in nursing. Certain institutions also have certificate choices. Different courses have different durations varying between 2-4 years.

For gaining a Bachelor’s online degree in nursing the candidate must have a valid RN (registered nurse license). He/she is also required to hold an associate nursing degree or a nursing diploma. It may take about eighteen to twenty-four months to complete the online degree. This degree is best for those who are already in this profession and aspire to enhance their career prospects.

For securing a master’s online degree in nursing (MSN), the candidate needs to have a BSN degree besides all the above mentioned requirements. The student should also be presently working as a registered nursed in any health care unit. Even those who have any working experience as a registered nurse, in the past two years, are also eligible for attaining online degree in nursing. As nursing is incomplete without proper clinical training, the online degree providers also arrange for clinical training at your nearest medical facility.

To gain an online degree in nursing is more affordable and has a shorter duration as compared to traditional nursing degrees. All you need to do is to fill an online form and submit the required educational certificates. The process is extremely simple and hassle free.

Advance Your Nursing Career Without Giving Up Your Paycheck! Jumpstart your nursing career and boost your earnings with an accredited Online Nursing Degree , an online MBA degree in Healthcare Administration, or train for high demand allied health professions such as medical assisting, respiratory therapy, medical transcription, x-ray technology, surgical assisting, medical billing and coding and more! Explore Online Nursing Degrees LPN to RN Transition Programs LPN to BSN Degree Online Online RN to BSN RN to MSN Bridge Program Online MS in Nursing Programs Nurse Practitioner Programs Become a Nurse Educator Legal Nurse Consulting Forensic Nursing Case Management Nursing More Nursing Specialty Programs Online Public Health Degrees MBA / Healthcare Administration Information = Free. Benefit to your career = Priceless! Furthering your career with an online nursing degree, healthcare administration degree, online MBA degree, or training in a high demand allied health career helps you: Boost your salary Increase your job flexibility Move into management

The National Student Nurse’s Association is a nonprofit organization for students enrolled in associate, baccalaureate, diploma, and generic graduate nursing programs. It is dedicated to fostering the professional development of nursing students.

Over 3,000 nursing students participate in NSNA’s Annual Convention, which features leadership and career development activities, opportunities to listen to renowned nursing leaders, hear about job opportunities and the chance to network with hundreds of other students. The program includes a state board exam mini review. NSNA holds a second meeting which attracts over 1,500 students yearly: the MidYear Conference offers workshops and panels on career and association development as well as a state board exam mini-review.

NSNA State Chapter Web Sites — Alphabetical Listing by Location

by Vickie L. Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD

Have you ever wondered whether you’re cut out to be an entrepreneur? Nurses sometimes tell me they aren’t sure if their nursing career has prepared them to start and succeed in their own legal nurse consultant practice. Yet even the most routine nursing job is full of life lessons that apply to the business world.

My first job as an intensive care nurse in a major medical center prepared me for business success. Subsequent jobs reinforced those early messages. I invite you to look closely at your own nursing career and discover the lessons that will help you succeed as a legal nurse consultant.

Success Lesson 1 — Find Your Passion and Turn It into a Business

As much as I loved my work with critically ill patients and their families, my inner voice told me I wouldn’t be working in a hospital forever. As a young nurse, the vision of myself working in the ICU at age 40, 50 or 60 just wouldn’t come into focus.

With only 6 years of nursing experience, I left the hospital and started my legal nurse consultant business. From there, I listened to my inner voice and reconnected with my first passion teaching. At age 8, I spent hours every day teaching an imaginary class. Today I am privileged to teach, coach and mentor nurses to live their career dreams. I turned my passion into a business, and since then I haven’t worked a single day.

Listen to your inner voice, and you will find your passion. Many nurses have reconnected to their passion through legal nurse consulting, a choice unknown to them before they took my program.

Success Lesson 2 – You Have the Power to Take Control of Your Career Destiny

Patients heal faster when they take control of their health and practice healthy habits. Even the smallest positive action can give a patient a sense of control and empower the healing process.

I learned this lesson time and again as I struggled to gain control of my own nursing career. Each time I refused to give in to the frustrations of working within the healthcare system and took a positive step on my own, I felt better. With every step I grew, I thrived and I came up with new ideas to further my sense of control and satisfaction.

The same is true about your career. You have the power to practice the healthy habits essential to take control of your career destiny. Educate yourself about the steps to achieving career health, including new career options like legal nurse consulting. Then take action on those steps. You really can take control of your career destiny.

Success Lesson 3 – Don’t Give in to Fear

As a nurse, I frequently treated patients who had the same progressive disease, yet experienced dramatically different outcomes. We all have known patients who lived years after their predicted demise and other patients who should have lived but didn’t because they gave up or didn’t want to live. The fact that so many elderly patients die within months of losing a spouse is a solid example of the mind-body connection. In almost every case, the patients who died too soon had given in to fear.

There’s also a mind-business connection that will influence the health of your business. When I give in to fear, I become the biggest obstacle to my success. That was true when I started my business 19 years ago. That is true today.

Fear will paralyze you instantly. Practice mind control and exercise your mind daily for positive thinking. Shake off your lack of confidence and negative thinking. Don’t wait for an MI to stop inhaling the toxic smoke of fear. Don’t let fear be the reason you don’t live your career dreams. Always remember the mind-set of the patients who live and the patients who die.

Success Lesson 4 – Nurses Can Do Anything

As nurses most of us have brought patients back to life. We all can recall at least one miracle story a case where, with our help, a patient survived against all odds.

Whenever I face a business crisis, I remind myself, “I’m a nurse and nurses can do anything.” I’ve repeated this same message for 19 years, and it has helped me overcome every obstacle.

If you can heal sick patients and handle life-threatening emergencies as easily as you make your bed in the morning, you really can do anything – especially something as straightforward as starting a business.

Success Lesson 5 – You Can’t Climb Mount Everest without Practicing on the Foothills

I had to have extensive education and training just to qualify for my first nursing job. All the lessons from that job helped prepare me for the next. Each successive nursing position required new and different skills necessitating more training and education.

The same applies to owning a business. Today I handle things easily and successfully that seemed impossible 19 years ago. But that’s because I’ve been in training for what I do now ever since I became a nurse.

If you’re frustrated with your nursing career, don’t feel like you’ve thrown your life away. No experience or job is a waste. Everything you have done has trained you to move up to the next level. Above all, don’t let the fact that you’re not trained to climb Mount Everest stop you from pursuing your dreams of becoming an independent legal nurse consultant. Your nursing training and experience was the first step. Start the next step of your training today, and you will make that climb to start your successful legal nurse consultant business.

Success Lesson 6 – The Nursing Process Is Your Friend

When I left clinical nursing, I thought I could set aside the “nursing process” forever. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Business requires that same process of assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation. Every project I take on requires me to assess the possibilities and needs, diagnose the problems, plan how to achieve my goals, implement the plan and evaluate my results.

Your nursing jobs have prepared you well. You can apply the nursing process to any business situation and challenge. You will thank your nursing instructors for this one. Every time you review a medical-related case, interview with an attorney or face a challenge in running your business, you will rely on the process they taught you.

{mospagebreak}

Success Lesson 7 – Act Quickly and Decisively

As an ICU nurse, I learned that seconds made a difference in patient outcome. That’s true for nurses in any specialty. I rarely had lots of time to ponder or brood over a clinical decision.

I have applied the same principles of acting quickly and decisively in business, too. Am I always correct? No. Do I make mistakes? Yes. Yet because of my nursing experience, I’m never paralyzed into inaction and I’ve been able to make the most of numerous opportunities I would have missed without acting quickly.

Don’t miss your chance to succeed. Learn to act quickly and decisively, and you will grow your legal nurse consultant business.

Success Lesson 8 – What You Focus on Is Where You Achieve Results

In nursing I was often overwhelmed by short staffing, heavy caseloads and lack of support from hospital administration. I soon learned to triage and focus on what I needed to do to heal patients in this less-than-ideal environment. Nursing taught me that where I focus my time is where I achieve results.

That skill comes in handy in business. It’s as important to triage and prioritize your actions in business as it is when working with patients. Every day I’m confronted with dozens of challenges, five things that must be done at once, and 20 new creative ideas for my business, but I rarely panic. The organizational and multi-tasking skills I learned as a nurse have served me well.

When you start your legal nurse consultant business, you will not receive any extra hours in the day. In fact, the days will feel shorter. Even the general public knows that working conditions for RNs are worse than ever. Your ability to focus on what’s really important under these conditions is the perfect preparation for your successful legal nurse consultant practice.

Success Lesson 9 – This Is Just Business, It’s Not Breast Cancer

Ministering to patients and family members helped me put life with all its problems and challenges into perspective. Today when I overreact to a problem or feel I’m in crisis, I think of sick and dying patients. I think, “Now fighting for your life is a REAL problem.”

In business I’ve had lots of ups and downs. When the down moments come, I remind myself, “This is business – not breast cancer.” This helps me focus positively on solving the problem rather than embarking on a pity party. I’ve thrown plenty of those “parties”, and they never helped me solve a single business problem.

As you grow your legal nurse consultant business, it helps to ask “So what if this month is not as successful as I planned?” or “So what if my best attorney-client retires?” and to remember its just business, not breast cancer.

Success Lesson 10 – Illness Can Wake You Up

As a nurse I treated many patients who only began to live after they almost died. We’ve all had patients who said they are glad they got sick, because while they were well, they weren’t living the life they wanted. The health crisis forced them to wake up, reassess their lives, decide what was truly important to them, and go for it.

Not every day is a healthy business day. Some days I wake up to a disease challenge in my business. Surprisingly, it’s the business ills and mistakes that often awaken me to creative ways of injecting my business with new life.

If your career is facing a health crisis, this is your opportunity to wake up and change things for the better. Legal nurse consulting is one way to restore the health of your career.

Success Lesson 11 – Business Is Personal

Even though technical skills are vital for an ICU nurse, the relationships with patients and their families were what mattered most to me. Those relationships paid off one day when I made a mistake. Because of our relationship, the patient requested that I continue being his nurse despite my error.

Legal nurse consulting is a service business where you will apply the same relationship principles you learned in nursing to your attorney-clients and prospects. Provide quality service and excellent work product that no other legal nurse consultant can replicate, and soon you’ll feel like you’re in a short-staffing situation all over again.

Success Lesson 12 – Healthy Patients Take Care of Themselves

We’ve all worked with healthy and unhealthy patients and we’ve seen the effects of poor health habits on the human body. The health of a pregnant woman is often dramatically reflected in the health of her offspring.

To run a successful company you must enjoy an optimal state of health. Give yourself permission to take care of yourself. I love my business, but I love myself more. After all, without a healthy me, I couldn’t muster the energy to give 110% to my clients and employees every day.

Every lesson I learned from nursing, I apply to my business today. You’ve already learned similar lessons yourself. You don’t need another hospital job to help you succeed in business. Take a moment to revel in all nursing has taught you. These lessons will multiply your success when you transfer them to your new legal nurse consulting practice.

About the Author: Inc. Top 10 Entrepreneur Vickie L. Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD is the founder and president of Vickie Milazzo Institute, legal nurse consultant certification company. Credited by The New York Times with pioneering the legal nurse consulting profession in 1982. She is the author of the bestselling self help book for women, Inside Every Woman: Using the 10 Strengths You Didn’t Know You Had to Get the Career and Life You Want Now.

by Bill Sterzenbach

The nursing profession has witnessed tremendous changes in the last five decades. In this continually changing environment, it is important to study the trends in nursing jobs in order to determine a successful career path.

Today the demand for Registered Nurses or RNs has increased considerably, because of two factors. Firstly, relatively less fresh enrolment down the years since the turn of the century along with retirements of extant RNs has led to a shortage of trained nurses. Secondly, there is an increase in a nurse’s range of function, with rise in the number of the elderly due to improved healthcare systems and the introduction of community-based preventive projects.

According to the Federal Bureau of Health professions, “In 2000, the National supply of FTE registered nurses was estimated at 1.89 million, while the demand was projected at 2 million, a shortage of 110,000, or 6 percent. Based on what is known about trends in the supply of RNs and their anticipated demand, the shortage is expected to grow relatively slowly until 2010, by which time it will have reached 12 percent”.
(Source http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/healthworkforce/reports/rnproject/report.htm)

It is clearly a time for those interested in healthcare professions to join nursing, and those already working as qualified nurses to consider specialization. Pay hikes in the nursing industry in recent years are a good incentive, though the number of nurses existing is still short of that in demand. Some of the trends in the area of nursing jobs well worth considering can be both well paid and challenging.

Becoming a traveling nurse has long been a popular option since some agencies began to work with traveling nurses in order to cater for temporary shortfalls in certain areas. It can combine the advantages of traveling free of cost to see a new place while enjoying free housing and other benefits. This also provides the opportunity to add a premier hospital to one’s resume. Staff nursing at Magnet hospitals is also a good option. They involve their nurses in decisions affecting the patient and the work environment and allow participation in shared governance structures.

In the aftermath of a natural disaster like Katrina, the most immediately perceived need was for someone to be able to combine clinical skills with information technology. The need for electronic medical records was emphasized in the wake of the devastation left behind by the hurricane. This is the purview of the nurse informatics who can find a niche in various areas including corporations that hire them for positions in R&D and sales, as they are able to demonstrate products to the customers. They can branch into teaching and training positions in the academia, or as systems analysts, or information officers in hospitals.

There is also a surging demand for Acute Care Nurse Practitioners (ACNPs), who provide care in critical situations, where the patients have advanced, acute or chronic problems. They are usually found in Intensive Care Units(ICUs), but also work in various other areas including pediatrics, psychiatry or anesthetics. They obtain medical histories, conduct physical examinations, and even plan and direct treatments and investigations.

Another option for the ACNPs can be in the area of genetic nursing. The mapping of the human genome means that the importance of genes and genetics in certain medical conditions cannot be ignored, and there is a need for trained nurses to simplify the geneticists’ prognosis and interpret test results for the patients and their families. Such nurses work in regional genetics networks, specialty genetic labs, and help in education, counseling, and testing.

Modern medicine requires special implants and insertions in the patient’s body for a long-term venous access, especially in the case of chemotherapy or antibiotic therapies. The infusion nurses do this successfully and are usually on call in various hospitals.

End-of-life nursing is another trend that has renewed interest in hospice and palliative care, and is likely to be increasingly on demand in an aging population and a national consciousness towards dignifying the death experience. Also in a post 9/11 world where the threat of bio-terrorism looms large, nursing in Public Health is seeing increased investments.

In an era of technological advancements, increasing opportunities in healthcare professions and better incentives than ever before, the nursing practice is sure to become more popular, and meet increasing demands for care, comfort, knowledge and support.

About the Author: Insurance Workforce is a leader in the Insurance Jobs Industry. Let us help you with your next job search or job placement. Visit us at http://www.insuranceworkforce.com/

Helpful Resources:

Kaplan University: Offers an accredited, online R.N.-to-B.S.N. degree program and also offers nursing specialty education in Case Management Nursing, Geriatric Care Management Nursing, Forensic Nursing, Legal Nurse Consulting, and Life Care Planning. [Request More Information]

The College Network: Combines the power of 10 major universities under one umbrella and offers the largest selection of fully accredited online nursing degree programs in the country including the nation’s only completely online LPN to RN program. Programs include LPn to RN, LPN to BSN, RN to BSN, *NEW RN to MSN bridge program, MSN, Diploma/Foreign – Trained RN to B.S. in Nursing, and more. [Request More Information]

by Rita Henry

By the year 2014 – just eight years away – there will be 3.6 million new jobs available in the medical profession, and the bulk of those jobs – about 60% of them – will be open to those with nursing degrees of one kind or another. The demand for registered nurses is highest – the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the number of jobs available for registered nurses will rise by 27% by 2014 – but there will also be increased opportunities for certified nursing assistants, licensed practical nurses, nurse practitioners, physician’s assistants and those in medical technical fields like phlebotomy and pulmonology.

And if you thought that the only jobs available for nurses were in hospitals and medical facilities, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has more news for you. Less than 60% of registered nurses work in a hospital. A nursing degree opens doors of opportunity into so many fields that it’s easily one of the most versatile and useful degrees that you can acquire. Not only that – a nursing degree appeals to a wide range of people. According to the BLS, about 20% of those entering the nursing workforce are older workers starting on a second career. Many of them have been attracted by rising salaries triggered by the nursing shortage, but for many of them, a nursing degree is a chance to do something that makes them feel good.

Whether you’ve just started your nursing career, are returning to work after a hiatus, or are switching to a career in nursing as a second career, take a look at some of the opportunities that are open to you with a nursing degree.

Pediatric Home Health Care is one of the growing fields for those with nursing degrees. Every state in the Union now has some sort of Early Intervention program that identifies children under the age of three years with special needs. Pediatric home health care gives you the opportunity to work with children and parents and make a real difference in their lives.

Elder Home Health Care is the other end of the spectrum. The ‘aging of America’ means that more and more people require a little bit of help to remain in their homes. Nursing assistants, registered nurses and licensed nurses can provide that little bit extra that will allow a senior citizen to maintain a higher quality of life and remain at home when all they need is a few hours of medical care a day or week.

Working in a Blood Donor Center is an option that makes you part of the life-saving network. There’s more to blood donor centers than just starting IVs. Nurses who specialize in pharesis can command high salaries, and a nurse working in the blood collection field can be a valuable community organizer as well as a medical practitioner.

A Critical Care Transport nurse requires multiple nursing degrees, but it can be one of the most interesting and fascinating nursing jobs available. A CCT nurse accompanies patients being transported from home or a nursing facility to another nursing facility. The nurse is responsible for maintaining continuity of care for every patient – in the back of an ambulance. It’s a challenging and fun job that commands a salary commensurate with the experience required.

On Site Nursing is a wide open field for medical workers with nursing degrees. You can work at an amusement park or zoo, or in the medical office at a state or national park, or provide medical backup for the emergency workers at a beach or other recreational setting. If you choose to work on site at a camp or other facility, your benefits may include free tuition for your own family.

Rita Henry is a contributing editor for Nursing Job Finder, the leading job and resource site for the Nursing Industry. Interested in receiving only the hottest Nursing job listings weekly for free? To learn more visit Nursing Job Finder.

by Sara Ellis, RN, BSN

The drastic shortage of nurses for the next decade is well documented. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts that an additional 450,000 Registered Nurses (RNs) will be needed to fill the present demand through 2008. By the end of the decade, 1.7 million nurses will be needed, while less than 635,000 will be available.

What to do to solve this supply and demand problem is the $1,000,000 question for the healthcare industry. How can the industry retain and replace an aging national nursing force and attract younger students to a profession that is self- fulfilling but physically and mentally demanding?

The first step might be to educate prospective nurses about the great personal satisfaction and the many different types of career paths available and attainable to a nursing professional. Nursing is a respected profession, offering many career choices. RNs not only offer expert care and attention, but they also manage people, information, budgets and technology in a variety of settings including hospitals, schools, government and private practices.

One tool to retain current nurses and make the profession more attractive to prospective nurses is to offer more “job perks”. Many other industries offered special perks when they faced similar staffing shortages. The one benefit that seems to have a great impact on employee retention and new employee hiring is the offering of educational benefits, including tuition reimbursement to veteran and new employees. By offering educational programs, companies are able to retain their employees, promote from within, lower recruitment and training costs and increase worker productivity. However, most nurses are unable to attend traditional college degree programs and take advantage of these educational benefits because they have limited free time due to working on rotating schedules and numerous hours of overtime.

The College Network has eliminated this no-time problem for nurses with its online LPN-to-RN Degree programs. The online LPN To BSN Degree program now makes it possible for LPN’s to earn their Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing entirely online. There has never been a better time for nurses to move forward in their careers…to strive for new dreams… to achieve outstanding personal growth and satisfaction!

A whole new array of fully accredited degree-completion programs are available for nurses through dozens of nationally renowned universities and The College Network. No Classes to Attend! Nurses can complete virtually 100% of the course work in the comfort of their own home!

The online LPN-to-BSN program features online “classrooms” that are designed using the very latest technology to give students the “digital tools” they need to enhance their educational experience. These tools include on-demand video streamed lectures that allow students to view the lectures as many times as they need; an asynchronous online bulletin board that permits students and faculty to interact on key topics and chat rooms that are used by instructors to host “virtual” office hours where students can collaborate real-time with faculty members.

The College Network’s online nursing degree programs give nursing professionals the opportunity to continue their careers while they pursue higher education- working at their own pace without disrupting their busy schedules and family commitments. Students set their own hours and attend class in the comfort of their home or work, whenever it is convenient for them. No classroom attendance is required

The College Network works with major nursing schools nationwide to bring students the very best fully accredited programs that best fit each nurse’s specific needs. Online health care degree options include LPN to RN, LPN to BSN, Diploma RN to BSN, RN to BSN, Master Degree Programs, and Health Care Administration.

Over 85,000 adult learners who have chosen The College Network to provide solutions to their educational needs and to help advance their education at their convenience, without compromising their careers or family commitments. The College Network offers nurses
1. Online degrees through prestigious accredited universities
2. No Classroom Attendance Required
3. Academic Success is Guaranteed for the TCN portion
4. Low Cost With Guaranteed Financing
5. Learn at Your Place and Your Pace

The College Network’s mission is to make quality education as accessible and affordable as possible for working adults.

Build your education around your lifestyle…
not your lifestyle around your education.

To learn more about getting an online LPN to BSN Degree, or RN to BSN Degree visit The College Network.