The extended day—the amount of additional time has not been determined—is being funded through a $2.9 million federal grant over the next three years and $600,000 in contributions from seven foundations and nonprofit organizations.
Mass 2020, a state affiliate of the National Center on Time & Learning, will assist the two schools in extending the day. The schools hope to replicate the success of the Edwards Middle School in Charlestown, where an extended day has helped boost test scores and has offered students more enrichment opportunities.
“We know that simply expanding the school day won’t necessarily lead to better results,” Johnson said in a statement before tonight’s meeting. “Having partners like Mass 2020 at our side as we recreate these school schedules and expand the academic and enrichment opportunities for these students will ensure that we are able to surpass all of our own expectations.”
The two schools will lengthen their days just after state education officials end funding for extended days at two other schools—Timilty Middle School in Roxbury and Umana Academy in East Boston. State officials believe the extra time was not used effectively enough to boost test scores, and funding will end this June.
The School Committee will also weigh a proposal to temporarily reopen a Dorchester school to accommodate a sudden influx of preschoolers who require special education immediately. If the committee approves the measure, Fifield Elementary, which closed less than a year ago, would open next week as an early childhood education center and could have seven classrooms in operation by the end of the school year.
The proposal is being put forward as the School Department faces a class-action lawsuit in federal court that asserts that the department routinely violates state and federal laws by denying evaluations and classroom placements for preschoolers with special needs.
The budget outlook for Boston schools for the next school year is much better than three years ago, when the nation’s economic crisis prompted the loss of hundreds of positions and other initiatives.
The latest spending proposal, which requires School Committee approval next month, is 3.1 percent higher than this current school year’s budget—an increase being provided to the School Department by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, as he crafts his budget for the City Council.
John McDonough, the School Department’s chief financial officer, called the increase “very significant” in an interview before the tonight’s meeting.
He pointed out that other big-city districts nationwide are contemplating massive cuts to balance their budgets. Los Angeles, for instance, is considering shrinking its school year to 168 days and San Diego may cut 1,100 positions, McDonough said.
But balancing the proposed school budget for next year in Boston was not easy, McDonough said. In spite of the increase, the School Department still faced a $28 million potential budget shortfall, primarily due to a reduction in state and federal grants.
The School Department was able to remedy the gap through a variety of measures, such as delaying building repairs and some textbook purchases, consolidating teacher training programs, and reducing an unspecified number of vacant positions. The Department also intends to pursue new funding through President Obama’s education agenda.
“One thing we are proud of is that we are able to move forward in a deliberate way to improve school quality,” McDonough said.
]]>With a house in Sarasota and roots in Yorkshire, England, Carol Lee is part of a small but growing army of “maternity nurses” (Europe) or “newborn care specialists” (the United States).
While the quaint tradition of a baby nurse who moves into the house to care for newborns around the clock is alive and well in other parts of the world, the phenomenon is relatively new in America, and experienced candidates are in short supply.
A spike in U.S. demand over the last few years, say Lee and others, coincides with a higher number of older mothers and multiple births.
According to a Centers for Disease Control report issued last month, one in every 30 babies born is now a twin, compared to one in 53 in 1980. More than a third of all births are to women 30 and older, up from just one-fifth in 1980. Fertility treatments aside, older mothers always have been more likely to have multiple babies.
Nancy Hamm, an officer with the Newborn Care Specialist Association and owner of the Exclusively Baby Nurses agency in California, said requests for help from parents of twins have more than doubled in the past three years.
“There are not enough qualified people to service the growing number of multiple jobs here in the U.S.,” she said.
Lee, who specializes in caring for twins, has worked for “British royalty, rock stars and footballers” on 12-week contracts, as well as middle-income families who employ her for the first week or so after birth.
Her workplaces have ranged from palaces and luxury hotels to “a very small, IKEA-type house in Copenhagen.”
“You’re like a bird in a gilded cage because you can’t go anywhere,” she says. “The furthest you can get is to take the baby for a walk in its buggy, if the parents allow it.”
One thing most of her clients have in common, Lee says: They are high-profile, can-do people with plenty of disposable income but not so much energy for those 4 a.m. feedings. Often they live far away from families who might offer support and advice.
]]>Participants should:
• Be women between ages 30 and 65.
• Never have had a diagnosis of breast cancer, including DCIS. A history of other cancers would not make someone ineligible to participate, however.
• Not have the BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation. Women can participate if they do not know whether they have the mutation.
• Have worked night shifts for at least five consecutive years at some point in their lives. Rotating night shift workers, meaning at least three night shifts a month in addition to day and evening hours, are eligible.
]]>Become a nurse.
Julie Wells, 43, of Mohawk, was looking for a career where she would be able to find a job, have benefits and enough income to support her family.
She decided to go into health care, a field she has worked in for 23 years. Wells is a nurse manager of maternal child services at Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare.
“I knew in nursing I would always be able to find a job,” Wells said. “I think there are still opportunities in health care. In some fields it’s very difficult, if this is where you want to live, for jobs.”
Wells is right on target.
In the Utica-Rome area, other than government jobs, health care is at the top of the list. Manufacturing, and hospitality and entertainment, also employ large numbers of workers, said Dave Mathis, director for Oneida County Workforce Development.
These major industries don’t seem to be changing anytime soon.
Businesses in health care industries, for example, employed 22,205 workers in the Utica-Rome area in 2011, a number that increased 113 from 2010, according to data from Mark Barbano, state Labor Department regional analyst.
And the prediction is health care will continue to grow as the population ages.
Jobs have been a major issue across the nation, with the unemployment rate standing at 8.5 percent. In the Mohawk Valley, unemployment rates and industries have not seen drastic changes.
“This area has been kind of interesting because we never get to the big highs in terms of jobs, or big lows,” Mathis said. “We get along steadily.”
The annual average unemployment rate in the Utica-Rome area was 7.9 percent in 2010 and remained the same in 2011, compared to 8.6 percent statewide in 2010 and 8 percent in 2011, according to state Department of Labor data.
Total jobs in all area industries decreased 1.4 percent from 2010 to 2011 during the January through June time period, according to the data. It was down mainly due to a decrease in federal jobs because many temporary workers were hired for the census, Barbano said.
]]>
Nurse anesthetists have the responsibility of administering anesthesia to patients. They work under
the supervision of physicians, surgeons, dentists, anesthesiologists, and other specialists in a variety
of settings, such as hospitals, clinics, outpatient centers, or research centers. They are trained to
administer all approved anesthetic techniques.
2) Nurse Researcher – $95,000
Nurse researchers usually work at laboratories and universities conducting or assisting in scientific
research and evaluation. Their studies may cover a variety of fields, such as biology, psychology, and
health care systems. They may also be lecturers and professors of nursing at academic institutions.
3) Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner – $95,000
Psychiatric nurse practitioners work with individuals with psychiatric disorders, mental conditions, or
who suffer from substance abuse. They are licensed to diagnose and treat psychiatric disorders and
they can practice autonomously in 20 states. Some may specialize in a certain group of individuals, such
as children, adolescents, or adults, and they work in a variety of facilities, from hospitals and clinics to
emergency services and community health centers.
4) Certified Nurse Midwife – $84,000
Nurse midwives offer care to women with low-risk pregnancies through the postpartum period. They
offer a range of services, from gynecological care and child delivery to menopausal care. They may
work independently or work under the supervision of a physician. Nurse midwives can also prescribe
medications and treatments to their patients.
5) Pediatric Endocrinology Nurse – $81,000
Pediatric endocrinology nurses care for children who have diseases related to the endocrine system,
which cause problems with physical growth and sexual development. The most common diseases
they deal with are diabetes, intersex disorders, hypoglycemia, and puberty difficulties. These nurses
help children and their families learn how to deal with the problems related to the disease and offer
treatment.
6) Orthopedic Nurse – $81,000
Orthopedic nurses help patients who have musculoskeletal disorders, which can range from acute
fractures to bone density disorders. They are trained in specific skills such as muscle rehabilitation,
casting, and neurovascular monitoring. They work in a variety of settings, from trauma and emergency
departments to sports medicine and acute care.
7) Nurse Practitioner – $78,000
Nurse practitioners are registered nurses who have received advanced training in nursing. They
generally specialize in a specific field, such as pediatrics, geriatrics, or women’s health and must be
licensed or certified through a state medical board. Some work under the supervision of doctors, but
they can also serve as primary care providers and supervise other nurses. They focus on educating
patients toward prevention and healthy lives.
8) Clinical Nurse Specialist – $76,000
Clinical nurse specialists care for patients in a manner similar to nurse practitioners, but they also work
to improve the work of other nurses and the overall health system. They offer advice and education to
health offices and clinics in order to help them provide better care.
9) Gerontological Nurse Practitioner – $75,000
Gerontological nurse practitioners specialize in the field of gerontology, which studies the effects of
aging. They care for older adults with acute and chronic diseases related to aging, which may range from
cardiovascular disease and diabetes to dizziness and stroke.
10) Neonatal Nurse – $74,000
Neonatal nurses care for newborn infants up to a month old. They offer care to both healthy infants and
those with minor or serious health conditions who need extra care in order to survive. They are usually
registered nurses (RNs) who may or may not have neonatal specializations.
This article was written by Erin McKinney, who is a licensed nurse practitioner. Erin also owns the site
Masters of Nursing for students interested in getting an
advanced degree in the nursing field.
“CCBC has been revising its nursing curriculum for the past several years to better reflect the current and future workplace,” said Elizabeth Webster, RNC MS, nursing program coordinator and project director for the grant. “Initially, we tackled the didactic part of the curriculum. This grant will enable us to focus on the clinical education component that is designed to mirror direct patient care and give students a more hands-on, sensory educational experience.”
]]>Applications are available at www.sic.edu/onlinenursing. The deadline for submitting applications is March 31. Classes will begin in August.
“We are excited about the implementation of the SIONI hybrid-online ADN nursing program,” said Gina Sirach, director of nursing and allied health at SIC. “This part-time program will increase our capacity to prepare students to further their careers as nurses, and it will allow students the flexibility, over a four-semester period, to access newly developed courses outside of the traditional classroom.”
Sirach indicated that all nursing theory classes will be offered online, while all required on-campus labs and clinicals will meet one or two days per week.
]]>With regards to my first clinical placement, I may as well have skipped onto the ward with a sign stating the words ‘Florence Nightingale II’ stuck to my forehead with a drawing pin. Needless to say, I left the dementia assessment unit after my first shift with tears being determinedly held back, and tail firmly tucked between ones legs. My first experience of dementia certainly opened my eyes.
I have never been frightened of working. Although unfamiliar, the shift pattern was something I grew accustomed to rather quickly. However, it was my sheer ignorance of how many learning opportunities that would suddenly be placed in front of me that really took me aback - first-year ignorance at its exemplory best. I also found that almost every single nursing student has an “I will never cut it as a nurse” moment; in my case, there were more than one. Being a nursing student genuinely is a case of learning something new every single day; luckily, I was blessed with the opportunity to work with a fantastic, supportive group of staff on my first placement.
]]>Brenden Cooke has joined the team at Gympie TAFE, after having been a registered nurse working in operating theatres at Nambour Hospital until recently.
The latest course begins on Monday and anyone interested should phone 1300 656 188 to find out more so they can enrol by the end of this week.
Mr Cooke is one of three nursing teachers at the Wide Bay TAFE’s Gympie campus.
And with a fully equipped replica hospital ward for a classroom, there could be few better places to learn the vital healing skills which keep hospitals going and their patients on the road to recovery.
With real hospital beds (peopled with specially designed practice dummies) and real equipment, the course is a practical hands-on experience aimed at training people and ensuring they can get jobs at the end of it.
Mr Cooke’s fellow nursing teacher Rose Ann Winnett said: “The TAFE Diploma of Nursing is a qualification in itself, allowing graduates to work as endorsed enrolled nurses.”
]]>Although my mentors were exacting and sometimes very tough with me, I always felt supported. I knew I had an ally in both of them, if I was uncertain or floundering. They never made me feel stupid or tried to embarrass me in front of my boss or other nurses.
]]>Then the recession hit, leaving new nurses struggling to find jobs as hiring slowed.
Nursing school administrators found themselves in a balancing act between meeting the needs of current students who were trying to get hired and preparing to meet the looming workforce demands.
It’s in that context that Radford decided to take the unusual step of reducing the size of its largest nursing program while continuing to emphasize an advanced degree nursing program the school created two years ago.
Radford isn’t alone in reshaping the role it intends to play in educating the nursing workforce of the future. Across Southwest Virginia, nursing programs have made conscious choices about the type of nurse they want to educate as they carve out a place for themselves and work with employers to determine exactly what needs are on the horizon.
“I think they are doing a better job at the schools getting them ready to meet our needs,” said Pam Hardesty, chief nursing officer at LewisGale Regional Health System. “I find the new nurses coming out, I’m very encouraged by them. They are incredible. I’m very encouraged for the future. I think we are producing some excellent nurses in the nursing schools and that we have excellent schools here.”
The learning experience
Radford’s decision to lower enrollment in its bachelor of science in nursing program by about 20 slots wasn’t a response to the recent hiring slump, said Kim Carter, director of the Radford University School of Nursing.
Instead, the decision was a faculty-driven effort to ensure that Radford uses its resource to best prepare its students for the changing world of nursing.
Specifically, Radford faculty wanted a lower student-teacher ratio for its bachelor degree program, Carter said.
“In nursing, we have to think about patient safety and we have to think about the learning experience for the student,” she said. “This is about patient safety. The patients are so much sicker on the hospital unit than in the past and the faculty need more time with the students.”
The decision will not affect Radford’s Roanoke program, where about 100 students are enrolled. The drop will occur at the main Radford campus, where about 160 slots currently exist.
Even as Radford plans to decrease enrollment, the university has focused on creating a doctorate nursing program. The move is a response to the need for more highly trained nurses who can be leaders in clinical settings, Carter said.
Two years ago, Radford started the region’s first doctor of nursing practice program. There are 47 students enrolled, with plans to admit another 25.
Similarly, Jefferson College of Health Sciences has made some decisions about the direction of its nursing program that have resulted in changes to the student population.
In 2010, Jefferson College ended its associates degree program, but it also chose to expand its bachelor of science in nursing program. It added a new program designed to attract students who already have earned a bachelor’s degree in another area and now want a nursing career.
Twenty-five students are enrolled in the fast-track, 16-month program, said Ava Porter, chairwoman of the college’s nursing department.
“I have big plans down the road for enlarging the program,” she said.
Meanwhile, this fall Virginia Western Community College will increase its class size for its associates degree in nursing program from 75 to 100 students.
“We have a tremendous demand from students,” said Tresia Samani, vice president for academic and student affairs at Virginia Western.
After Jefferson College stopped offering the associate’s degree, the community college became the only place in the Roanoke Valley to earn the two-year degree toward being a licensed registered nurse, Samani said.
The job market
Even as nursing programs have adapted to meet the demands of the health care industry, there have been obstacles in the job market.
“Employment rates are down a little,” Carter said. “That won’t last. The jobs will be back up soon.”
Both Carter and Samani said they have seen the availability of jobs improve recently.
“I don’t think we’re in a soft job market now — I think we may just be coming out of it,” Samani said.
Both Carilion and LewisGale, two of the biggest employers of new nurses in the region, said that the recession did mean fewer jobs.
Recently, however, Carilion has picked up its hiring of new nursing graduates, with a 17 percent increase in new hires from 2010 to 2011. Last year Carilion hired about 100 new nursing graduates and LewisGale hired 35.
At LewisGale, the vacancy rate for nurses is below 5 percent.
“It’s very low,” said LewisGale’s Hardesty. “But I do think there will be jobs. †I have no doubt the shortage is going to rear its ugly head again.”
It has meant greater competition among graduates for jobs and has allowed employers to be selective.
It also has required nursing students to learn, like other job seekers, how to stand out.
“A lot of people screen themselves out because they don’t take the time to fill out the application,” said Debbie Lovelace, senior director of human resources at Carilion. “You need to compete for a nursing job just like any other position.”
Gone are the days when a graduate leaves school with a job in hand before even sitting for the registered nurse licensing exam.
At Radford, it used to be that 98 percent of graduates had a job the day they received their degrees. Today, that has dropped to about 30 percent, Carter said.
At Virginia Western the changing marketplace has led to a focus on teaching students about interviewing and job hunting.
“We have had to remind students that you don’t go to an interview in flip flops and a T-shirt. †We have worked on interviewing,” said Sharon Morfesi, the nursing program head at Virginia Western.
For Kelli Loftus of Roanoke County, finding a job was about old-fashioned networking.
Loftus, 41, said being an older graduate may have helped her understand how to approach finding the job she wanted.
“I had to be face to face with the people I wanted to work for,” she said. “I think some of the younger generations are so used to sending out emails that they forget to make the connection and say, ‘Hey this is me. I really want to work here and this is why you should hire me.’ “
]]>Strategies: Develop strategic partnerships; foster relationships that support emergency nursing; expand advocacy opportunities in emergency healthcare policy; explore and provide innovative approaches in the development and delivery of programs, products and services.
General Assembly resolutions: Support the inclusion of ultrasound-guided peripheral venous access within the scope of practice of RNs; collaborate, educate and advocate for the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine’s “Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health” report.
Define, Identify and Advocate for a Culture of Safe Practice and Safe Care
Strategies: Develop strategic practice partnerships; recognize, support and promote exemplary emergency nursing practice; proactively identify and address key clinical issues affecting emergency healthcare; recognize, support and promote best practices for emergency nurses.
General Assembly resolutions: Develop position statement regarding association’s opposition to paid reservations for ED services; provide resources and education for managing mild to moderately ill children with difficult venous access; convene a work team to recommend guidelines for the care of chronically impaired patients in the ED; maintain database for injury prevention educational programs that are promising and proven.
]]>“We have more applicants than what we can take in,” says Nursing Director Barb Crouse.
Crouse says there’s simply not enough space or faculty. The program has already expanded to several campuses, including Ina, Mt. Vernon and Pinckneyville and starting next month, classes will begin in McLeansboro.
While the college turns out more and more nurses, Crouse says there are still plenty of job openings.
“Just recently I was trying to contact former students to offer them a position helping out here in the lab as an assistant,” she says. “It was interesting to me to find out almost everyone I talked to was already working somewhere.”
Despite the unsteady economy, nursing graduates are finding jobs two-and-a-half times faster than their classmates according to the Bureau of Labor. That job stability is the reason 36-year-old Jason Orkies and 18 year old Haleigh Hagood are working on their LPN certification.
]]>