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20 July 2009 - 14:10
Moving From an RN to a BSN
The medical profession is in a state of constant change. New information and technologies appear on almost a daily basis and the healthcare industry is having a difficult time staying in sync with all these advancements. RNs have been the backbone of the nursing industry for years, but the need for additional education to fill management and business roles has never been greater. Nurses who choose to enroll in online BSN programs are not only increasing their medical knowledge, they are immersing themselves in leadership training as well as a solid liberal arts education. A BSN opens new doors within the healthcare industry. Patients may not know the difference between an RN and a BSN, but in terms of educational advancement and employment opportunities there’s a huge difference.
In order to enroll in an online BSN program, a nurse needs an associate degree in nursing from an accredited National League of Nursing school and the nurse should have character references from reliable sources like work supervisors or teachers.
Is an online BSN or MSN worth it?
Nurses who work full time and have family responsibilities may find it hard to pursue a BSN or an MSN; there are only so many hours in a day, but the benefits of enrolling in a BSN or MSN program are well worth the inconvenience. The great part of online study is you do have flexibility in terms of time. A self-paced online program is designed for nurses who have family responsibilities and other personal commitments. The rewards of earning a BSN degree can increase dramatically if an RN is interested in business or management.
RNs certainly perform a great service and can enjoy a long-term career without thinking about a BSN, but for any nurse who is interested in a leadership position within the nursing profession a BSN is a must. Head nurses, assistant directors, directors and other management positions require a BSN. Nurses with a BSN can pursue a career in research, teaching and consulting, just to name a few. They can focus on business and manage a pharmaceutical company, a private clinic or an insurance company. Some nurses with a BSN degree manage home health clinics as well as other healthcare service related businesses. Nurses who earn a BSN degree increase career opportunities, which results in better benefits and compensation. It’s hard to put a price on the personal satisfaction a BSN or MSN degree gives every nurse who earns one.
What’s involved with online BSN programs?
Online programs can be self paced programs where the nurse studies at a pace that fits into an existing schedule or they can be structured like a traditional classroom where there is a specific start and end date. Most nurses like the self pace option for obvious reasons; time is a valuable commodity for everyone and flexibility is important tool in managing time.
The online classes are designed to be simple. A nurse logs on to the online study website with a password and then checks the latest posts that show lecture material for specific subject matter. Bulletin boards are available so the nurse can post questions and comments about the material and can interact with other nurses who are studying the same material. The instructor usually schedules a personal one-on-one chat session at certain times so each nurse is able to discuss issues and ask questions. There is a deadline established for the course work and when it’s complete it is sent to the instructor by email. The clinical work is done at local hospitals who host visiting instructors or have staff nurses who act as instructors. Most of the time a nurse can complete the clinical part of the course where they work.
Is it easy to find a BSN or MSN online program?
A recent study indicated that there are almost 700 RN to BSN programs online. There are hundreds of MSN programs as well. Most healthcare facilities offer some sort of tuition reimbursement for nurses who are pursuing advanced degrees, which is an additional incentive to further education credentials. When all the options are considered earning a BSN or a MSN is an excellent choice for an RN who wants to continue to advance in the research, business or management aspects of the healthcare industry. For additional information on a nursing education online visit DegreeFinders.com, your online guide to a nursing job or travel nursing jobs.
No Comments | Tags: Nurse Educators, Nursing Schools, Nursing Students, Special Nurses, Travel Nurse Agency, nursing issues
11 June 2009 - 9:51
By Erica Ronchetti
It’s no secret that the healthcare industry is becoming increasingly demanding for nurses and traveling nurses, who must now care for the rising numbers of aging baby boomers and other health care demanders. In contrast, the number of prospective nurses and nursing students who will become professional nurses and travel nurses is decreasing, despite the growing community of people who require health care and medical assistance. Travel nurse agencies have been a remedy for this widening gap between patients, nurses, and travel nurses. They provide nursing staff for hospitals and other healthcare services, and fulfill both patients and facilities needs.
Many schools and universities are experiencing a significant shortage of students who are studying to become professional nurses. There are insufficient numbers of these students compared to the increasing demands of the United States population and their projected healthcare needs. Over past years, there has been little to no maintenance of nursing student enrollment levels, and now 73% of Americans acknowledge that this shortage of nurses is a concern, and one that is on the rise.
Companies like Travel Nurse Source and other travel nursing agencies have been developed to address this growing need for healthcare professionals and provide solutions for nurses who are interested in traveling and healthcare facilities who need to fill staffing gaps. Travel Nurse Source operates with the nursing shortage directly in mind, staffing hospitals and facilities across the country to prevent the worsening nursing shortage in the USA. Travel nurse agencies are not a new occurrence; they’ve been in existence for almost two decades with the aim to solve staffing shortages, mainly in facilities that have employee and population turnover based on the seasonal changes.
In light of the nursing shortage, pursuing a career as a travel nurse or finding travel nurse employment has become a good opportunity for stability and professional growth. Travel nurses can travel all over the US and nursing assignments last from 90 days up to six months, depending on the specific contract. The travel nursing job can be in a variety of states or regions and facilities, and that is up to the nurse to choose. Salaries for nurses who choose a travel nursing career tend to be on average, higher then nurses who stay in one location or healthcare venue. Excelling housing benefits go along with the competitive salary, as well as health insurance, retirement plans, and other benefits that travel nurse agencies offer.
Companies like Travel Nurse Source are indeed valuable assets for the healthcare industry. To learn more about travel nursing jobs and travel nurse employment, visit our website! Travel Nurse Source offers exciting travel nursing employment opportunities, such as travel nurse jobs Hawaii, California travel nursing, Florida travel nursing, New York travel nursing, and travel nursing in Alaska!
Erica Ronchetti is Account Manager for Travel Nurse Source, a recruiting company for traveling nurses. Travel Nurse Source is affiliated with Allied Travel Careers, a recruiting company for traveling physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech language pathologists. For more information on what we do, please visit our websites.
No Comments | Tags: Nurse Educators, Nursing Schools, Nursing Shortage, Nursing Shortage Solutions, Nursing Students, Special Nurses, Travel Nurse Agency, Travel Nurse Destinations, Travel nursing jobs, nurse compensation, nursing issues
5 May 2009 - 9:31
By Christine Whitmarsh, RN, BSN
Raise your hand if you also used medical dramas as study tools during nursing school. Depending on the era in which you attended nursing school, the shows that peaked your medical interest may have included shows like M*A*S*H, or for today’s nursing students, Grey’s Anatomy. For my nursing class, the study tool of choice was ER. Our instructors even took note of the educational value of the show, prompting in-class discussions about various episodes and clinical scenarios. The timing could not have been more perfect when ER’s Emmy award winning “DIC” episode aired during our obstetrics clinical.
A few years after nursing school I was fortunate enough to be cast as an extra on Julianna Luisa Margulie’s (Nurse Carol Hathaway) final episode. Still working as a nurse at a local Burbank hospital, I found it both fascinating (and slightly irritating) that the equipment on the show was better than what I was used to on the floor. It was also interesting to watch the bevy of medical and nursing technical advisors working with the cast between takes, ensuring that important medical terms and procedures didn’t get lost in translation.
Many nurses in the Los Angeles and New York areas, where television shows are usually filmed, have been employed as technical advisors for shows like ER, while continuing to work their “day jobs” at area hospitals. Two new medical dramas that specifically focus on nursing may increase the demand for nurses and travel nursing jobs, to act as technical advisors on the shows. On NBC, “Mercy”, a medical drama centered on nurses has received the industry greenlight for the 2009-2010 television series. On HBO, former “Sopranos” star Edie Falco will star as “Nurse Jackie,” a series that is reportedly based on the journal of a Manhattan ER nurse. It looks like media coverage of the nursing shortage has crossed over to a new medium that will no doubt continue to inspire nursing students as nurses take center stage in Hollywood.
Nurses and travel nurses: How realistic do you find medical and nursing dramas? Have you ever worked as a technical advisor in television? Would that be an appealing career move for you?
 Christine Whitmarsh is a Registered Nurse with a BSN from the University of Rhode Island. She is a freelance health journalist and medical writer and a contributor to Travel Nurse Source and Allied Travel Careers.
1 Comment | Tags: Nurse Educators, Nursing Schools, Nursing Students, Special Nurses, Travel nursing jobs
23 April 2009 - 9:34
By Christine Whitmarsh, RN, BSN
Just as little kids mull over the possibilities of what they want to be when they grow up, nursing students custom design their dream career. A few years on the med-surg floor first, then perhaps a move into the ER or ICU, followed by a return trip back to school for a Master’s degree and later on a nurse practitioner career. Nurses with a wandering spirit are more likely to map out a career as a travel nurse, combining medical specialties with coveted work destinations. The beauty of travel nursing jobs is that they are listed the same way. Are you a skier or a surfer? Would you rather be a travel ER nurse in Denver or traveling CCU RN in California? Are you into bright lights big city or the quiet relaxation of a smaller town setting? Your dream career might be as an ICU nurse in Dallas or a labor and delivery nurse in Alaska. If you’re having trouble making up your mind then travel nursing is definitely the right field for you. Short assignments and diverse staffing needs around the country make indecisiveness a perfectly acceptable trait in a travel nurse. How many other fields is this true for?
In a tight economy and even tighter job market, few people have the luxury of custom designing their dream job. Even with the budding nursing shortage, travel nurses have to be savvy about signing with the traveling nurse agency that best represents their interests and consistently following up on potential assignments.
If you need reassurance, remember that a career in nursing still has more flexibility and options than most other fields of work right now. Nobody is ever handed their dream job on a silver platter, especially in tough times. But that doesn’t mean you need to stop dreaming and stop seeking the nursing career that you mapped out for yourself in nursing school. As a travel nurse you might even get from point A to point B a little bit faster.
Christine Whitmarsh is a Registered Nurse with a BSN from the University of Rhode Island. She is a freelance health journalist and medical writer and a contributor to Travel Nurse Source and Allied Travel Careers.
No Comments | Tags: Nursing Schools, Nursing Shortage Solutions, Nursing Students, Travel Nurse Blogs, Travel Nurse Destinations, Travel nursing jobs, nursing issues
20 April 2009 - 9:48
By Christine Whitmarsh, RN, BSN
If you’re a regular reader of the blogs here on travel nurse source, please give me some credit that I’ve been a TNS blogger for several months now and this is my first “top ten list”. During that time, I have had the opportunity to research travel nursing, speak with and receive feedback from veteran travel nurses and those who have just gotten their feet wet in this exciting area of nursing. As a result, I have devised a list of characteristics that I believe make up the perfect candidate for a career in travel nursing.
1. Clearly – a love of travel. This does not necessarily mean that you have to be a “road trip” person or an aspiring jetsetter. After all, you are only traveling between assignments, which are typically three months long. Some travel nurses prefer to life an RV-based lifestyle, meeting new people in RV communities around the country. Others prefer to enjoy the furnished housing provided by travel nurse agencies with the assignment. The common denominator is the travel nurse’s willingness to live for the experience more than coming home to the same house of “stuff” every night.
2. A flexible and understanding family. Despite the misconception that travel nursing is only for single people, there are several examples I have heard about where an understanding spouse and adventurous offspring can turn a travel nursing career into a never ending family adventure. Most families have to save up for road trips across the U.S.A. Travel nurses and their families get paid to travel.
3. A passion for experiencing new towns, suburbs and big cities (depending on your preference). During my interview with veteran travel nurse Epstein LaRue, she mentioned that the first thing that she and her husband do upon arriving in a new town is to travel one hour in each direction, exploring. I can’t say that her adventures didn’t make me a little jealous.
4. Speaking of the job part. Travel nursing assignments seem ideal for the nurse with a short attention span. If you don’t feel the need to get to know your colleagues – nurses, doctors, etc. – for more than a few months, a career as a travel nurse is ideal.
5. Love to learn? Technology, procedures and treatment techniques move so fast in health care that traveling from hospital to hospital around the country might just be the only way to keep up. Nurses are usually natural born learners and bookworms, and a career in travel nursing capitalizes on this curiosity for knowledge and new experiences.
The irony is that the list above describes many nurses currently working in permanent positions. My feeling is that most nurses, especially new graduates, either don’t realize that this is accessible to them or are weighted down with misconceptions they have heard about a career in travel nursing. In reality, a good traveling nurse agency recruiter has some flexibility in customizing a travel nurse career based on the nurse’s experience, career goals and lifestyle. This is an excellent time to contact a recruiter to discuss questions and concerns about a career as a travel nurse.
Christine Whitmarsh is a Registered Nurse with a BSN from the University of Rhode Island. She is a freelance health journalist and medical writer and a contributor to Travel Nurse Source and Allied Travel Careers.
No Comments | Tags: Nursing Students, Travel Nurse Agency, Travel Nurse Blogs, Travel nursing jobs
14 April 2009 - 9:22
By Christine Whitmarsh, RN, BSN
Literacy is no longer exclusively a problem for teachers to address. Nurses and especially travel nurses who travel to certain regions and communities are also facing language and health literacy issues while treating patients.
The importance of reading the fine print has been ingrained in the mind of anyone who has ever read a contract. But for ailing or injured patients and their loved ones, taking the time to fully understand what they are signing, especially in the ER or pre-operatively, pales in priority to getting well. Unfortunately the legalities and contractual intricacies of healthcare leave little room for flexibility and patient sympathy in these situations. Even if they do not fully understand what they are signing, once they sign on the dotted line patients are usually held liable for the legal and insurance policy consequences of what they are signing. Several incidences of patient outcry when it came time to face those consequences, have led providers and administrator to start aggressively addressing the issue of “health literacy” in patients. Health literacy educational forums are starting to pop up around the country for both patients and also for nurses, to teach them how much or little their patients really understand about what’s going on around them during a medical emergency.
In certain geographic areas, where English is often the patient’s second language, the issue of healthcare literacy is compounded by language literacy. Travel nurses who have worked in such communities, such as Texas, California, and Arizona may have a unique understanding of what it’s like to care for a patient while also handling a language barrier. Healthcare literacy along with regional ESL-related issues requires the travel nurse to have a heightened awareness of their patients’ level of comprehension. The bottom line is that when a patient is sick all that’s on their mind is getting well again. Nurses and travel nurses are in an excellent position to make sure that once the patient is well again, they won’t be faced with the fallout from consenting to treatment in the first place.
Christine Whitmarsh is a Registered Nurse with a BSN from the University of Rhode Island. She is a freelance health journalist and medical writer and a contributor to Travel Nurse Source and Allied Travel Careers.
No Comments | Tags: Nursing Students, Special Nurses, Travel Nurse Blogs, Travel Nurse Destinations, nursing issues
7 April 2009 - 9:40
By Christine Whitmarsh, RN, BSN
Now is the time to review your travel nursing agency’s policy on overtime along with your current assignment contract. One of the temporary fixes for the nursing shortage that appears to be benefiting both staff and travel nurses is increased opportunities for working lucrative overtime hours (double time in some rare cases). Since the pay scale for traveling nurses is predominantly higher than it is for staff nurses overtime has the potential of catapulting the travel nurse into an entirely new salary bracket – the six figure kind.
If you’re looking for assignment destinations, travel nursing assignments in California are among the highest paying nursing positions in the country. California is among the states with the greatest need for nurses to staff the state’s abundance of hospitals. At some hospitals in the Sacramento area, for instance, overtime rates, take effect after 8 hours.
Questions about a hospital’s overtime policy are some of the most important ones to ask your recruiting contact prior to starting a new assignment. It is also important to remember that hospitals are facing the same economic downturn as the rest of us. Asking about a hospital’s overtime policy, in the midst of your other questions, is entirely different than “demanding” overtime pay. Discuss the matter of working extra shifts and how you will be reimbursed (hospital or agency) with your travel nurse recruiter. Your agency can also assist you with the rest of your pre-assignment checklist, including important questions to ask your new nurse manager.
Travel Nurses: How do you handle the issue of overtime hours and reimbursement? What kinds of experiences, positive and negative, are you experiencing in regards to overtime hours to help with the nursing shortage?
Christine Whitmarsh is a Registered Nurse with a BSN from the University of Rhode Island. She is a freelance health journalist and medical writer and a contributor to Travel Nurse Source and Allied Travel Careers.
No Comments | Tags: Nursing Shortage, Nursing Shortage Solutions, Nursing Students, Travel Nurse Destinations, Travel nursing jobs, nursing issues
6 April 2009 - 10:01
By Christine Whitmarsh, RN, BSN
A significant contributing factor to the nursing shortage is the nursing school bottleneck. It’s not that the high schools aren’t producing enough graduates with career aspirations of nursing or travel nursing for the free-spirits with a passion for seeing the country. The shortage in nursing schools starts at the front of the class. A nursing education is not suited for a mass lecture format, particularly during clinicals when several students are working on one often anxious instructor’s license. Therefore, not enough instructors means a painfully high number of rejection letters to qualified nursing school applicants.
The New York City Council announced earlier this year that the City University of New York is working with several NYC hospitals on a guest faculty program aimed at providing nursing school professors, even if temporarily. The program will identify experienced nurses already working in the city’s hospitals who wouldn’t mind a temporary teaching assignment. A major benefit of the program is that the hospital nurses don’t have to quit their jobs or lose their benefits. The ten guest nursing faculty positions are projected to allow 100 new nursing students to enter the program each year.
Although technically this program attempts to remedy one of the root causes of the nursing shortage by creating a minor shortage of NYC hospital staff, the intention is a good one. If this type of program succeeds and is implemented in other cities, two possible opportunities for travel nurses may result. First, as temporary replacements for the hospital nurses turned professors. Second, experienced travel nurses might consider contacting participating schools between assignments and during down time, to apply for some of the guest faculty positions.
Solving the nursing shortage is going to be a complex undertaking that is unlikely to be solved by signing on the dotted line of a massive stimulus bill. With an estimated half a million nurses needed by 2016, the health care industry will have to look at every resource available, from foreign trained nurses (as they have been for years) and travel nurses to unclogging the nursing school bottleneck and graduating more nurses. Travel nurse agencies and other travel RN recruiters now have the opportunity to fight on behalf of their travel nurses. They can remind hospitals that using travel nurses is an excellent solution to short staffing, and that it’s a solution available now.
Christine Whitmarsh is a Registered Nurse with a BSN from the University of Rhode Island. She is a freelance health journalist and medical writer and a contributor to Travel Nurse Source and Allied Travel Careers.
No Comments | Tags: Nurse Educators, Nursing Schools, Nursing Shortage, Nursing Shortage Solutions, Nursing Students, nursing issues
2 April 2009 - 9:21
Christine Whitmarsh, RN, BSN
Electronic charting, massive shortages, overworked, overtime, overstressed, insurance red tape, politics, on the floor and on Capitol Hill are more than topics covered on this nursing blog and many others like it. This is the modern day reality of a career in nursing. Travel nurses can take solace in the fact that at least they can experience life in exciting destinations around the country, managing the job description of modern day RN in shorter doses. The fact is, however, that nursing has the distinction of being a rapidly changing field that remains rooted in the values that must never change in nursing. In other words – Florence Nightingale, meet Jane Jetson.
Looking around today’s hospital “wards”, it is sometimes difficult to see the patients, the human beings needing care, behind all the beeping, flashing machines, closed doors versus open ward settings, steady parade of other collaborating caregivers, specific legal demands of documentation and other necessary distractions that separate nurse from patient. Nursing pioneer and “lady with the lamp” Florence Nightingale managed to sort through the chaotic, deadly conditions of a war hospital, spot the biggest problems and provide effective solutions. Admittedly, when there aren’t enough nurses to go around and nursing hands are often tied by various shades of red tape, it can be difficult to stay focused on the people in the beds versus the data on the cart.
Nightingale inspired many young women to enter the practice of nursing, through her inspired example as a caregiver, critical thinker and statistician specializing in identifying the data that is resulting in illness and death, and coming up with solutions. Isn’t this what remains at the heart of nursing, even with the beeping and flashing? This is often difficult to remember, especially during those moments of you-know-what storms (says one who has been there). It’s like trying to sit down and read a good book in the middle of a tornado.
Remember that to the patients, nurses are more than a frazzled marathon runner in scrubs, sometimes fighting just to survive the shift. The journalist from ‘The Times’ who coined the “lady with the lamp” phrase, made this observation:
“She is a ‘ministering angel’ without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow’s face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When all the medical officers have retired for the night and silence and darkness have settled down upon those miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary round.”
Reference: Wikipedia.org
Christine Whitmarsh is a Registered Nurse with a BSN from the University of Rhode Island. She is a freelance health journalist and medical writer and a contributor to Travel Nurse Source and Allied Travel Careers.
No Comments | Tags: Nurse Educators, Nursing Shortage, Nursing Students, Travel Nurse Blogs, Travel nursing jobs, nursing issues
26 March 2009 - 13:06
By Christine Whitmarsh, RN, BSN
Doing their part to fill the rapidly multiplying open nursing jobs, the Mississippi Board of Community and Junior Colleges has proposed an alternate and possibly more cost effective method of training nurses: the internet. Aspiring Licensed Practical Nurses would receive their education online, minus the practical clinical work which is considered a hallmark of nursing education programs.
The proposed legislation would tie in education and training for new LPNs with the state’s existing Workforce Enhancement Training Fund. The same fund has typically taught people new skills in areas such as automotive maintenance, computers and welding. Some state officials expressed concern that the fund money is already spread too thin, especially with rising unemployment. On the other side is the argument that the new training could create new nurses in a state that, like the rest of the country, desperately needs them. One source in the article even cited the lure of travel nursing as one of the contributing factors to the state’s shortage. This is ironic, considering that travel nursing was created in part to help ease shortages.
Since nursing is a hands-on profession with academic theory at the heart of it, nursing curriculums consist of a clinical and a theory component. I read and reread the article describing the proposed Mississippi LPN online training program legislation and I simply cannot understand how licensed practical nurses (emphasis on practical) can be trained effectively online. I am currently refreshing my RN license via an online course that has the two components that reflect my nursing school curriculum – theory and clinical (the portion which will not be online). Knowledge and practice go hand in hand in the field of nursing and despite the severity of the nursing shortage, I wonder to what lengths lawmakers will soon be willing to go, to put warm bodies in white uniforms.
Source: http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090217/NEWS010504/902170332/1001/news
Christine Whitmarsh is a Registered Nurse with a BSN from the University of Rhode Island. She is a freelance health journalist and medical writer and a contributor to Travel Nurse Source and Allied Travel Careers.
No Comments | Tags: Nurse Educators, Nursing Shortage, Nursing Shortage Solutions, Nursing Students
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