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If you have just enrolled in a nursing or as a recent graduate you are probably wondering where you will be in the next five to ten years in your career. Some nurses opt to continue their education by going for a health training online program while others are satisfied with what they have achieved so far. Making career decisions can be hard sometimes because those decisions are going to affect every aspect of your life for the rest of your days on earth. If you’re stuck in your nursing career and don’t know what to do next then the following tips shared by the most successful nurses will get you unstuck and propel you to the next level of greatness.

Education is Your Way Forward

Every career advancement requires an equal advancement in education as well and this applies to all types of industries including nursing. Every degree that you pursue or any certificate of a specialized program in nursing gives you more options and opens new doors for other opportunities. As more opportunities arise you are most likely to find your best match in terms of career advancement. You can also consider health training online programs as they give you the flexibility of working and learning at the same time.

Another great option is to take advantage of the stepladder system of nursing education especially if you’re working and need to study at the same time. The system enables nurses to work as LPN while pursuing an associate’s degree program in nursing. After which you can work as a registered nurse as you strive to get your bachelor’s degree. Furthermore, you can go for advanced degrees especially if you are eyeing an advanced practice position or a leadership role. Besides, if you’re considering teaching or research then advanced degrees may come in handy as these positions often require people with either a master’s or doctoral degrees.

Build a Network of Professionals

It’s important to network both inside and outside of your health care facility. Meeting new people more as professionals in your field of study is useful in exchanging ideas and finding new solutions to common challenges. You can start by finding something that you care about (yet exciting), then focus on networking with other professionals in your field who share the same views, opinions, and interests. You can take advantage of opportunities as they arise to become a member of professional networks such as the British Nursing Association. Besides career advancement, networking can be a good source of support and information.

Develop a Mentoring Relationship

It’s not easy to establish a mentor-mentee relationship as it takes time and can’t be forced. However, identifying someone you can look up to career-wise and beyond is the first step towards getting unstuck in your current situation. The best way is to look for somebody who you feel comfortable with and can talk about anything. The person should be someone you work with, but you don’t necessarily report to them directly. Finding a mentor is the best way of gaining both advice, wisdom, and coaching from a successful person without much struggle. You should also:

• Continue your quest for both personal and professional development
• Strive to pursue professionalism at all times

There are thousands of brain dead patients living on life support systems. Most of them could be living normal lives if someone had performed CPR on them before their brains ceased functioning and this is why you need to consider basic life support online training.

Understanding Brain Death

There was a time when the brain stopping its normal physiological functions such as regulating body temperature meant instant death. However, medical advances have made it possible for someone to remain essentially alive even if their brain has stopped performing its basic functions. This is the simple definition of brain death.

Even if patients who do not get CPR after cardiac arrest, they can be kept alive for longer using these medical advances. The systems allow critical body functions to go on even after the brain stops functioning normally. These critical functions include:

• Regulating body temperature
• Keeping up a regular heartbeat (pulse)
• Maintaining normal blood pressure
• Ensuring basic nutritional requirements
• Regulating fluid levels in tissues and organ systems

How Does Someone Become Brain Dead?

Cardiologists say that if your brain gets no oxygen for a sufficiently long enough time, the brain will cease its functions. Experts agree that a normal brain will cease its functions if the heart stops beating for six minutes or longer. After the brain ceases functioning owing to oxygen deficiency, the brain loses all its functions. In this sense, the brain includes the brain stem that extends to the spinal cord. You can learn more about this by taking basic life support online training.

Why is the Brain so Sensitive to Circulation and Blood Supply?

The brain is a very sensitive organ. The way the brain is designed to work is something of a paradox. Even though the brain is responsible for controlling all sensations and bodily functions, there are some things it cannot do.

1. The brain can sense pain from all around the body but it cannot sense injuries inflicted on its tissue.
2. The cells that makeup brain tissue are incapable of storing oxygen. It only takes a few seconds of cutting off the oxygen supply for someone to feel the effects. Have you ever stood up too quickly and immediately had a sensation of dizziness? That was your brain sensing the loss of blood supply and therefore low oxygen.
3. The brain is also incapable of storing up glucose. Glucose if the blood sugar which is metabolized in tissues (including the brain) to provide energy for the body to perform its normal functions. The inability of the brain to store glucose is the reason why people suffering from diabetes must not inject themselves with too much insulin. Insulin limits the amount of blood sugar. However, if the amount of glucose reaching the brain is too little, this can cause permanent damage and may even cause the patient to die.

CPR is Essential in Stopping Instances of Brain Death

CPR is the short form of the term cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Keeping in mind the facts about how the brain reacts when oxygen is curtailed, a patient should receive CPR as soon as the heart stops beating. If you perform CPR on a patient within 6 minutes of the cardiac arrest, this can save the brain tissue. They also have a great chance of recovering and even living a normal life.

Patient safety is a wide topic in infection control and prevention course. There are many considerations that a healthcare assistant would need to learn to ensure that a patient is free from harm. This may include physical aspects of safety as well as non-physical.

Infection control and prevention course impart knowledge as well as techniques to the trainee to ensure that the patient feels respected and well cared for. This requires that the person providing this care understands the patient and works in their best interest. Let us consider some of these key aspects.

Healthcare Personal Hygiene

The healthcare assistant needs to ensure their own hygiene before they begin any of their duties as well as while they carry out their duties. This is important to prevent transmission of bacteria or viruses to the patient or from one patient to the other. To be able to do this, the assistant will need to do the following:

• Before washing hands, remove items like jewelry and watches that may provide a hiding place for germs.
• Thorough hand washing before they begin any duty that involves the patient
• Perform surgical scrub before any surgical procedure using antiseptic
• Dry hands with a paper towel before starting any tasks

Hand washing is the most important hygiene activity a health worker must perform before, during and after every procedure. They should also encourage other people like the patient’s caregiver to do the same.

Patient Hygiene

The patient too needs to observe certain practices. The health worker can encourage them to wash their hands when necessary. For example, before they eat food and after visiting the toilet. One very important instance when they should be clean is when preparing for surgery. The health worker needs to prepare them for surgery and among the procedures is cleaning up. No contaminant should be carried into the theater whether by the medical staff or the patient. They should, therefore, be cleaned up properly.

General Hygiene

Not just the people need to be clean, the assistant should learn how to keep the general area clean. This will include sanitizing surfaces, disposing of waste correctly as well as ensuring all the equipment that is used is clean and sanitized before they are used. Do not use the same equipment between patients without having them cleaned.

Patient Safety

Part of health assistance training will include the safety of the patient. Particularly before and during surgery. A patient that will undergo surgery should be identified with a tag on their wrist that corresponds to their medical information. This will ensure that the right patient gets taken to the theater. It is then important that the right part gets operated so the area that the surgeon will work on needs to be clearly marked. If the patient is conscious, it would be a good idea to double-check with them if the right area has been marked. It is not unheard of that mistakes are made by nurses as they mark the area.

Conclusion

There is a lot more that a health assistant would need to learn and most of the above would be studied in detail to ensure they can execute their duties efficiently with the patient’s best interest in mind as well as their own safety. A health assistant cannot help the patient if they are not healthy themselves.

Every nurse needs to undergo health care mandatory training to know more about record keeping. This plays a vital role in the provision of healthcare services. Many team members are involved in providing care to a patient and all of them need to have accurate and easy to understand information about the patient.

A nurse who has undergone healthcare mandatory training in record keeping will execute this duty with ease and it will save the medical practice a lot of confusion and misinformation. Good records come in handy in case of any legal matters that arise.

Variation in Record Systems

The way different health care facilities keep their records may vary. The most common ones are:

• Computerized records
• Handwritten records

A nurse cannot choose their own system, they need to adapt to the system that the organization utilizes. Sometimes it could be a combination of both and that will require flexibility on the side of the medical professional.

Protection of Confidential Records

Naturally, all patient records are confidential and that calls for caution. If a computerized system is being used at the organization, then the nurse needs to guard passwords of these records. If the records are handwritten, then access to the record room should be restricted and nurses should not leave records lying in the open.

Common Guidelines for Record Keeping

The guidelines a nurse has to follow when keeping records are universal. They define good record-keeping and help to achieve the goals of record keeping. These include:

• Records must be legible and clear
• They must be written in ink that will not be erased
• The wording used should be universally understood as opposed to the use of jargon
• Patient information must be accurate and up to date
• Any changes to information must be indicated
• Every entry must have a date and signature of the author
• Patient’s information must include their name and other identifiers as stipulated by the organization
• Records must be free of any prejudice, abuse or assumptions

Sadly though, human error may sometimes result in poorly taken records. Names can be misspelled or updated information may be left out. A nurse needs to verify if they have correctly taken down information according to the guidelines.

Why Record Keeping Must be Taken Seriously

The well being of a patient depends on the information that is shared among those that are caring for them. Records ensure that different team members can carry out their roles even in the absence of the others. It also enables correct decisions to be made and problems can be addressed.

Record Keeping and the Law

Well kept records come in handy if any legal proceedings are instituted. They serve as proof that procedures were followed as well as shows if medical personnel played their part. In a court of law, medical records can be used as evidence. Medical professionals can use records to show no negligence occurred when dealing with a patient.

For records to be effective, nurses need to learn how to take them according to a set standard. At no time should they be ignored since it is not just for the benefit of the patient but also for every member of the medical team. It is also important that they are kept safe.