DiversityNursing Blog

As the growing baby boomer generation begins their retirement, so too begins a wealth of golden opportunities for investors and job seekers in the senior care industry. Of particularly exciting growth are the providers of in-home health care services. This includes people who specialize in everything ranging from medical assistance to basic health assistance like bathing and grooming, keeping up with housekeeping, and meal preparation.

So just how many of the baby boomers can in-home care providers expect in the coming years? There are an estimated 75 million baby boomers currently alive and contributing to our society, with an estimated 10,000 baby boomers turning 65 and retiring every day (starting 2010 and lasting until 2029).

In a recent survey conducted by NBC News, 89 percent of baby boomers that were age 50 and older stated that they would prefer to stay in their current home as they aged. Additionally, a whopping 95 percent of those surveyed who were 65 and older were adamant that they would rather stay either in their own home or near relatives and hoped they wouldn't need to live in a nursing home.

With such incredible growth in those needing home care services, it should come as no surprise that there's been likewise growth in individuals seeking careers within this industry. In addition to incredible career opportunities, there are also the following benefits of entering the home health care industry:

• Make a real difference in peoples' lives.  A career in home health care services enables you to make a real and meaningful difference in the lives of your clients and their families. Empathic individuals thrive in this profession as they are able to enjoy personal relationships with their clients and enjoy a sense of accomplishment coming from knowing that you are greatly improving another person's quality of life. 
• Work on a flexible schedule.  Not everyone adapts well to a 9 to 5 job. As a home health care Nurse or in-home caregiver you get to enjoy working on a schedule that fits your needs. So whether you want to work part-time or full-time, whether you're also pursuing another degree or raising a family, as a home healthcare employee you can choose the hours that fit your schedule.
• Deliver complex care to relieve the burden on families.  While seniors are a primary component of the growth in home care services, it isn't just aging baby boomers who are calling for a more diverse array of services. From infants with special needs to adults suffering with chronic conditions and those requiring specialized high-tech medical equipment, all of these individuals and their families depend upon home health care professionals for daily and ongoing support. As an in-home health care Nurse or aide, you make it possible for your clients to avoid expensive and potentially embarrassing institutionalization in an outside facility. 
• Specialize your skills.  Just as there is a diverse array of services you can provide within the in-home care industries, you can also choose to focus your care to meet the specialty service of your choice. For instance, if the idea of assisting baby boomers inspires you, then you can opt to build a career designed to work exclusively with geriatric care. This means that you can choose what you love about home health care services and follow that specialty for greater overall career success.

Take advantage of the growing home health care service industry to jump start your own rewarding career or make a change in your current career. 

Related Article: Life in progress: RNs can help baby boomers find funding for promising cancer treatments

Have questions about Home Care Nursing? Ask the Nurse Leader below!

America’s top companies are hiring the best, most qualified candidates, by widening their recruitment efforts and increasingly seeking diverse talent.  Diverse workplaces include employees from different races, ethnicities, gender, education, religions, sexual orientations, socioeconomic backgrounds, geographic locations, and other varying conditions. 

One reason Diversity recruitment is skyrocketing is because of the changing demographics of the United States.  According to the latest census, the ethnic makeup of America is changing more rapidly than anticipated.  Many studies reveal that businesses who have established Diversity and Inclusion initiatives have a competitive edge, particularly in today’s global market.  Following are 6 reasons explaining why businesses should not wait for their CEO to bring up Diversity Recruitment. 

1.  More Creativity

A Diverse workforce promotes creativity and innovation.  When employees of varying qualifications, upbringings, education, and experiences are brought together, they are more capable of coming up with creative ideas that are “out of the box,” and solve problems in novel ways.  According to Roy Y.J. Chua, a Harvard Business School professor, “The more your network includes individuals from different cultural backgrounds, the more you will be creatively stimulated by different ideas and perspectives."

2.  Increased Productivity

Increased productivity is the major reason organizations are choosing to implement Diversity into their workplaces.  Businesses that have incorporated Diversity into their hiring structure have discovered there is increased productivity among all employees, particularly from those groups that have been underrepresented, and underemployed, in the past.  These include many groups including seniors, women, physically handicapped, people of color, and individuals with different sexual orientation.  Increased productivity allows businesses to not only increase profits, nationally and globally, but to edge out their less diversified competition.

3.  Broadening of Language Skills

A huge advantage of workplace Diversity is the broadening of language skills, enabling communication with people from other cultures.  It is almost impossible to build relationships with others if we cannot speak their language or understand the meaning behind their words.  Over the next 4 decades, racial minority groups including Black, American Indian, Hispanic, and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders will come to outnumber non-Hispanics.  With the health care industry in particular, it is essential to have a diverse workforce that accurately represents the population of the U.S., if patients are to receive quality care that promotes satisfaction and healthy outcomes.  All businesses that have plans to compete at a global level will experience benefits by increasing language Diversity in the workplace. 

4.  Greater Agility

Business agility requires an organization to be adaptable, flexible, and respond quickly to alterations in both the internal and external environment.  A Diverse and Inclusive workforce is more capable of bringing together a variety of perspectives that can lead to decisions to bring about the most advantageous results.  Leadership coach, Joseph Santana, states that a Diverse workforce can help to avoid “the blind spots that may exist in any single individual or cultural group lens.”

5.  Increased Loyalty from Employees, Customers, and Communities

The cultural fabric of an organization is enhanced with a Diverse workforce.  Diversification has been found to inspire employees and build loyalty with increasing segments of Diverse populations around the world.  Organizations that have made efforts to increase and improve Diversity in their workplace have found that growth in employee loyalty has long-term internal and external benefits.  One definite advantage is that consumers tend to support organizations that are perceived as Diverse. 

6.  Improved Employee Recruitment and Retention

Every individual of the organization needs to be part of, and “buy into” the Diversity and Inclusion policy.  The message has to be clear to employees and customers. The commitment to Diversity and Equality has to be inviolate. 

• Recruitment

Diversity recruitment substantially broadens the candidate pool. This larger labor force will include those applicants with high-level aptitudes, specific skill-sets, and unique life experiences.  Healthcare related occupations are among the fastest growing industries, and Diversity recruitment is helping to attract the skilled workers necessary to fill positions.  Businesses are much more likely to hire the right people when they select candidates from the broadest, and most Diverse, applicant collection possible. 

• Retention

Organizations that clearly value Diversity and Inclusion enhance employee contentment and stability, which has a direct bearing on employee retention.  For employees who wish to succeed and grow in the organization, there is trust in the company that advancements are awarded because of merit, and not because of race, gender, or background.  The Diversity message is not only communicated to the staff, but also to customers, and the surrounding communities. 

Do your organization a favor and don't wait for your CEO to bring up Diversity recruitment.  The research is in.  Businesses that fail to harness the power of Diversity are destined to decline.   

If your CEO doesn't see how important Diversity and Inclusion is, have them fill out our Diversity checklist to show them where they stand on the scale. 

Have questions about recruiting or diversity? We can help! Just ask this Nurse Leader your toughest questions. Click below.

I was asked to share my thoughts in writing to describe what Inclusion means to me. These thoughts came from my own life experience and from the recent inspiration of discussing this topic in the past few weeks at home and work. So here goes… 

Being different is not a choice. We often forget about this as we go through our day or our life until something happens that causes us to feel it. Being different can feel good and sometimes feel really bad. It all depends on whether we are accepted for this difference.

Think back at your earliest age when you understood what different meant, what it looked like, how it felt. If we today reflect for a minute, we are all very different, and have to remind ourselves of this. We can come from the same country, religion, gender, family and be different and have generalizations casted upon us and cast them upon others without deliberate thought. Further, we sometimes even cast them on ourselves and internalize them, the good and bad.

We go through life, like breathing seeing difference. It helps us navigate life. But like anything if not with consciousness it can lead to unintended consequences. We go through life often gravitating unconsciously and sometimes consciously to those like us. Why is it that? It provides great safety, sometimes ease, speed, a sense of belonging. This is part of being human. Also part of being human is Bias. It’s ever present and “unavoidable” and human. It affects our choices and behavior. And, like any habit, we can set an intention and choose to see different and include.

Inclusion is not about avoiding diversity, difference or being agreeable. It’s not about “fluff” or being “soft” and going with the flow. It’s more about creating a space of safety for you and others to be seen, heard and accepted. Inclusion creates a space for difference to have its voice heard in our relationships, our family, community, at work, in the world. It’s actually about looking at difference with curiosity. Treating people not as you wanted to be treated but as they want to be treated and vice versa.

Exclusion on the other hand separates, it inhibits, limits, shuts down, sometimes oppresses, even suffocates. To be excluded is one of the top five fears that we as humans have. It instills fear by its very nature and can create tremendous anxiety and can lead to conflict. Exclusion is not just harmful to the person, it’s harmful to relationships, families, profit and non-profit organizations and societies. We lose out on who that person is and what that person who is different from us (be it their perspective, their idea, their culture, their age) has to offer. We lose out on what we can learn and on what they/we together can contribute, build, inspire and live.

Imagine a relationship, a family, a workplace, a community, a world if we included. It would be safe, peaceful, inspiring, fun and we would want to belong.

Diversity is the presence of difference. 

Inclusion is a choice. Inclusion gives everyone a voice. 

Thank you all to whom I have interacted with these past two weeks regarding this topic. I was asked to share my thoughts about inclusion. And, in the spirit of inclusion, feel free to share my perspective and yours with anyone.

Related:

Important Questions Regarding Your Diversity, Inclusion and Cultural Proficiency

Strong management is necessary for all work environments, especially those that involve quick decision-making and high-pressure situations. Nursing is a career that, undoubtedly, fits into this category. Quality Nurse Management is vital when creating successful Nursing teams. Nurse Managers have an effect on how their employees relate to each other and their patients. Regardless of the hospital unit the manager works in, he or she must lead with a firm yet compassionate hand, revealing what they expect from the team. What is the importance of strong Nurse Management?

·Creating a healthy work environment

A Nurse Manager sets the tone of working in his/her department, acting as a negative or positive role model for the staff members. If he makes the employees feel like part of team and encourages teamwork, he inspires them to work together instead of competing. If he encourages constant communication, employees will be able to approach him when in need of guidance or to mentor. This creates a healthy work environment where people communicate freely with each other.

·Nurturing teamwork

Strong Nurse Management helps to encourage Nurses to work as units. For Nurses to be successful, they need to have great interpersonal skills. They must be good at communicating with patients, their families, and other members of the staff. Strong communication and teamwork are essential to providing quality patient care. To achieve teamwork, Nurses in management positions should encourage staff members to collaborate and help each other willingly.

·Supporting employee development

Nurses should keep refining their skills and learn new ones if they want to stay up-to-date with medicine. Effective Nurse Managers create environments that support growth and provide Nurses with the resources necessary to strengthen their competency. Additionally, they act as mentors, guiding new members of the staff as they adjust to their roles. When a manager values and encourages professional development, Nurses are more likely to push themselves to try new things.

·Proper organization

Proper organization is essential to the success of a Nursing team. Chaos is likely to ensue in the absence of proper organization – which would be unfortunate in the fast-paced, demanding healthcare world. A strong Nurse Manager needs to be detail oriented, methodical, and skilled at recognizing and solving problems. She should have the ability to tackle many different tasks simultaneously: overseeing patient care, writing shift schedules, and assigning duties to the Nurses.

·Setting department goals

Members of staff usually look to the manager for direction, trusting him/her to help them in understanding their role. The Nurse Manager often interprets the goals set by the hospital, decoding them into specific steps that the Nurses can follow. She must also define clear goals for the team, explaining them in a manner that emphasizes their significance. Managers typically oversee everything from standards of care to departmental budgets. Moreover, they must consider all aspects of the department’s operations before giving the team instructions.

·Encouraging success

Good Nurse Managers promote environments that encourage their staff to be more productive and enthusiastic when working. As the manager, the onus falls on him/her to lead through actions and words – to show that anything below 100% performance is unacceptable. Nurse Managers need to be honest with the team about its performance and issue clear instructions. They should also praise the staff members who do outstanding work and encourage those having a tough time.

·Positive growth

Good Nurse Managers should have the confidence to analyze their work honestly and come up with ways to improve them. When the team’s performance is below par, managers should make changes that improve performance, taking it to the next level. Nurse Managers should influence the staff members to evaluate the things around them and themselves, to find out what works. This will help them to improve their team performance and work environment.

·Smoothing patient relations

When patients and their families have concerns about the quality of care given, they go to the Nurse Manager. They might have questions about the treatment plan or complain about mistreatment from staff. No matter how irate the patient is, Nurse Managers must listen and answer the questions. It is the job of the Nurse Manager to let the patient know that his/her concerns will be taken seriously. During the meeting with the patient or their family, the manager should outline the steps that will be taken to remedy the situation or investigate the complaint.

Nurse Managers usually oversee specific units in the hospital. Therefore, they are responsible for the administrative and clinical aspects, including addressing the concerns of patients and supervising the Nurses. Not only do they require special expertise, but they also need strong communication skills.

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Related links: Being a nurse leader, even without the title

The profession of Nursing is engaged in a consistent conversation about the state of Diversity in Nursing. The way these figures are tallied are by comparing the percentage of individuals of various ethnic or cultural backgrounds in the general population to the relative group percentages in the field of Nursing. Many professional Nursing publications have been observant that Diversity in the Nursing field has improved, but there is still much additional room for continued improvement.

Where we've been

While a century ago the profession was nearly entirely comprised of white females, the increased Diversity enjoyed in the present day still falls short of being an accurate representation of the population breakdowns of society at large. According to 2016 census data, the only minority group meeting their group's needs in terms of proportionate population is Asians, who have actually managed to overrepresent their group by almost 5% when compared to the percentage of Asians in American patient populations.

A changing national demographic

Whites are still over-represented in nearly all Nursing roles while Hispanic and African American Nurses still have ground to make up if they wish to accurately represent the proportion of their respective group populations who enter as patients in health care facilities. By 2044, national Census data aggregators and analysts believe that Americans of European descent will cease to be the majority of the US population, when at that time they are expected to make up 50% or less of the entire population.

Why Diversity should help

The hypothesis that Nurse Diversity is best for the outcome of patients is centered around the idea that minority patients will feel more comfortable. With the added comfort on the part of the patients, the hope is they will be more compliant with recommended medicines, procedures and recommendations of any kind. If the Nurses and doctors serving minority patients are of the same cultural or ethnic background as themselves, many believe that noticeably positive outcomes could result. This is all still theory, of course, and hasn't been able to be borne out in any specific studies or repeatable situations.

While the specifc data hasn't been borne out in scientific studies to explain a known patient benefit for increased minorities in the Nursing field, there is a lot of policy support and governmental approval of the notion. Fortunately for those who have taken on this cause as a personal conquest, the numbers of enrolled Nursing students is starting to include more minorities as well as more males in the field, another group historically greatly underrepresented. A lot of the Diversity increase being noticed in Nursing school enrollment has been unbalanced from state to state. A closer look shows more enrolled Nursing students in Southern states versus Northern ones and more in the West than in the East.

Related: Bringing diversity to the nursing workforce

The digitalization of patient health information, whether medical records or insurance claims, began in earnest about a decade ago. It’s taken effort from health care personnel at all levels — as well as government mandates — to move the entire industry toward seizing the opportunity that the new influx of data offers.

How Big Data is Changing Health Care

“Big data” is a buzzword that companies across a variety of industries refer to when talking about their future plans. Health care companies are no different and are embracing the collection of big data to provide quality patient care and reduce costs.

What is Big Data?

IBM defines big data as “data coming from everywhere.” This encompasses everything from pictures and videos posted on social media to credit card transactions. Big data can help professionals improve practices and find opportunities for change. The ability to collect large amounts of useful data on patients offers a unique set of benefits for health care organizations.

Big Data and the Health Care Industry’s Future

From improving profits to avoiding preventable diseases, big data is becoming a powerful tool in every corner of the health care industry. A large portion of big data collection is happening in the pockets of patients, as smartphones and wearable devices like the Fitbit and Apple Watch have enabled people to monitor their own health. According to Forbes, the eventual goal is to make this data available to physicians and other health care providers. By compiling a patient’s data and comparing it to similar information from the general public, doctors may be able to identify preventable health problems.

Technology is allowing the health care industry to make data archived about patients over decades accessible. By digitizing medical and insurance records and pairing them with the new wave of data from sources like smartphones, doctors may be able to draw a comprehensive picture of a patient to improve the quality of care. The Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance is seeking to do exactly this and has become an example for how partnerships between medical and data professionals may work in the future.

Health care companies are also implementing big data in research and clinical trials, returning fascinating results. Big data can help researchers pick the best possible subjects for a clinical trial. Big data can also help measure how the trials are going, which could lead to breakthroughs in treatments for dangerous diseases like cancer.

How Legislation is Influencing Big Data in Health Care

Those who are searching for major medical advances may be embracing big data, but the health care industry as a whole has struggled to keep up with technology. Because of federal legislation, the American health care system is finally moving forward into the 21st century. Several laws have set standards and created timelines for the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) and other technology.

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH)

The HITECH Act of 2009 was the most important piece of legislation related to the widespread adoption of health information technology (HIT), namely a nationwide network of EHRs. The law set aside $36.5 billion in spending to create this network and other measures to digitize health care information.

The law gave the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) the power and authority to establish programs that promoted HIT use. With this power, HHS developed a national standard for the collection, storage and exchange of electronic health information. This process continues to change as security standards grow more and more strict.

The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA)

Section 618 of the FDASIA legislation passed in 2012 allowed HHS and the FDA to develop strategies and recommendations for advanced HIT framework. The standards included information on the use of mobile medical applications, including the ones that are involved in the collection of big data. This framework was meant to promote innovation while still valuing the privacy of patients.

The Affordable Care Act

The landmark health care reform law included language designed to improve the overall operations of health care organizations. Providers are now incentivized to share data, which ideally will allow for easier collection of big data and faster adoption of EHRs.

How the Health Care Industry is Protecting Patient Data

As with the storage of any sensitive data, security is paramount in the field of health care data. And just as the collection and use of big data has grown exponentially, so has the need for professionals to secure it. Health care companies are facing several of the same issues that other major sectors of the economy are facing regarding IT security. They also must follow the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a federal law enacted in 1996 that protects patient privacy.

Data Breaches

Protecting health care information is far more difficult than financial information, according to
Jim  Nelms, who is head of security at the Mayo Clinic and spent 14 years at the World Bank. The problem is that the health care industry hasn’t adopted secure IT practices at the same pace as other industries.

The Ponemon Institute found that 91 percent of health care organizations have experienced at least one data breach in the past two years. These breaches have cost companies more than $6 billion. The attacks are making patients open to identity theft and causing serious issues for the health care companies themselves.

Improving Health Care Data Security

For health care companies, simply continuing the growth and progress of digitalization will help have a strong effect on data security. As the health care industry gains a better grasp on how to properly secure protected health information (PHI), companies will be better suited to combat criminal threats. Many organizations have only recently begun hiring chief security officers to oversee these operations. As digitalization becomes the standard, the health care industry will need to focus on security just like other industries.

The Future of Health Care Careers

As health care companies implement the collection, sharing and protection of big data, both health care providers and administrators will need to understand how big data is affecting the industry. Health care leaders and IT professionals can gain the knowledge necessary to prepare for careers in the rapidly changing health care industry. Point Park University offers a fully online Master of Science in Health Care Administration and Management that allows students to maintain their current responsibilities while obtaining a credential they need to start a new chapter in their careers. Learn more today.

For more than 100 years, Nursing professionals interested in taking their careers to the next level have been developing their expertise in case management. They worked hard to assess, plan, implement, coordinate, monitor and evaluate the treatment options available to their patients. 

The goal was deliver the best possible care to patients with complicated health needs. 

Up until about 20 years ago, there were no defined criteria for what it meant to be an expert in case management. But as more information about how case management helps lower healthcare costs and improve outcomes, skills and knowledge required to manage patients' social, medical, financial and behavioral needs has become clear. 

Today, there are more than 37,000 board-certified Case Managers working across the United States. These professionals earned their certification from the Commission for Case Management Certification (CCMC). Others earned their certification from the Case Management Society of America and the American Case Management Association. They work in hospitals, clinics and specialty care centers--and an increasing number of employers are requiring board certification as a condition of employment. 

Here is a look at how Nurses can earn their case management certification:

1) Be eligible

Before a Nurse can become a board-certified case manager, he or she must meet the minimum requirements. For the CCMC, this includes holding current, active and unrestricted licensure or certification in a healthcare or human-services profession. 

In addition, the position held by the candidate must create opportunities for the employee to conduct independent patient assessments, or the employee must hold a bachelor's degree or graduate-level degree in social work, Nursing or another field directly related to promoting physical, psychosocial or vocational well-being. 

The candidate for certification must have worked as a case manager for at least 1 year to be considered for certification. 

Nurses who meet these criteria may apply for approval to sit for the certification exam. 

2) Prepare for the exam

Everyone who wishes to become board-certified must pass the certification exam. The exam is "practice-based," which means that every question is based around real-world experience. 

Topics could include financial issues facing patients and practices, patient rights, healthcare systems, care plans, and much more. 

One of the bet ways to prepare for the exam is to take practice tests, which are available on the Commission for Case Manager Certification website. In addition, the commission partners with third parties to provide certification workshops. The Case Management Society of America also offers an array of preparation materials, which are available on the organization's website. 

While it is possible to pass the exam without preparing, It is strongly recommended that anyone interested in achieving certification take steps to prepare for the exam. 

3) Pass the test

The certification exam involves a 3 hour test that includes 180 questions. It is presented on a computer and the total amount of time in the exam center is 4 hours, which includes time to get situated as well as a brief tutorial before the test begins. 

Test takers will need to make sure they are registered for the test, on time and have the proper credentials, which include a government-issued identification card and a confirmation from the testing center. 

Once the test is complete, everyone who has taken the exam receives a preliminary score at the testing center. While not official, the preliminary score is most often accurate. Those who passed the test will receive formal notification from the organization awarding the certification at a later date. Those who did not pass the test are eligible to re-take the exam during the next available testing date. 

A list of exam schedules is available on the Commission for Case Manager Certification website, the American Case Management Association website and the American Case Management Association website. 

Becoming board certified is a great way for Nurses to distinguish themselves as professionals who consistently deliver high-quality care, safe environments for patients, efficiency for their employers and the best possible service to both patients and the practices for which they work. It indicates a commitment to consumer protection, ethical standards and behavior, and scientific and practice-based care for patients across the continuum of care.

Over the past 60 years, both private and government third-party payment policies have shaped our health care system.  Medicare hospital inpatient payment policies during the mid-1980s set a precedent for most payers to change cost-based to prospective payment systems and resulted in hundreds of hospitals closing or merging.

Until 1990, private and public third party payers had no explicit policy to pay for telehealth or telemedicine services.  Medicare reimbursed services that did not require face-to-face contact between a patient and practitioner, such as radiology or EKG/ EEG.  Reimbursement was idiosyncratic depending on policies of Medicare.
The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) signaled a change in Medicare payment policies that opened the door for telemedicine reimbursement. This article will describe current Medicare telemedicine policies and discuss how the growth of telemedicine affects our current and future career Nurses.

Who Can Receive Services
Under the BBA, only services provided to patients in federally-designated rural Health Professional Shortage Areas were eligible. These generally lack primary providers. For example, a community may have a Nurse or GP, but no specialists such as cardiologists, psychologists or even dermatologists. These communities greatly benefit from telemedicine, but the telemedicine providers who served them could not be reimbursed under the BBA.

From this conundrum came the telecommunication consult, fee splitting and general chaos regarding defining the services a patient received, and from whom, and how it was to be compensated. The command to follow the money was not only difficult, but so was finding the money in the first place.

Telecommunication Finally Recognized
The awesome superiority was clear in many instances where personal contact by physicians was not necessary but exchanged technology was vital. There was a flurry in the field of home health care Nursing, which suffered horrendous setbacks in funding during the 90s and the services that survived were cut back in quantity.

Technology changes all businesses and how we conduct them. No better can this be seen than in the growth of the Internet. Developments in bio-informatics, miniaturization, and computer chip design promise major advances in prevention and treatment of disease, including providing health education and counseling in patients’ homes.

Should Nurses Be Concerned?
This new world of health care is not universally available in the USA. The telecommunications for telemedicine are still inadequate or unaffordable in many rural areas. So why should Nurses be concerned? Nurses have much to gain.

1. Telehome care is a Nursing industry.
2. Nurses play a key role in all telemedicine, usually managing.
3. Nurses have been at the forefront of video teleconferencing for preventive services and advocating for policies at national, state, and institutional levels;
4. Nurses often are the key providers of preventive services, many of which would be enhanced by access to telemedicine services.

Given the concerns of third party payers as to whether to pay, the voice of Nurses must be heard. The question for Nurses is: Will we be at the table when decisions setting telehealth payment policies are adopted? The future Nurses’ role must be acknowledged and categorized efficiently as new telemedicine legislation is entered in states like AK and CA.  Emphasis must be equal for preventative as well as curative medicine.

Growth of Nursing Responsibilities
Nurses usually have the management and technological administration of both preventative care duties and the tech equipment and shared information with other professionals.  This acknowledgement should result in a categorizing of new Nursing skills relative to the technological needs of medicine. As technology in medicine grows, so should the field of RN’s as it embraces additional functions and departments.

Follow the Money to Nursing?
Incredibly, it could be that the future decade will promote the values of the requirements of RN’s to the point that the skills receive increased compensation on a level with their increased duties.  Payment of their skills by Medicare and other third party insurers will open a floodgate of better and more efficient medical care for patients and in time will increase the health care of our nation. The USA is considerably behind other countries in this regard despite having the resources and expertise in medical specialization.

The senior population is more likely to need Nursing care, yet the population of qualified Nurses in diminishing.  There is increased opportunity for young men and women to enter the Nursing profession as an upwardly mobile career.

Related Articles:

Do People Trust Telemedicine? [INFOGRAPHIC]

With Telemedicine as Bridge, No Hospital Is an Island

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Last year the Green Valley Fire District began what is best described as a "mobile urgent care" and next month they will be sharing it in Washington D.C.

The fire district has four nurse practitioners on staff to help respond to medical calls that do not require a trip to the emergency room. They can treat patients in home whether that be giving someone stitches or prescribing antibiotics.

"In essence we are a mobile urgent care," said Battalion Chief Dan Modrzejewski.

He is one of two chiefs with GVFD that will travel to Washington D.C. at the end of March to present their program to the American Society of Aging. They will show how their program works, why they started it, and its success with a group that includes the Centers for Disease Control, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid, among others.

Modrzejewski says he hopes other agencies around the country will adopt their program. Similar programs are already in a handful of jurisdictions.

The Green Valley program, less than a year old, has been a success according to Modrzejewski. He says before they began, a quarter of their 911 calls could have been handled by a nurse.

"They don't necessarily need to go to the emergency room," he said.

Last year, their nurses responded to 170 calls and were able to treat all of them in home instead of transporting them to the emergency room. Modrzejewski says an emergency room transport could cost between $3,000 and $4,000 while their program is much cheaper on the patient.

"The most we charge insurance is going to be $300 or $400," he said.

He says when they began they had one nurse, but now they have four on staff. Additionally, the program has decreased the number of 911 calls they receive because people are calling their appointment line for the nurse. That number is 520-428-0550.

There are undoubtedly a number of myths about the Nursing profession. Being a Nurse is as rewarding spiritually as it is financially, but unfortunately, many qualified individuals overlook the Nurse career path due to any number of possible misconceptions. After debunking some of these Nursing myths, it becomes easier to decide whether a career in Nursing makes sense for anyone considering it.

1. Only females choose the Nursing profession: Perhaps the most commonly believed Nursing myth is that only females become Nurses. From 1970 to 2011 alone, the percentage of male Nurses nearly tripled from 2.7 percent to 9.6 percent. Those figures have only risen since then.

2. Nurses are only found in hospitals: Nurses can work in a variety of settings, hospitals being only one of the more common environments typically thought of by the uninformed public. Among RNs, only 63.2 percent are performing in-patient and out-patient services in hospitals. Among LPN's, the numbers are even less tilted toward hospital work settings, with only 29.3 percent working in hospitals.

3. Nurses want to be doctors: The notion that a Nurse is simply a doctor in training or a doctor that didn't make the cut is both incorrect and disparaging to how unique and important a Nurse's work really is.

4. Due to a Nursing shortage, it's simple to get a job: Nobody would think that because there is a shortage of astronauts, pursuing that career path would be easy. Why use that same logic for the career path of becoming a Nurse? According to professional studies and available data, most Nurses must undergo a period of 2-4 years of training to earn entry into an RN or LPN Nursing role.

5. Nurses are all the same: The work performed by a Nurse is going to vary greatly depending on the specific medical setting the Nurse inhabits. Certainly one of the more common Nursing myths, it is hardly the case that Nurses are just simple clones of one another. Not only are there a wide range of potential services regularly performed by qualified Nurses, but there are a vast set of options in terms of Nursing specializations for those seeking specific types of healthcare work.

6. Continuing Education (CE) is only important if you plan to pursue a management position: More than any other field, the Nursing occupation has stringent requirements for continuing education, even when management positions aren't the goal. The extent to which a Nurse is performing their functions properly is shown in how well the services performed are executed. Continuing Education for Nurses is beyond a requirement -- It's a smart career move.

7. Nurses only work crazy hours and shifts: Too often, a Nurse is thought of as a person who has to work very late into the night, or that Nurses must arrive at their work before the crack of dawn. Frankly and fortunately, this is not always the case.

8. Nurses are doctors' assistants: The tasks required of a Nurse are varied and important. Very rarely are Nurses and doctors actually working on the same efforts and tasks. More commonly, Nurses and doctors are performing their own separate and critical functions within a medical or healthcare environment, but these functions rarely overlap or present themselves in a boss/assistant paradigm.

9. Nurses only take care of patients: One of the most long-standing Nursing myths around is the concept that Nurses are just rushing around taking care of patients' needs. Taking temperatures, writing on charts, fluffing pillows and the like are the type of tasks that are conjured up in the minds of those who frankly don't understand the depth of a Nurse's daily efforts.

10. There is no Diversity in a Nursing job: Continuing on the myth that started this list, the misunderstanding about Nursing diversity extends beyond gender. While the cliché that a Nurse is always a Caucasian female, the numbers are starting to tilt drastically towards an ever-increasing diverse workforce of Nurses. This is definitely in the best interest of the diverse patient populations seeking medical care from Nurses.

Choosing a career in Nursing is a very individual choice, but it does pay to consider these Nursing myths. Simple misunderstandings about what it is to be a Nurse can prevent some potentially excellent Nurses from joining the fold. Not everyone is going to be a perfect match for the job of a Nurse. Once these myths are dispelled, the field opens up to many more individuals with an interest in finding a rewarding occupation and the opportunity to focus their efforts on helping the sick and suffering.

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