There's No Excuse for A CNA To Avoid a Licensed Practical Nursing Program

It's relatively easy, once you've obtained a CNA certification -- about a month of prep time and a simple test -- to settle into a routine on the bottom of the latter at your local medical institution. You make maybe 150% of minimum wage, and everyone can tell you what to do, but at least you get to be in the field, helping people and learning the healing arts. But if you aren't at least working toward some sort of Licensed Practical Nursing program at a reputable practical nursing school, you're on a hamster wheel -- you can be the best CNA in the world, but you're still a CNA.

If you think for some reason that there's just not a nursing school that has the programs your looking for, think again. Even if your local area doesn't have a Licensed Practical Nursing school, there are enough accredited and fully-equipped online nursing programs that there's no need for any CNA to go without an LPN degree. You can study at night or during your off-time and earn your LPN certification in a couple of years while you keep up your job as a CNA.

Not only are there generic Licensed Practical Nursing schools online, there are also online courses devoted to all manner of specialty within the LPN demesnes. There are CNA-to-LPN specific classes, LPN-to-Associate's Nursing Education classes, the Bachelors of Nursing Sciences program, and several more in the generic line of nursing programs -- but the specialties within the Licensed Practical Nursing in particular are multifarious and varied.

The top 5 specializations you'll find in the typical practical nursing program are:

Ambulatory Care: Ambulatory Care literally means "treating people who are walking" -- referring generally to the fact that they come in, get their treatment, and leave on the same day. Most emergency room visits fall under the realm of Ambulatory Care.

Critical Care: Critical Care is what happens in intensive care units, critical care units, and in helicopters that take emergency victims to nearby hospitals. Critical care nurses train in the art of keeping people on the brink of death alive long enough to recover.

Home Health Care: Perhaps the most demanded specialization in practical nursing schools, home health care is the art of taking care of people -- usually the elderly, but nearly as often adults or children that are recovering from accidents or who have acute illnesses -- in their on homes.

Ob/Gyn: The LPNs who work in maternity units and in gynecologist's offices, aiding doctors who care for women during the family planning, pregnancy, and birthing processes.

Psychiatric: Surprisingly, the field of psychiatric nursing is growing quickly. As our health care system gets better and better at defining and treating various forms of mental illness, the need for psychiatric nursing is becoming greater and greater.

The long and short of it is this: no matter what your field of interest or your level of ability, there is an LPN program out there that is ready for you to move into it.

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CAN - (Nursing Education NY), the location of choice for Healthcare Education. Our (New York LPN Classes) prepares students for a wide variety of healthcare careers Learn more at http://www.newyork-nursing-schools.com

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Funding Your LPN School: Financial Aid for Future Nurses

There are hundreds of thousands of people out there who love helping their fellow man -- and millions who would just love to be earning a decent wage. Many of them don't believe they have the ability to go to school, but that's because they don't know about their options. A nursing school, or more specifically an LPN school -- the place to learn Licensed Practical Nursing, one of the top-paying fresh-from-college jobs on the market -- isn't that hard to get into once you understand how to get financial aid.

The first place to look for LPN programs are public (i.e. state) colleges, because they accept both standard Federal student aid and they also tend to have a variety of scholarships available for people diligent enough to research them and apply. Especially if you can find one that has a significant nursing program, LPN program-oriented scholarships are fairly common.

If you intend to get your LPN training online, you can also take advantage of the Higher Education Reconciliation Act, passed six years ago, which recognizes that online colleges are a legitimate source of advanced degrees and made Federal student aid available for many accredited online institutions. Many such colleges offer strong LPN training courses, and they allow you to learn at your own pace, taking things as aggressively or as slowly as your lifestyle demands.

Almost anyone can get a hold of a Pell Grant, which will cover a chunk of the cost of your LPN classes, but almost never as much as half of it. Student loans can often cover the rest, but if you can avoid that level of debt, it's a good idea. That's why you should also look into the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, or FSEOG. Not all schools participate in the FSEOG program, but if you find one that does and you have exceptional financial need, it can go a long way toward eliminating the rest of your school costs.

Before you decide which brick-and-mortar or online institution to take your LPN classes from, talk to the financial aid office of each, and have each one build a financial aid package for you. Ask them about "FAFSA4Caster", an online tool which can help you determine how much financial aid you qualify for. Remember, no matter what they assume, you don't have to accept admission into any LPN programs until you know exactly what impact it will have on your finances.

If you're already working as a CNA and you want to participate in a CNA-to-LPN program, talk to your human resources department -- often there are tuition reimbursement benefits that can help fund your LPN training. Generally, you'll have to pay for your tuition (or that part that isn't covered by grants and scholarships) up front, and then your workplace will reimburse you for some or all of the rest. That can go a long way toward ameliorating the costs of getting your LPN classes under your belt. Ready for a move up the ladder?

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CAN - Nursing Education Bronx NY, the location of choice for Healthcare Education. Our Bronx NY LPN Classes prepares students for a wide variety of healthcare careers. Learn more at http://www.newyork-nursing-schools.com

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A Degree In Intelligence Can Help Solve The Intelligence Management Problem

The attacks on 9-11 prompted a reaction from the U.S. government and a reorganization of the intelligence community. To be sure, the shock effect of having the World Trade Center destroyed while also having the Pentagon attacked and another plane plummet to the ground was sufficient to cause a reaction from the government. However, the government looked deeper into the particular intelligence issues that likely led to the attacks on 9-11. Those intelligence issues were integral to the reorganization of the intelligence community.

Some of those intelligence issues in need of improvement were a lack of preparedness to deal with global terrorism, poor budgetary planning, inadequate number of linguists, inadequate number of human sources, and an inability to share information among intelligence agencies (Best, 2006). A lack of preparedness to address global terrorism is a big issue. It appears that it was not that big of a deal prior to 9-11, however. That was just the perception of those in intelligence or those in management because global terrorism was indeed prevalent and information was available that suggested that terrorists wanted to attack the U.S. Indeed, U.S. intelligence received a steady input of information from 1998 to 2001 that suggested that a terrorist attack within the U.S. was a possibility (Best, 2006). The inadequate consideration of that intelligence information very likely can be a reflection of a management problem. Proper intelligence management, or proper oversight of the intelligence milieu, may have been an antidote to the lack of urgency that that intelligence required.

The budgetary problems that were identified as problematic also were suggestive of management problems. Typically, budget issues are handled by administrators. Too few administrators accounting for a complex budget such as the one of the intelligence community can be remedied by more managerial assistance. Similarly, too few linguists and human sources suggests that management were not closely tracking the ranks of those workers or they were not aware of the real need for those assets. Whichever the case, proper intelligence management could have ensured those assets were on staff in appropriate numbers. Lastly, poor inter-department communication suggests organizational and managerial problems that could be remedied with enhanced relations between agencies. Who will address the need for those relations, the officers and analysts? Those relations would be addressed best by management.

The U.S. government recognized the management problem, and, as a result, instituted the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), a cabinet level position (Best, 2006). Having such high level oversight is one key part to addressing the intelligence management issue, but intelligence management is best addressed on the lower level where the intelligence work takes place.

There is a real need for intelligence training and a degree in intelligence. People who have sound intelligence training and who have a degree in intelligence or some applicable discipline can be quite valuable, particularly on the managerial level. The intelligence training for a manager helps ensure that the manager is actually in touch with what his or her workers need. Though real world experience is near priceless, a very good substitute for years working in the intelligence community is a degree in intelligence.

1. Best, R. (2006). CRS Issue Brief for Congress. Congressional Research Service. Library of Congress.

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Dan Sommer works for Henley-Putnam University, a leading educational institution in the field of Strategic Security. For more info on Henley-Putnam University, degree in intelligence, intelligence management, call 888-852-8746 or visit us online at http://www.Henley-Putnam.edu

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