This article was written by Joy Paley who also writes for Guide to Nursing Schools on the topic of free online classes

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6 Common Misconceptions About Fitness Nursing

As with any relatively new field, fitness nursing suffers from the preconceptions of people who aren’t too informed about what the job actually entails. You may tell someone that you’re a fitness nurse, only to have them ask you which famous athletes you’ve helped, or if you can give them advice on their weight loss plan. It may be hard to explain this field that has much potential for growth and entrepreneurial ideas, but still always necessitates one thing—the expert medical knowledge of a good nurse. Here’s a quick run-down on some common misconceptions about exactly what a fitness nurse does, to give everyone a heads up.

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1. A Fitness Nurse is Not a Weight Loss Coach: These days, every glossy magazine would have you believe that fitness is equivalent to weight loss. Look at the cover of Ladies’ Health and you might believe that you can only be healthy if you look like a twig and have a six-pack. Fitness nurses are most certainly not interested in turning their clients into these cover-worthy models. While fitness nurses may incorporate weight loss into a patient’s regimen, especially if they are a recovering cardiac patient, aesthetically motivated weight loss is never the goal.

2. A Fitness Nurse is Not a Professional Athletic Trainer: A fitness nurse or sports nurse certainly might work with athletes, on the professional or university level. The nurse is there to help the athletes stay in their top condition, sure, but they aren’t going to be the one yelling at them to squeeze out another rep. Instead, a nurse uses their medical training to keep the athletes on top, by preventing injury through the appropriate precautions (like ankle wrapping), keeping an eye on their diet, and helping injured players get back on the field.

3. A Fitness Nurse is Not Just a Caretaker—They Are Also an Example: Fitness nursing is one area of the nursing profession where a nurse’s own actions and attitudes have a large impact on patients. For example, if you’re a traditional nurse in a hospital setting, none of your patients will know if you go home and eat junk food, booze it up, or participate in some other activity you’ve warned them against. If you’re a fitness nurse helping patients recover in a cardiac rehab program, however, you’ve got to be fit yourself, as a positive example to them. How can you tell patients that appropriate exercise and diet can help stave off disease, if you don’t practice those things yourself?

4. A Fitness Nurse Isn’t Always Just Working Out and Chatting With Clients: Many people assume that just because they’ve got that friendly word “fitness” in front of their title, these nurses don’t deal with serious medical issues. But, that’s just not the case. Fitness nurses may routinely depend on their nursing training on the job, whether its through stabilizing a cardiac rehab patient having another heart attack, or through aiding an athlete who has just experienced a serious injury. They’re called “nurse” for a reason.

5. Fitness Nurse Is Not A Strictly Defined Job Title: Unlike other areas of nursing, fitness nurses may work in a wide variety of settings, exercising a number of nursing skills. It can take a while for someone to understand that they probably won’t see an ad for “Fitness Nurse Wanted” in their local paper—it’s still a highly entrepreneurial nursing job field with room for growth in new areas. These nurses may work at any intersection of fitness and nursing, like teaching movement therapy to breast cancer survivors.

6. A Fitness Nurse is Not Necessarily in the Gym: Some nurses may enter the field of fitness nursing to get out of the comparably “dreary” world of the hospital. Fitness nurses don’t have to be in a gym or baseball dugout, though–there are unique places for fitness nurses in that old RN mainstay. Some fitness nurses, for example, may work in the orthopedic department of the hospital, educating athletes about how to recover from surgery and get back on their feet.

The CGFNS Qualifying Exam^® for foreign-educated, first-level, general nurses will be Internet-based beginning with its March 2011 exam administration, CGFNS International announced today.

“The CGFNS Qualifying Exam^®, which has been given in paper-and-pencil format to over 500,000 foreign-educated nurses during the past 30 years, continues with the same testing rigor and remains a psychometrically sound and legally defensible examination. Moving to Internet-based testing expands our reach and strategic value to our global community,” said Dr. Barbara L. Nichols, CGFNS International CEO.

CGFNS has selected Kryterion as its test delivery vendor to administer the Internet-based examination. Applicants will continue to apply for the CGFNS Qualifying Exam^® through CGFNS International’s Certification Program, or through HHRDC in China or IIG in Vietnam for the CGFNS International Standards for Professional Nurses (ISPN) program.

The CGFNS Qualifying Exam^® satisfies the immigration exam requirement for first-level, general nurses seeking an occupational visa in the United States and is also recognized by a majority of the U.S. State Boards of Nursing. Applicants who are approved to take the Internet-based CGFNS Qualifying Exam^® in March 2011 will be notified in January with instructions for scheduling.

For more information regarding the CGFNS Qualifying Exam^®, please visit www.cgfns.org/sections/programs/cp/default.shtml.

About Kryterion
Kryterion is a full-service provider of custom assessment and certification products and services. They work with organizations to build and deliver everything from skills tests and simple online assessments to a comprehensive, high-stakes, worldwide certification program. They offer a viable addition to high-stakes test delivery with unsurpassed program security, control and convenience. Kryterion has 469 worldwide available testing locations. For more information, go to www.kryteriononline.com.

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Source: CGFNS News and Alerts

Nursing care for people with dementia is in need of a radical overhaul, a leading think tank has warned.

The King’s Fund says people with Alzheimer’s and dementia in England are having NHS-funded care withdrawn in the later stages of their illness.

It says relatives have to pick up the bill for additional nursing support.

The government says the number of people receiving continuing care has risen by almost two-thirds in the past three years.

There are 820,000 people living with dementia in the UK and that number is set to rise as the population ages, according to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust.

Social needs

Christophe Grillet, from Cambridge, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease 17 years ago, was receiving round-the-clock health care from the NHS at home but as his condition became more advanced, he was reassessed and the continuous care was withdrawn.

His wife Kate said: “They say his needs are primarily social care needs – washing, dressing, feeding and that he’s relatively easy to deal with.

“The country is full of people, including my husband, who are having their support taken away and left to try and fund whatever care they can get themselves.

“This doesn’t take into account when you have Alzheimer’s your health needs are even more, you don’t get better.”

Mrs Grillet said she felt excluded from much of the decision-making regarding his NHS-funded care and now her husband is in a home which costs them £600 a week.

“Because we didn’t get the support we needed, we are separated, and that is the biggest problem,” she added.

The government has issued guidelines to primary care trusts (PCTs) on how they should assess the continuing care needs of people with dementia but campaigners say funding cuts mean many PCTs just ignore them.

Barbara Pointon, from Dementia UK and the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “What’s happening with NHS continuing health care is it’s getting more and more difficult to get in the first place, and when people with dementia move into the advanced stage and need more care, it’s being taken away from them.”

The King’s Fund is calling for a shake-up of the system that differentiates between health care, which the NHS pays for, and social care, which local authorities and individuals have to fund.

Richard Humphries, from the health think tank, told the BBC: “The system is increasingly broken and it will struggle to cope with the rising tide of people with dementia and people will become more dissatisfied with it.

“We desperately need a radical overall to bring more fairness and more funding into the system.”

Jo Webber, from the NHS Confederation, which represents the majority of NHS organisations, said the service did not have an “infinite pot of money”.

“Over the next 30 years the number of people with dementia will double, so we do have to find different ways of delivering services,” she said.

“I don’t underestimate the anxiety and the worry at the moment for people who are having these issues but we can’t go on this way.”

A Department of Health spokesman said continuing health care is a package of care – health and personal care and accommodation costs – arranged and funded solely by the NHS for people who have been assessed as having a primary health need. It can be provided in a range of settings, including care homes or a patient’s home.

He said since the introduction of the national framework for PCTs, the overall number of people receiving NHS-funded continuing care had risen from just under 31,000 at the end of March 2007 to about 51,000 at the end of September.

“The national framework has started to reduce the regional variation in who gets care and there has been an overall increase in the numbers of people in receipt of NHS continuing health care,” he added.

Mr Grillet’s PCT says it followed the government’s guidelines but health care needs change.

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Article Source: BBC News UK

Babies are exposed to hormones in the womb

The length of a man’s fingers can provide clues to his risk of prostate cancer, according to new research.

A British Journal of Cancer study found men whose index finger was longer than their ring finger were significantly less likely to develop the disease.

Researchers made the discovery after comparing the hands of 1,500 prostate cancer patients with 3,000 healthy men.

The length of the fingers is fixed before birth and is thought to relate to sex hormone levels in the womb.

Being exposed to less testosterone before birth results in a longer index finger and may protect against prostate cancer later in life, say researchers at the University of Warwick and the Institute of Cancer Research.

One of the report authors, Professor Ros Eeles, said more studies would be needed, but if these confirmed the findings it could be used a simple test for prostate cancer risk.

She said: “This exciting finding means that finger pattern could potentially be used to select at-risk men for ongoing screening, perhaps in combination with other factors such as family history or genetic testing.”

The study was funded by the charities Prostate Action and Cancer Research UK.

Emma Halls, chief executive of Prostate Action, said: “This research brings us another step closer to helping determine risk factors for prostate cancer, which is possibly the biggest issue in current thinking about preventing and treating the disease.

“However, we are still a long way from reducing the number of men who die of prostate cancer every year and need more research and education in all areas to achieve this.”

Dr Helen Rippon, head of research at The prostate Cancer Charity, said the research added to growing evidence that the balance of hormones we are exposed to before birth influences our health for the rest of our lives.

But she said men with shorter index fingers should not be “unduly worried”.

“They share this trait with more than half of all men and it does not mean they will definitely develop prostate cancer in later life.”

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Image and Article Source: BBC UK

By Sara Novak of Planet Green and Jake Richardson of Care2 Green Living

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Once in a blue moon, I’ll hear some positive news on the healthy eating front and dark chocolate has time and time again come out on top. This along with the antioxidants in wine is enough to make you jump for joy. We know that this delectable sweet treat provides a wealth of health benefits, but how much is too much?

Recently, Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen, authors of YOU: On a Diet, answered some important questions on the specifics of dark chocolate consumption. According to the article in the Sun Setinel, you don’t need a whole bar to get a healthy dose of antioxidants. The flavonoids in dark chocolate are so powerful that a daily piece the size of a Hershey’s kiss can lower your blood pressure.

While this is an ideal size comparison, it’s not a good quality comparison because the chocolate cannot be milk chocolate. The chocolate should be fair trade, organic, and at least 70 percent cocoa. Avoid any filling like peanut butter, which could be laced with hydrogenated oils.

Dark chocolate and heart disease

According to a study published in the European Heart Journal and reported on CBS News, German researchers found people who had an average of six grams of chocolate per day (one square of a chocolate bar) had a 39 percent lower risk of either a heart attack or stroke.

Dark chocolate and stroke protection

I wrote about another study published in the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism. This new study found that dark chocolate can provide protection after a stroke has already occurred.

A specific chemical found in dark chocolate called epicatechin appears to do the trick. We already know that it can prevent strokes from happening and now we know that it can provide protection against stroke damage.

Meanwhile, according to the website, Nutritiondata.com, a one ounce serving of dark chocolate contains 19 percent of the US RDA for iron. Yet an ounce of beef sirloin only contains 3 percent.

Is dark chocolate really that high in iron? Why hasn’t anyone told me this?

Data from USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference shows: Chocolate, dark, 70-85 percent cacao solids, value per 100 grams is 11.90 milligrams of iron. Beef, bottom sirloin, tri-tip roast, separable lean and fat, trimmed to 0″ fat, all grades, cooked, roasted, value per 100 grams is 1.66 milligrams of iron. Beef, ground, 70 percent lean meat / 30 percent fat, crumbles, cooked, pan-browned, value per 100 grams is 2.48 milligrams of iron. So these two information sources state that dark chocolate does contain more iron than some cuts of beef, and not just a little more.

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Image Credits: Define Body

Article Source: Green.Yahoo Blog, Care2GreenLiving

The Sydney Morning Herald on 23rd June 2010 reported that International students will be better looked after and protected from exploitation by dodgy operators under legislation introduced to parliament. The government has said that it is moving to preserve the lucrative $17 billion industry, which has recently been beset by problems, including claims that some providers are exploiting foreign students. Under draft laws introduced to parliament recently, educational colleges will face tougher registration criteria. “This will raise the bar of entry into the international education sector,” parliamentary secretary Jason Clare said.

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The skilled migration program is aimed at attracting overseas workers with skills Australian business needs. These skills, listed on the immigration department’s Skilled Occupation List (SOL), contribute to eligibility for permanent residency.

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The new SOL, announced on May 17, is mainly made up of highly specialised professions and trades requiring either university training or long apprenticeships.  Some trades on the previous Coalition government’s SOL, such as hairdressing and commercial cookery, have been excluded.

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BE INFORMED OF THE CHANGES!!

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Make the right choice.  Decide where best to invest in your future.

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Image Credits: National Geographic

GENEVA (AFP) – – The World Health Organisation said on Thursday that the number of cases of tuberculosis worldwide had levelled off last year, with lifesaving inroads against the disease especially in China and India.

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An estimated 9.4 million people contracted the disease in 2009, the same number as the previous year, the WHO’s annual report, “Global Tuberculosis Control 2010″ found.

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The WHO said the incidence of tuberculosis was stable or falling in all 22 countries with the highest burden of the infectious disease except South Africa.

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However, it warned that despite significant and lasting improvements in the quality of TB care since 1995, especially in poor countries, overall progress is still far too fragile.

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“There are still 1.7 million deaths a year from a disease that is perfectly curable in 2010,” said Mario Raviglione, director of the WHO’s Stop TB unit.

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“At this pace it will take millennia to get rid of TB,” he told journalists.

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The global death rate has declined by 35 percent since 1990, with six million lives being saved a year compared to 1995, while detection of tuberculosis was improving, according to the report.

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The report showed that when the best practices were put in place with proper funding and government commitment, “then the tide in the epidemic can turn,” Raviglione added.

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He highlighted the experience of India, the hardest hit country with an estimated two million cases of the infectious disease a year.

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“India is the country that has seen the most spectacular increase in doing the rights things in TB control,” Raviglione said, pointing to a shift from sparse detection and treatment 10 years ago to nationwide coverage today.

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Death rates in China have been halved over the past decade, as well as in Brazil and Cambodia compared to 1990.

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But the WHO emphasised that some of the most populous countries also faced “the biggest challenge of them all,” an estimated 440,000 multidrug resistant (MDR) strains of tuberculosis a year which are both hard to detect and to treat.

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“The main issue is in Russia, China and India where most of the global (MDR) burden lies and this is where we expect great progress in the future,” said Raviglione.

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In India about 1,000 cases of MDR tuberculosis are uncovered every year, compared to an estimated total of 100,000 such cases in the country. The global detection rate is about five percent.

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Source: http://asia.news.yahoo.com/afp/20101111/tts-health-who-disease-tuberculosis-c1b2fc3.html

Author: AFP - Friday, November 12

Whether by exam or through an endorsement, the requirements for obtaining a license to practice as a nurse differs in each U.S. state and may change without notice. Therefore, we suggest that you contact the board of nursing in the state where you wish to practice to verify their licensure requirements. You can go to each state board of nursing’s Web site by clicking on the state name in the table. This table contains information available as of August 2010.

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http://www.cgfns.org/sections/tools/apps/sbonrequirements.shtml