Chiropractic Medicine - Education For A Lifetime

Find Chiropractic Medicine Education in the United States and Canada. When an individual mentions "back pain," many folks automatically think about chiropractic medicine to help alleviate physical problems such as this; and it’s no wonder - today, more and more people are seeking alternative treatment such as chiropractic medicine to help in healing for chronic pain and other health disorders.

Addressing the whole person, and not just symptoms, chiropractic medicine is indeed a holistic and integrative means to achieving whole health and wellbeing. Using special spinal adjustment techniques to free "subluxations" from the spinal column, chiropractic medicine is believed to restore balance to the body to improve physical wellbeing.

Chiropractic medicine, as well as other academic programs in holistic healthcare is quickly becoming a mainstay in the educational industry. Because consumer demand for natural therapies and holistic medicine is on the rise, so is the demand for alternative education in the healing arts.

Students seeking a comprehensive education in chiropractic medicine quickly discover that they must first meet certain educational requirements from an accredited university or college prior to enrollment into any one of several chiropractic medicine programs. In most cases, applicants must first meet pre-chiropractic course requirements equaling to a 4-year degree.

Another fact to consider is that while chiropractic medicine fields can be quite lucrative and personally rewarding, educational and clinical training requirements are very intensive. To successfully become a doctor of chiropractic, students enrolled in a chiropractic medicine education program will learn that this particular course of study is comprised of a minimum of 4,200 credit hours; which can run from 4-7 years, depending on part-time or full-time studies. In addition, chiropractic medicine programs may encompass specialized training in a variety of pathological focuses, such as orthopedics. Furthermore, chiropractic medicine studies don't end once graduates have acquired licensure status; a matter of fact, it is almost always a state requirement that professional chiropractic practitioners continue their education with yearly continuing education courses to maintain licensure.

As with any potential university or college, it is always wise for prospective students to review chiropractic medicine program curriculum, tuition and prerequisites prior to applying. In a lot of cases, chiropractic medicine courses are eligible for financial aid programs such as the federal Pell grant and other common student loan programs.

People Can Seek Alternative Treatments For Health Problems at Physical Therapy Centers

As more people seek alternatives to long-term drug treatments prescribed by physicians, physical therapy centers are becoming a popular choice for pain management. Many people picture someone relearning to walk or lifting weights to help build up weakened muscles from an injury or accident. Historically, physical therapy dealt mainly with the musculoskeletal system caused by birth defects, injury, or old age. But modern physical therapy deals with a wide array of health areas, with many physical therapy centers offering specialties in cardiopulmonary health, women's health, and pediatric health.

What Is Physical Therapy Alternative Treatment?

Cancer patients, women struggling with postpartum or prenatal health issues, people with painful skin disorders, and anyone dealing with vestibular problems can seek treatment from a physical therapist. Progressive oncology therapy often uses forms of physical therapy to help patients maintain strength during traditional cancer treatments. Exercises that help with balance and coordination, something greatly affected by intense cancer treatments, can help patients regain normal mobility quicker than if no preventative measures are taken.

Pregnancy takes a toll on a woman's reproductive system, often leaving her with weakened pelvic muscles that can lead to incontinence and painful sexual intercourse. Traditional physicians may recommend surgery, but a physical therapist will perform an exam and create an exercises program that helps strengthen the pelvic muscles. Therapy can also help pregnant women realign the joints so that the last trimester is more comfortable. Breast surgery recovery is another women's therapy, which helps women who have had mastectomies regain mobility.

Vestibular disorders affect balance and coordination. The inner ear is responsible for much of a person's balance, and when the vestibular system is sending mixed messages to the brain, a person experiences dizziness and a loss of balance and coordination. Physical therapists have training in maneuvers and exercises that help realign the vestibular system so that it's working normally again. Patients can also receive education about how to perform the maneuvers and exercises at home.

How to Choose a Physical Therapist

Once a physical therapist graduates from an accredited school, they can choose to work at a hospital, in a nursing home, or choose among a variety of physical therapy centers. Physical therapy programs from North Port to southern California traditionally offer similar educational programs, and all therapists must become licensed in the state they work. Physical therapists who wish to focus on one area of therapy usually take advanced education classes and become certified in the specialty area. It's important that a person needing therapy for women's health, dizziness issues, or skin conditions work with a therapist who has received training in that specific area.

When choosing a therapist, it's important that a patient feels comfortable discussing health issues with the therapist. It's also important that the patient feel comfortable with the therapist's assistant, who may handle a large part of the therapy under the supervision of the licensed therapist. Other considerations include whether or not the practice accepts the patients insurance, if the therapist is willing to work in conjunction with a patient's physician, and the goals set forth by the therapist for health improvement and preventative health measures.

While alternative treatments aren't for everyone, physical therapy centers offer people the option of trying non-invasive, drug-free medical care. With the education provided and the managed care given by the therapist, many people find that physical therapy is a great alternative to medication for long-term pain management.

Nursing Education For a Wonderful Career - 4 Online Options

Nursing must be the only profession in the United States right now where you can pack up your bags, jump on a plane, and move out with confidence to pretty much any city you like across the nation. The chances are, not only your well-paying job, but even your well-decorated (and free!) house or apartment will be waiting for you.

Given the incessant demand for nurses of all specialties in the foreseeable future, it is one of the best career advices one can give today to those looking for a secure job with good pay.

The only precondition to nursing is training - a good education covering the basics of health care is a must for certification. But it does not stop there. The field is deep and wide, and the terrain is changed frequently by the new technologies. That's why a nurse's education never ends.

Online education is an attractive alternative for those nurses too busy to take the time off to acquire a college degree.

Here are four alternative schools to get your nursing degree online, with a study schedule flexible enough to accommodate your full-time job commitments.

University of Phoenix (UP)

UP allows you to earn a B.S. in Nursing or an M.S. while specializing in Health Care Education, Integrative Health Care, Health Care Management or Health Care Administration.

According to the University, the graduates of the B.S. or M.S. programs find employment as "registered nurses, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, occupational therapists, physical therapists, physician assistants, respiratory therapists, and social workers as well as a variety of other specializations."

*** Kaplan University (KU)

KU offers an "RN to BSN degree completion program" for the Registered Nurses to get their Bachelor's degrees. Although most of the classes are available online, the program has a prerequisite clinical course. KU emphasizes the leadership dimension of professional nursing and provides career planning for job placement as well.

The curriculum covers "health promotion, risk reduction, disease prevention, information and health care technologies, ethics, human diversity, management theory, and health care system and policies." Click here for more information and registration:

*** Jacksonville University School of Nursing (JU)

JU, the main campus of which is located in Jacksonville, Florida , offers a similar online "RN to BSN" program for Registered Nurses. The students are provided 30 credits for their active U.S. RN licenses. They can transfer "approved credits from other degree and diploma programs," which helps.

The best part is, you can "complete your labs and practice projects without setting foot on campus." JU's Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree is CCNE-accredited.

*** South University (SU)

SU also has an "RN to BSN" online program with no campus residency requirements.

The only prerequisite for the incoming students is that they should be a Registered Nurse with either an associate's degree from a school of nursing accredited by the National League of Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) or hold a diploma from a school of nursing accredited by the NLNAC.

The curriculum covers "innovative health care concepts, palliative care, gerontological nursing, and complementary and alternative nursing methods."

Nursing Continuing Education For the 21st Century

One need only to scan a newspaper or read a weekly magazine to be astounded by the number of stories about new medical breakthroughs, disease processes, emerging threats of disease, or innovations in medical and health care technology. The World Health Organization warns us to prepare for a potential worldwide Bird Flu epidemic, terrorists threaten us with chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and new protocols for ACLS are released. How is a working nurse to keep up?

Nursing education provides the basic building blocks of medical, scientific, and nursing knowledge, but competence in the nursing profession requires an ongoing process of continuing education. Continuing education for nurses is necessary for the nurse to remain up to date with the latest practice issues and it is necessary for patients safety as well. Some states have made continuing education for nurses mandatory and require a certain number of course credit hours be attained before license renewal, or require certain mandatory course subjects, while other states leave it to the nursing professional themselves to accept a personal responsibility for their own continued learning. Regardless of whether nursing continuing education courses are mandatory in ones state or not, all nurses who describe themselves as professionals need to be willing and ready to implement change in their own practice by realizing that competence in any profession requires periodic updating.

Methods of obtaining nursing continuing education hours and the pros and cons of each:

1. Professional Journals: Most professional nursing journals offer an article for continuing education credit. Some offer a partial credit hour or one credit hour to readers who fill out a post test after reading the article and mail it in. While some journals offer the credit for free, others charge $10 or more and in addition to the inconvenience of needing to tear out a post test form and mail it in the nurse has no official record of having taken and passed the course. Obtaining continuing education hours through professional journals is costly and inefficient in that the cost of the journal itself must be taken into consideration along with the cost of the course if there is one, and the time and expense of mailing in addition to the lack of official record of completion and lack of central maintenance of all credits accumulated by the nurse. Additionally, nurses who rely on professional journals for their CEU hours are typically only exposed to courses related to their own specialty rather than a broader range of topics that they actually need to be exposed to in today's ever evolving health care climate.

2. Seminars: Professional development programs and seminars that offer accredited continuing education hours for nurses are frequently offered at various locations in every state, in some foreign countries, and even on cruises. Employers frequently pay the registration fees for nurses to attend local seminars of short duration such as one day, but nurses still have to sacrifice their precious day off to attend them or lose time from work to do so. In addition nurses who attend seminars away from home have to pay their own travel expenses, hotel bills, and costs of meals. Needless to say cruises and foreign travel are an appealing avenue, but obtaining one's continuing education by that method is not something every working nurse can afford to do.

3. Online Nursing Certificate Programs: The internet provides nurses access to extremely affordable and high quality accredited continuing education programs and professional certificate courses covering a plethora of professional nursing topics. Online nursing certificate courses are the gateway to nursing continuing education for the 21st century! Nurses who take advantage of online nursing courses are not restricted by geographical barriers, financial hardships, or the inconvenience of taking time from work or family in order to attend courses. Online nursing education courses are readily available for both mandatory state required subjects, courses in ones own nursing specialty, and courses that all nurses regardless of practice specialty need to be familiar with. Online nursing programs give nurses easy access to a much broader choice of subject matters than they ever had before when restricted primarily to journals or seminars. In addition to those benefits, substantial as they are, online nursing courses are inexpensive, up to date with changing trends, can be taken from the comfort of ones own home.

In order to stay up=to-date professionally and to safeguard the wellbeing of the public, nurses need to continue their education over the course of their career through a variety of means including taking nursing certificate courses. The most convenient and most cost effective method of nursing continuing education is by taking online nursing courses. Online nursing education courses are readily available, flexible, offer online tracking, and provide nurses with the broad scope of subjects they need to familiarize themselves with in order to keep up to date in today's ever changing health care climate.

Living a Long and Healthy Life With Education For Seniors

Regardless of age, education is invaluable and is an unlimited resource. It engages the mind and gives us an opportunity to improve our knowledge and skills. Continuing education for one may be to take a class at a local recreation center, to enroll in college online, read or listen to an audio book or even attend a seminar or a conference. Engaging in an activity that is a new experience to you is one of the best ways to stimulate your mind and keep it feeling young. Activities like chess, crossword puzzles, or socializing in interesting situations are all good for the health of your mind.

Last week, I had the opportunity to travel to the 2009 CERTIFIED SENIOR ADVISOR INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT to further my education. Here I was able to contribute, share and learn with more than 1000 attendees regarding Trends in Aging. The Summit included panelists with a broad base of experience from government agencies, universities, the private sector and even a strong and impassioned 98 year-old who spoke about "Living a Long and Healthy Life". Other topics addressed the important issues of social and business ramifications of people living longer, long-term care, community-based services, personal well-being and working with seniors facing chronic illnesses.

This simple three-day educational summit expanded my knowledge base with unlimited resources and information to help empower seniors and raise awareness about the options available. I encourage you to add to your wealth of wisdom. Go out; utilize community resources, educate yourself and know what is available to you.

Successful Careers in Radiology Require Continuing Education for Technicians - Some Useful Facts

Radiology, as many other high-tech fields of the modern health care industry, has become a very promising employment market. The demand for highly qualified professionals in this segment is permanently high. As for the employment outlooks for the future - they are expected to be even better than today. The population growth and the senior citizens segment growth lead to increasing demand for health care specialists, including radiology technicians. Besides, the radiology technicians can find employment everywhere all over the nation, so the necessity of relocation - moving with a family to some other unfamiliar city or state- does not present a great problem for such professionals. Advantages of radiology technician professional specialization determine the popularity of this specialization among other high-tech segments of health care industry. This is a great pro in favor of radiology specialization.

On the other hand, there are no pros without contras, as they say. The present-day professional environment of radiology is highly competitive - too many guys strive to get an attractive and rewarding job in the field - and dynamic. Consequently, a good professional, in order to stay in the team, should take care of constant upgrading and enhancement of the professional qualifications, which is officially required by health care industry regulation. It's of critical importance to understand the necessity of continuing education for radiology technicians. Otherwise a professional will not be in position to advance his or her career in this field. The official requirement for radiology personnel qualifications are very strict and definite - any radiology technician registered with ARRT (American Registry of Radiologic Technologists) is required to obtain 24 hours of continuing education credits - if not, the guy is going to lose the hard-earned professional status. What is even worse, minimum half of all these credits must be of Category A. This requirement came into effect fifteen years ago and nowadays the Recognized Continuing Education Evaluation Mechanism takes care of upgrading the radiology technicians' professional excellence and skills - they should always be of state-of-the-art quality!

Probably, a lot of people consider continuing education just a waste of time, but with the radiology specializations it is different - any radiologic technician should take the utmost care about staying on top of the game throughout the whole career. The technology and radiology applied sciences are constantly on the move, modern medical technology is advancing speedily, the health care protocols are changing. Any professional in health care industry needs to upgrade his or her skills and knowledge at least once in two years.

What are the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists requirements for the continuing education of radiology specialists?

According to requirements of ARRT any registered radiology technician is required to renew his or her registration. The minimum requirement is 24 continuing education credits during the last two years. You have to be able to prove that you have obtained those credits, otherwise the ARRT will not renew your registration, and it will be suspended. And you will be left without such critically important professional designation as the registration with ARRT! As you see, the continuing education is far from being waste of time for radiology specialists!

Is it difficult to provide 50% of Category A credits, as approved by Recognized Continuing Education Evaluation Mechanism?

A piece of good news is that the minimum requirement of at least half of continuing education credits for radiology professionals is not as difficult as it sounds. The term "Category A activity credits" means that such credits need to be approved and evaluated by a Recognized Continuing Education Evaluation Mechanism, as simple as that. The difficulty level of such activities is not higher than the activities you were engaged with during the coursework you did to get your degree and become a certified radiologic technician. So, you do not have to worry about that. The detailed information related to Continuing Education Evaluation Mechanism and its requirements is readily available at the official site of ARRT and other online resources.

Keeping up with the continuing education requirements is of critical importance for the successful career development and professional growth of any radiology technicians who cares about further working in the field of health care industry. The Recognized Continuing Education Evaluation Mechanism is very far from being something of a fancy or a nasty hindrance, designed to make the life of radiology specialists miserable. Nothing of the kind, this procedure, though it might look troublesome for outsiders, helps a radiology specialist stay at the prime level of professional fitness, and that is an excellent thing in itself!