Intensive care unit (ICU) nurse is a registered nurse who takes care of the critically ill and injured people .ICU nursing work includes monitoring the life-sustaining devices and overseeing patient medications. Intensive care nurses can also be nurse practitioners (NP). The role of ICU nurses is to take care of the acutely ill patients for all ages. They work in intensive care units, critical care settings and burn centers.

An ICU nurse should have specialized training, knowledge and skills to provide care to critically ill patients. These nurses working in these specialized units take care of healthcare demands requiring close monitoring. They usually take care of one to three critical patients at a time in ICU.

Schooling Needs To Become an Intensive Care Unit Nurse

The first step to becoming an ICU nurse is to get a nursing education. The education to become an intensive care nurse can be an Associate’s or a bachelor’s degree to qualify as a registered nurse and apply for a license. Many degree programs offer an option to study coursework that teaches the students to work with an emergency, trauma as well as life support patients. These are some of the courses that make up the degree course.

The course might also include some liberal arts and various core subjects such as nursing ethics and mental health nursing. Some of the programs might have critical care focus yet others might offer supplemental certificates in critical care nursing. These programs usually may have courses including clinical nursing, health assessment, pharmacology, human responses and advanced care in illness.

Online Studies for Intensive Care Unit Nurse

There are some available options for online studying. More nursing schools now offer online education options. It is essential for students who want to pursue their nursing intensive care unit nurse schooling online to make sure that they choose a fully accredited program by one of the recognized bodies. The nurses need to gain some clinical experience that they can get from various settings in addition to the schooling .

A nursing student with an ambition to become a critical care nurse should try to perform many rotations as possible in ICUs of other such settings. They build up the experience and make the resume attractive to recruiters. A good nursing school helps the students to choose the type of environment where they can fit in.

Critical care nurse practitioner (NP) is another option to become an ICU nurse after earning a master’s degree. These degree programs usually provide advanced training in core subjects including:

Completing a nursing masters program prepares students for certification and advanced licensing. A nurse practitioner can diagnose medical problems, treat and prescribe some medications. This is an advanced role, unlike an RN position where a physician supervises and gives all the directions. Nurses do not have authority to prescribe medications. Besides, nurse practitioners should lead other nurses as their schooling and licensure place them a position where they can manage other nurses and medical staff.

Certification after Schooling to Be an Intensive Care Unit Nurse

All nurses must pass NCLEX-RN examination before they can practice as a registered nurse. They also need to get approval from other bodies regulating caregivers in critical care units. For example in the US, AACN (American Association of Critical-Care Nurses) issues Critical Care Nursing credentials for nurses intending to care for critically ill patients.

Certification might not always be a requirement, but a professional certificate demonstrates that a nurse can perform at the level of national standards. Eligibility for a certificate is only possible for nurses with a valid license and experience in working for critically ill patients. The candidate must also pass an examination that tests knowledge in critical care for a particular cluster of patients like geriatrics, adults, children or toddlers.

Nurses who choose the nurse practitioner path to work in ICU might need to acquire a certification from AACN through a Certification for Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program. The qualification for this examination should complete an accredited Master's program together with 500 hours of clinical experience under supervision during schooling. Maintaining these certifications requires a nurse to engage in continuing education training.

Intensive care unit nurse should in addition to schooling have excellent skills in communication, organizing documentation working in high-pressure situations and long hours.

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death due to the complexity of treating it. A cancer diagnosis instills so much fear than almost nothing else and nobody wants to hear it. Despite the concern, millions of people get a diagnosis with some cancer, and hundreds of thousands die. The cause of so much anxiety and fear is because cancer causes many painful deaths. Medical practitioners can cause more stress for the cancer patients and their loved ones if they later find that the first diagnosis had some sort of error.

False cancer diagnosis leads to malpractice lawsuits because it causes much suffering to the patient in the form of incorrect, delayed or no treatment. Sometimes, the condition of the patient might worsen to the extent of causing death.

How Does False Cancer Diagnosis Happen

Misdiagnosis

An erroneous determination can stem from late diagnosis or an obvious misdiagnosis. A misdiagnosis relating to cancer can happen in different ways. The first occurs when a doctor diagnosed a patient with cancer and later found out that the person did not have the disease. It is the least common type of misdiagnosis which will upset the person and cause emotional stress but is not going to cause long-term physical problems.

Delayed Diagnosis

The most common type of misdiagnosis happens because of a delay in cancer diagnosis. It occurs when a patient after a cancer diagnosis determines that there is a reason to find out if the doctors should have diagnosed the disease earlier. Since cancer is a progressive condition, early diagnosis would have led to a better prognosis and treatment. It means that a delay in diagnosis can cause a different outcome than if there was an early diagnosis. Screening tests can detect some cancers before a patient starts to exhibit signs and symptoms. Cancer on these organs is that which doctors can diagnose early with screening tests include cancer on these organs:

A cancer misdiagnosis might still occur even after a screening. Mistakes in evaluating scans often lead to an incorrect determination that cancer does not exist.

Cancer will keep on progression if there are not early diagnoses and it will only be diagnosed when it is in a progressive stage.

Incorrect diagnosis procedure

Another way of cancer misdiagnosis occurs if the method of performing the screening test is erroneous. For instance, improper preparation of the bowels in colorectal cancer before the test might cause an inaccurate reading. It is a reason to request for a repeat test. It could be enough to accuse a doctor of medical malpractice for failing to order a repeat test and the patient is diagnosed later with cancer.

How to Prove That False Cancer Diagnoses Lead to Malpractice

A mistake in diagnosis does not automatically sustain a case of medical malpractice. The patient or the representing advocate must use these ways to prove that a doctor should be liable for medical malpractice during a cancer diagnosis.

1.Failing to record the correct illness: Occurs when a medical professional does not include the accurate diagnosis on a list that another doctor with similar training would have included on a diagnosis list

2.Failing to investigate a diagnosis: The meaning of this is that a doctor added the correct diagnosis to the list but without conducting appropriate testing and seeking opinions from specialists to determine if the diagnosis is viable.

3.Failing to include proper illness: Happens when a medical professional fails to include the correctly diagnosed illness on his list when the situation requires the inclusion

4.Picking the wrong illness: This is the diagnosis of the wrong disease, e.g. cancer when the patient has another disease

5.Missed Diagnosis: A medical professional declares a patient to be healthy, but it emerges that he has cancer.

6.Delayed diagnosis-A delay in diagnosing the disease by a patient’s doctor until it progresses and worsens

7.Failing to diagnose relating and unrelated disease: Occurs when a doctor diagnosis another disease but not cancer till it progresses.

Sometimes a technician will be responsible for false cancer diagnosis due to the occurrence of one of these things that alter the accuracy of the test.

A plaintiff in false cancer diagnosis leads to malpractice case needs to prove that there was a relationship with the doctor who had a duty of care which he breached and it is the primary cause of wrong outcome or disease progression.

The standard medical school curriculum in the U.S should complete in four years. The first two years in the traditional schedule comprise of basic classroom science education while the last two years will mostly include rotations in the clinical settings where the students learn firsthand patient care. Registered nurses (RNs) in any specialty or work settings perform some tasks. They do the following:

Registers nurses must do the following:

• Operate medical machinery

• Administer treatment and medications
• Help to follow-up patient care and rehabilitation

A good thing about nursing is that it has many opportunities for everyone for everyone beginning with those who have a four-year bachelor's degree. A nursing job is a place even for those with an associate degree or when a master's or doctoral degree seems to be beyond reach. There are many jobs in healthcare for people holding or intending to pursue a 4-year degree. Some of the jobs in nursing might require licensure testing, certification or on the job training but they start with a bachelor's degree.

Physician assistant

Physical assistants (PAs) are medical professionals who practice medicine but work under the supervision of doctors and surgeons. PAs are different from medical assistants whose work is to perform routine clerical and clinical tasks. PAs go through formal training to provide diagnosis, therapy and preventive health care service according to instructions by a physician. They work as members of a healthcare team to take medical histories, order and interpret laboratory tests or x-rays. They also examine, diagnose and treat patients. PAs can also treat minor injuries, record progress notes, order or perform therapy, instruct and counsel the patients.

Some states of the US allow physician assistants to prescribe some medications. A PA at some establishments performs managerial duties like supervising technicians, assistants, ordering medical equipment and supplies.

Medical and health services manager

Healthcare is business like others and requires proper management to maintain smooth running. Medical and health services managers’ occupation has all the individuals with a role to plan, coordinate, direct and supervises the delivery of healthcare. These managers include generalists and specialists. Specialists are the people in charge of particular clinical services or departments. Generalists manage or help in managing a full system or facility.

Health educator

Health educators encourage wellness and healthier lifestyles by providing education about behaviors that promote healthy living and prevent diseases or other health problems. They educate individuals and communities.

Health educators try to avoid illnesses by providing education on health-related topics such as the importance of exercise, proper nutrition, avoiding STIs and habits that are necessary for preventing disease. They start to be assessing the needs of the audience to determine the best topics and best way of presenting information. They can have different programs for women at risk of breast cancer, college students who may engage in binge drinking and the elderly with chronic diseases. Health educators consider the cultural norms and other belief by the audience to make much impact.

Job prospects for the health educators favor those with bachelor's degrees, but those with experience through an internship or volunteer jobs have an advantage.

Recreational therapist

A recreational therapist or a therapeutic recreation specialist provides treatment and recreation services to patients with illnesses or disabilities. Therapists help clients to reduce depression, stress, and recover basic motor functioning and ability to reason. They also help people to build confidence, socialize well to enjoy more independence and reduce or eliminate effects caused by sickness or disability.

Recreation therapists experience competition for jobs buts prospects is bright for holders of a bachelor’s degree in therapeutic recreation or another course in the same field. Employment opportunities are more for the therapist who acquire special certifications in areas such as crisis intervention, aquatic therapy and medication.

The above five jobs medical jobs that require a four-year degree and still have a large number of openings are also rewarding careers because the professionals directly contribute to improving lives.

Medical transcription also MT is manual processing of voice reports that other physicians and healthcare professionals dictate in text format. Healthcare providers will voice-record notes while transcriptionists convert these voice files to text in digital forms. Demand for electronic data is increasing because of the required compliance with electronic health record (EHR) and Health IT initiatives. Healthcare providers sometimes use voice streaming to voice files that they need to reach the MT department immediately.

Employers of the medical transcriptionists look for people proficient individuals with proper training. Medical transcriptionists should have excellent comprehension of:

Employers prefer hiring certified medical transcriptionists. Training for medical transcription can take place online taking 6-9 months for a certification program. Those who want to earn an Associate degree in applied science in medical transcription will study for two years.

Curriculum of Online Medical Transcription Training

Students of online medical transcription classes learn to create a medical report for use at various healthcare facilities such as hospitals, clinics, doctor's offices, and other facilities. Many online programs in MT field target to help students to develop the right skills for the industry. It might include the use of online simulators, access to dictation and editing exercises.

Medical transcription will be difficult for someone who does not understand the basics of the medicine world. Training programs solve this challenge by teaching these subjects to their students:

Online courses cover various topics that help students to master medical transcription. Some of the courses in online medical transcription training are:

Online programs today have become extremely comprehensive, and students can find those that also teach medical law and ethics, health science, communication, pharmacology, and medical terminology.

Licensing

Students should start by reviewing the certification or licensing requirements for the state where they operate as there might be some differences. The state professional licensing board or another regulatory body in a region where a learner intends to work can provide licensure information.

Online Medical Transcription Training Programs

Different online educational programs offer opportunities for medical transcription training.

Most of the people who go into medical transcription decide to attend a community college that offers an associate degree in applied science (medical transcription). It takes one to two years to learn the educational background with an emphasis on the medical transcription. At the end of the program, students sit for an RMT examination from AHDI (Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity).

Certification of Online Medical Transcription Training

All online medical transcription training programs prepare students to take certification exams.

Registered Medical Transcriptionist (RMT)

RMT is the first level of certification for beginning transcribers with knowledge on transcribing dictation from a health professional but might need help for words or phrases that are inconsistent or lack clarity. Students must take a registered medical transcriptionist exam to test their professional skills before they begin practicing. The examination has more than a 100 multiple choice question focusing on transcription standards, styles, body systems, and clinical medicine terminology.

Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT)

CMT certification is for transcriptionists with RMT after they gain experience by practicing for 3-5 years as medical transcribers in multi-practice setting or acute care. They earn the second level after passing the CMT exam which has over 100 questions testing on various areas transcription, medicine and anatomy terminology and transcribing. Employers hire transcribers with certification with any of the two certification credentials depending on their needs.

Students who plan to pursue online medical transcription training should determine the scheduling requirements. Some of the institutions allow students to set their course schedules after fixing the end date for completing assignments and submitting tests. Other stream class conferences or video lectures by webcam at set schedules that all students should attend at the same time.

Many transcription programs make arrangements for internship or externship to enable students to gain hands-on transcription practice. Students who show proficiency and mastery of keyboarding skills usually get externship opportunities for transcription training from affiliated companies.