Saving Daylight for Busy Nursing Assistant Training Students

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Yes, we spun the clock back an hour over this past weekend.  That’s why you’re reading this blog post after arriving to class an hour late (oops)!  But in all seriousness, the semi-annual ritual of monkeying with the linear nature of time known as “Daylight Saving Time”  (not daylight savings) as some mistakenly refer to it seems to please some and annoy others. Wikipedia explains, “While the times of sunrise and sunset change at roughly equal rates as the seasons change, proponents of Daylight Saving Time argue that most people prefer a greater increase in daylight hours after the typical “nine-to-five” workday.  Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, but the actual effect on overall energy use is heavily disputed.” However, whether or not the shift results in producing more daylight during daytime hours for you depends on you routine.  If you’re working the third shift as a nursing assistant, you likely aren’t seeing much daylight regardless and the whole “Fall back-Spring Forward” action seems more like an inconvenience than anything else.  Nevertheless, for your nursing assistant training student counterparts, still studying to earn certification, the extra hour of sunlight makes it more pleasant; providing a daylight morning commute for example. The folks over at Quartz.com have built this nifty interactive graphic you can use to determine whether or not Daylight Saving is something that works for you or represents a pointless exercise.  Simply visit the link here, enter in your awakening time and bed time and see how much (or little) the clock shift impacts your exposure to daylight.  However, if you’re late for nursing assistant training class at the Allen School of Health Sciences because you forgot to change the clock, maybe do it later.  Get to class!

WHO Says Sausage, Ham and Processed Meats Cause Cancer

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The World Health Organization evaluated results from more than 800 studies from around the globe on whether or not processed meats are implicated in causing cancer among those who eat them.  Their conclusion is that processed meats – those that are cured, salted or otherwise treated – do indeed raise the probability of contracting cancer.  This information puts sausage, ham and other processed meats in the same category as asbestos and cigarette smoking. It would be enough to warn busy medical assistants and medical assistant trainees against grabbing a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich on their way to work or classes at the Allen School.  However, it is also information that a well-informed medical assistant can share with the patients he or she will come into contact with over the course of their careers in medicine.  The WHO also noted that red meats that are cooked over high heat like frying, grilling or other high-temp methods are also known to contain carcinogenic properties as a result of being cooked in this fashion. Dealing with patients suffering from life-threatening diseases like colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, stomach cancer and others is one of the more challenging aspects of work as a medical assistant.  At the same time, sharing preventative medical advice is also part of the job.  So when large-scale studies like the one the WHO produced about processed meats come to the forefront of the news, it is a good idea for medical assistants to take note and leverage the information in the work they do with patients.

A Growing Demand: Industry Outlook for Medical Assistants

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There has been a lot of talk lately about the value of a college education and the job opportunities (or lack thereof) facing recent graduates. There has also been growing concern that the job market may not be as strong for many common occupations, including popular fields like legal, manufacturing and industrial. health sciences curriculum in New YorkEven so, there is one field that continues to experience excellent growth year after year. That field is health care, and the need for all kinds of health professionals is expected to remain strong for many years to come. A number of factors have converged to create that strong demand for health care professionals, including medical assistants. On one hand you have the aging of the population, both in the United States and around the world. The world is not getting any younger, and the aging of the population means more need for quality care – -and quality caregivers. At the same time, changes in the laws governing health care have created an even stronger demand for primary care providers. The need for family physicians, medical assistants and nurse practitioners has been growing rapidly in response to the new health care law, and that demand is only expected to grow over the next couple of decades. That confluence of events means that there has never been a better time to train as a medical assistant. The job market for medical assistants is expected to grow rapidly over the next couple of years, so by the time you are trained and ready to leave school you should enjoy a strong job market – and an equally strong salary. In the end, choosing the right education is all about supply and demand. If you choose a field with a limited supply of qualified candidates and a strong demand for their services, you can expect a plethora of job opportunities upon graduation. healthcare training Phoenix AZThat calculation makes the value of an education as a medical assistant even more compelling. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, expects the demand for medical assistants to grow by an astounding 29% over the next decade. That growth rate is far higher than average, and much better than many other careers in the health care industry. If you are looking for an investment you can make in yourself, training as a medical assistant just might be the perfect choice. A quality education is the smartest investment you will ever make. Unlike other investments, a great education and training as a medical assistant will pay dividends for the rest of your life. If you are looking for a great start on a great career, just check out the course offerings at The Allen School. The Allen School is a leader in the field of health care education, including the growing field of the medical assistant. The health care industry has undergone extraordinary growth over the last couple of decades, and that high growth rate shows no signs of slowing down. Instead, experts predict that the need for health care professionals in general and medical assistants in particular is only expected to grow. If you want to get in on the ground floor of a growing industry, the time to act is now.

CNA Classes – Train for the Insane on the Plane

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For some reason, this Monday’s news seemed to be chock full of crazy at 35,000 feet.  If one didn’t know better, one might think that there was an entirely new market to be served by the medical community including those who might be considering taking CNA classes to become a certified nursing assistant.  I am talking about the growing epidemic (today at least) of crazy, insane, maniacs attacking other people on airplanes. You just can’t make this stuff up!  The top “train for the insane on the plane” story comes from the Associated Press which reports that a Brazilian man on an Aer Lingus flight from Ireland, went looney tunes and ran amok, biting several passengers before being restrained while the flight was diverted to the nearest airport where he died before he could be arrested. In the second-place “train for the insane on the plane” spot comes this story today from Inside Edition of a man removed from a Southwest Airlines flight which also made an emergency diversion/landing after he began choking the woman in the seat in front of him.  Evidently, he was angered that she had reclined her seat and felt the best way to make his displeasure known was to choke the poor woman unconscious. If these trends continue, Allen School may need to add a new course of study – CNA Classes for in-flight emergencies. Instead of learning about patient health, comfort and care, infection control and OSHA universal precautions, therapeutic diets/feeding techniques, vital signs, body systems and the rest of the course material involved in regular CNA classes, the In-Flight CNA classes will focus on how to treat maniacs who are biting, choking and otherwise inflicting woe upon their fellow travelers.  If you’ve traveled by plane recently, you probably already know that this is likely to be a growing field. <Editor’s note: this piece is entirely satirical except for the description of the types of things one really studies in CNA classes.>  

Medical Billing Online Classes from a Standing Desk

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Medical science has confirmed that sitting all day is very bad for humans.  So if you’re currently taking medical billing online classes in between working at your current job (if your current job is a desk job), then you should consider a standing desk. What’s a standing desk you ask?  Let me tell you!  Quite simply, a standing desk is a workstation that can be raised up taller so that its user may work while – as the name suggests – standing up. It may seem counter intuitive, but staying seated for long periods of time is very bad for your circulatory system and puts extra strain on your heart muscle.  Standing while working at a computer – like you might at a library computer or a kiosk in the airport – may take a little getting used to.  But the benefits of adapting can be significant for your health over the long term. Additionally, they make some standing desks that are telescoping so that they can be set lower when you feel like sitting and higher when you wish to work from a standing position.  It may even be an investment you will make good use of over a long period of time as well.  Medical billing online classes lead to work in one of the fields commonly associated with work-from-home arrangements.  Of course, most medical billing professionals don’t start out right after graduation with telecommute positions.  But after you’ve gained experience and a solid resume in this field, there are plenty of practices that allow billers and coders to work from home.  So investing in a good standing desk may be a good idea.

Medical Assistant Trainees Can Do Amazing Things

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Are you considering becoming a medical assistant trainee but you’re anxious you may not be up to the challenge?  Do you harbor some doubts about your ability to succeed at the difficult task of getting educated in a new field and embarking on an exciting new career?  Well, you shouldn’t doubt yourself.  We humans are a far more tenacious and perseverant lot than we may give ourselves credit for.  You CAN do this.  If you need inspiration, it is all around you.

Take this story from the Business Insider about Krishna Reddy, a “13 year-old from Wichita Falls, Texas, [who] invented a device that can tell when a driver has consumed alcohol or used other drugs based on how dilated his or her pupils are,” as part of his participation in the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge, an annual competition for the title of America’s Top Young Scientist and a $25,000 prize.  Reddy built his pupil reading device using a digital camera, a snakehead flashlight, and a toilet paper roll.  His efforts promise to completely change drunk driving prevention.  He didn’t worry about failure.  He didn’t focus on a perceived lack of materials.  And in exchange, his efforts have led him to a promising and potentially lucrative future.

Your efforts can do the same.   Don’t sell yourself short.  You have what it takes to become a medical assistant trainee and ultimately, a professional medical assistant in your community.

Nursing Assistant Training and Drug Addiction

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Updated September 18, 2021

OK, so that title may be a little misleading.  No, this post is not about drug addiction among nursing assistant training candidates.  Typically, a person who is working to complete nursing assistant training is a motivated, focused individual with a clear plan for their financial future.  The typical drug addict does not meet the profile.

What it is about then, is providing some very important information for nursing assistants who will very likely encounter people suffering from drug addiction during the course of their careers as nursing assistants.  Substance abuse is a complex and difficult illness both to properly identify and to treat.  It simply doesn’t respond to medicines like antibiotics for bronchitis for example.  Addiction has a million causes and a million more manifestations.  But if one is prepared to first notice the symptoms and then to take appropriate action, there is a decent chance the patient can be saved.

Since frequently an addict doesn’t admit to his/her addiction, it often falls to their family or friends to help direct their loved one into treatment.  And for these folks, knowing the signs of addiction, and then how to act upon them can make all the difference.  A well-trained nursing assistant should know about these signs and activities so they may properly advise the addict’s loved ones who may not be ready or able to cope with this enormous problem.

Here are fourteen rules you must never break when dealing with an addict.  The list and the advice are produced by Narconon; an organization whose mission is to provide an effective path for rehabilitation from drug abuse and to assist society in preventing the scourge of drugs worldwide.  If you’re presently taking nursing assistant training, you should read this piece and educate yourself on these best practices because substance abuse/addiction is an enormous health issue in the US.

Looking to start a career in healthcare? Find all the courses you need at the Allen School of Health Sciences – we have three campuses in Queens, NY; Brooklyn, NY; and Phoenix, AZ. Contact us below to learn more about the program!

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Nursing Assistant Training to Enter Fascinating Field

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Taking nursing assistant training courses not only prepares one to enter a lucrative and stable career, it also prepares one to enter a truly fascinating field.  The advances in medical science have come so fast and furiously for so long over the last century, that we’ve grown somewhat inured to the actual marvel of what is being accomplished.  Cures for diseases that killed billions over the course of history were eradicated in the 20th Century.  Polio, Smallpox, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Dyptheria and many others are now a thing of the past.  Organ transplants including heart, kidney, liver and even lungs have become commonplace.  In the early part of the 21st Century, the medical industry has even delivered face transplants and hand transplants.  It is a truly amazing time to be in this field, moving at the speed of innovation. Today it was revealed that scientists at Stanford University are claiming to have isolated a cure for one of the diseases still killing thousands every year in a slow, and gruesome manner.  I am talking about Alzheimer’s disease which robs a person of their life’s memories while their brain slowly deteriorates and ultimately ceases to function at all.  This disease is almost more difficult for the families of those afflicted who must witness their loved one devolve daily as they can no longer remember their spouses, children, grandkids and friends. According to Rodmartin.org, “Alzheimer’s is America’s sixth leading cause of death. 36 million people have Alzheimer’s worldwide, and only 1-in-4 have been diagnosed. 1-in-9 Americans over 65 have it, and 1-in-3 Americans over 85. 2-in-3 Alzheimer’s patients are women, and the disease is twice as likely in blacks and Hispanics. The human cost is incalculable; the financial cost is pretty staggering too, at over $220 billion annually in the United States alone.” The Telegraph reports, “Researchers discovered that nerve cells die because cells which are supposed to clear the brain of bacteria, viruses and dangerous deposits, stop working. These cells, called ‘microglia’ function well when people are young, but when they age, a single protein called EP2 stops them operating efficiently. Now scientists have shown that blocking the protein allows the microglia to function normally again so they can hoover up the dangerous sticky amyloid-beta plaques which damage nerve cells in Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers found that, in mice, blocking EP2 with a drug reversed memory loss and myriad other Alzheimer’s-like features in the animals.” Aren’t you proud to be studying nursing assistant training so as to become a member of the elite corps of people at the front line of science and healthcare?  If you’re not studying nursing assistant training, you may want to ask yourself if it is something that could be beneficial to you as a career option.

Selfie Stick Induced Injuries

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OK, so here’s something fun for a Friday afternoon.  As medical office assistants and certified nursing assistants, you’ll have a front row seat to some of the injuries inflicted on people by engaging in foolish activities.  These include people who blew themselves up playing with fireworks, people burned trying to deep fry turkeys, roller-blading injuries and a wide array of other shenanigans the likes of which you can watch on TV programs like America’s Funniest Home Videos and Ridiculousness. This blogger is not one to laugh at the misfortunes of others.  But there is one class of fool who gets no mercy or quarter from me, and that’d be the users of the inane product known as the selfie stick.  In the video clip below, this fellow barely escapes serious injury as a canoe impales his windshield, missing his head by mere inches.  Why?  Because the Mensa candidate was too preoccupied filming himself with a selfie stick and failed to pay sufficient attention to the road in front of him.  Luckily, he was unharmed.  But there are plenty of doofuses (doofi?) in the world with selfie sticks stepping out into traffic, backing up over the edge of cliffs and doing all sorts of stupid, dangerous things while filming themselves.  Those folks keep doctors’ offices and hospitals humming and people like you busily employed as medical office assistants.  Have a great weekend!

Boosting Memory Naturally for Medical Assistant Trainees

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Medical Assistants by definition must be well-studied on a host of topics critically important to the health and well-being of the patients that they encounter on the job.  There’s a great volume of information to learn while studying for nursing assistant certification and all of it must be retained.  Keeping one’s memory sharp can be challenging.  Whether you’re still studying to earn your nursing assistant certification or you’re already employed in the field, relying on caffeine, sugary energy drinks or other stimulants to boost your memory during test times or busy work times is a mistake.  Watch the video below for a fantastic and stylish way to use natural herbs to help keep your mind sharp.  or click here for step by step instructions.