Learn About New Public Health Issue to Aid in Medical Assistant Training

For those students of the Allen School engaged in nursing assistant training, this blog always strives to cover the latest public health issues as they emerge.  Of course, this blog is not in any way meant to be an instructional aid.  We leave this important work to the experts and thought leaders among our esteemed faculty who deliver the actual, high quality, nursing assistant training to students.  It is merely our intention to raise awareness of emerging threats to public health so that our student body can be as informed as possible when they graduate and enter the workforce as certified nursing assistants.  The more you know… Today’s crazy scary story is about a synthetic marijuana product called by the street name K2.  It is a substance that is smoked like marijuana.  But unlike its organic counterpart, K2 is laced with a synthetic active ingredient of unknown (not to mention unregulated) origin.  The effects of K2 are known to be far more potent and dangerous than the cannabis plant it emulates.  Proof of this fact was witnessed this morning in the Bushwick/Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn where police and paramedics were called in to treat dozens of users who’d recently smoked some tainted K2.  The scene was described as something out of the “Living Dead” zombie pictures. View this short video aired by TV program “Inside Edition” to get a look at the effects of this potent and dangerous illegal drug.  You will likely be encountering patients suffering from the effects of this drug which is growing in popularity in some quarters.  Knowing what you’re up against in the field is an important skill from those taking nursing assistant training.