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Sudden cardiac arrest claims the lives of more Americans each year than AIDS, breast and prostate cancers, hand guns, house fires, and traffic accidents combined. In many cases, the application of a defibrillator keeps the patient alive until emergency medical professionals arrive to provide more intensive care.

Cardiac defibrillation equipment was once available only in a hospital setting but modern medical technologies have made owning a personal defibrillator a possibility that brings peace of mind to many people, especially those at increased risk of cardiac arrest. The Phillips HeartStart Home Defibrillator is one such device that is both affordable and easy to use.

The Phillips HeartStart Defibrillator costs less than $1,000 and monthly payments are allowed to make owning one easier than ever. Each one comes with pads, a 4-year battery, training video, and carrying case. The 5-year warranty means replacement parts are available under most circumstances.

Many adult cardiac patients must get prescriptions from their cardiologists to get home heart defibrillator but the HeartStart Defibrillator is available without need of a prescription. The device comes with adult-sized pads but smaller pads, for infants and children, are available, too. These pediatric defibrillator pads do require a prescription before they’re shipped.

The HeartStart Defibrillator training video demonstrates just how easy it is to use this life-saving device and, since a training video comes with each order, every member of the household can watch it as often as necessary to feel comfortable and confident should its use ever be needed.

If a family member is not breathing normally or it’s impossible to wake them up, especially if this member of the family suffers from cardiovascular disease, a sudden cardiac arrest may be occurring. Before reaching for the HeartStart Defibrillator, call 911 first. This gets professional medical help on the way and, in a time such as this, speed matters. The sooner an emergency response team arrives, the better the chance the cardiac patient will recover successfully.

Once an emergency response team is on the way, it’s time to use the HeartStart Defibrillator. Proper use requires just three easy steps – pull, place, and press.

First, pull the cartridge handle of the defibrillator. It’s clearly marked in large letters. Pulling it will activate the HeartStart defibrillator’s audio system, which will guide you through the rest of the process.

You’ll be instructed to remove some of the patient’s clothing so the pads can be placed on his or her bare chest. The HeartStart Defibrillator’s voice prompt system will adjust instructions to the speed at which the user is working. Slower action on the user’s part will generate more detailed instructions.

Once the pads are in place, the HeartStart Defibrillator automatically begins an analysis of the patient’s heart rhythm. If an erratic, quivering, rhythm is detected, the voice prompt will direct you to press the flashing orange shock button. If no rhythm or a steady one is detected, there is no need to administer an electric shock and the device will not respond to pressing the shock button.

Some healthcare insurance providers cover all or part of the cost of the HeartStart Defibrillator. Be sure to check with your program’s administrator before placing your order.

Basic first aid courses are pretty much the same no matter where in the world the class is presented. The two main goals of the initial care techniques taught in these classes are the same everywhere – to preserve life and to prevent further injury.

To achieve these two goals, first aid courses teach simple ways to quickly assess the medical needs of an injured or ill person. In fact, the method taught is as simple as ABC. Professional emergency responders, even those on the job for many years, rely on the ABCs of first aid every time they evaluate a new patient.

The ABCs of first aid courses stand for airway, breathing, and circulation. These concerns are the very first a first aid rescuer looks for and are the first issues to be addressed if any of them is in jeopardy.

When a person’s airway is obstructed, it must be cleared immediately to preserve the life of the patient. Once the airway is cleared, the patient should usually be turned on his or her side, to prevent additional choking problems if stomach contents should be regurgitated. This move prevents further injury and should almost always be done when a person is unconscious as this is a common cause of death to unconscious patients.

While the simplified ABC checklist addresses breathing, some first aid courses expand on this step, advocating 3Bs (breathing, bleeding, and bones) and others emphasize 4Bs (breathing bleeding, brain, and bones).

Circulation problems occur when cardiac arrest causes the heart to stop beating but it can also mean dangerous bleeding. When cardiac arrest is the problem, CPR should be administered. When bleeding is life threatening, as when an artery is severed, the bleeding must be stopped immediately.

In first aid courses, students will be trained to check the ABCs and the 3/4 Bs in sequential order. In most cases, this sequence of checks works beautifully. In some cases, however, the sequence of checks must be adjusted to suit the injuries presented and sometimes two issues must be addressed simultaneously.

For example, great care must be taken when unblocking the airway of a patient who appears likely to have a spinal cord injury. Clearing the airway is vital but turning the patient onto the side, to prevent the possibility of further choking, can have devastating effects on the damaged spinal cord.

A cardiac arrest patient needing assisted respiration and chest compressions is an example of addressing two issues at the same time.

Some organizations teaching first aid courses even take the ABCs a step further, adding a D step to help rescuers remember to check for deadly bleeding or the need for defibrillation.

Using ABCs as memory guides may seem to oversimplify the situation but everyone responds differently to an emergency. The easier it is to remember what to do, the more likely the patient will experience a favorable outcome.

Some emergency medical situations involve more than one patient, too. The challenge of helping as many people as possible until the emergency medical staff arrives can test one’s memory and one’s resolve. The easier it is to remember the appropriate steps and procedures, the more likely the first aid rescuer will be to achieve those two main goals – preserving life and preventing further injury.

First aid classes teach us how to respond to medical situations in a way that prevents them from becoming bigger, more distressing, situations. In many cases, a fundamental knowledge of first aid is all that’s needed to treat an injury or illness but, in other cases, first aid can dramatically reduce damage while emergency medical help is on the way.

A great extent of what’s taught in first aid classes may seem like common sense, information that everyone learns along the way without making much effort. It involves a natural response to a situation, such as applying pressure to stop a wound from bleeding. Not every situation is what it appears at first glance, though, and knowing how to discern the difference from a minor medical condition to a major one that presents the same symptoms is one invaluable lesson learned in class.

The first formally developed first aid classes are thought to have been conducted in the 11th century by the Knights Hospitalier, a religious organization founded several hundred years earlier. During the Crusades, when many European Christians made pilgrimages to the Holy Land, the Knights Hospitalier provided care and protection to these pilgrims and they trained other knights how to mend themselves when they became injured in battle.

There is an absence of organized first aid classes in recorded history for several hundred years afterward, until the Battle of Solferino, Italy, in 1859, when France’s Napoleon III joined forces with Sardinian Victor Emmanuel II to overcome the army of Austria’s Emperor Franz Josef. This battle is notable not only because first aid procedures became organized once again but because it is the last major battle in recorded world history where the commander of each army was actually on the battleground himself.

In 1859 Solferino, a gentleman named Henry Dunant urged local villagers to band together to systematically help victims of the battle, including administering first aid until more in-depth medical care could be rendered.

Just four years after the Battle of Solferino, four nations joined forces in Geneva, Switzerland, to found the internationally recognized Red Cross, the mission of which was to aid ‘sick and wounded soldiers in the field.’ More localized organizations soon followed suit, basing their principles on those of the Knights Hospitalier, including the establishment of first aid classes.

The term, first aid, combines the mission of ‘first treatment’ with ‘national aid.’ The earliest first aid classes were presented to workers in dangerous occupations, such as railways, ports, mining camps, and police forces. One common mission was to teach people how to handle medical emergencies before they occurred.

While industrial accidents increased the value of first aid classes, the knowledge they conveyed became useful in the home, too. Unfortunately, it is the war front where the biggest advances in medical technology have taken place over the span of history and it is the battlefield where organizations such as the American Red Cross came into being.

Affiliate members of the Red Cross offer first aid classes throughout the world today, always emphasizing the importance of learning how to handle a medical emergency before it happens. Many private companies and schools offer first aid classes, too.

The best CPR training comes from formal classes run by professional healthcare workers trained to teach this life-saving procedure. Fortunately, those classes are not difficult to find. They’ve even been a part of the Boy Scout Handbook since way back in 1911.

CPR training becomes important when someone’s heart has stopped beating. This cardiac arrest might be the result of injury or illness, drowning, or drug overdose. Regardless of the cause, the goal is to keep the person’s blood circulating until emergency medical personnel can arrive and begin administration of more intensive procedures.

It is believed the Old Testament Hebrew prophet, Elisha, administered CPR to a boy thousands of years ago. In the second Book of Kings, verse 4:34 describes how Elisha warmed the boy’s body and “places his mouth over his.” CPR training has changed since then but the overwhelming desire to revive life is timeless.

The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR), which establishes worldwide CPR training standards, announced new guidelines in 2005 that were designed to make the procedure easier for lay rescuers (all of us who are not medical professionals) to successfully perform CPR. While ILCOR standards are respected, they aren’t universally followed. They still include the need for the rescuer to provide assisted ventilation, just as Elisha provided, but other governing bodies, including the American Heart Association (AHA), do not advocate the practice.

Instead, the AHA’s 2008 recommendations call for CPR training that relies on compression-only assistance. The association bases its recommendation on the many studies that indicate better outcomes can be achieved with compressions alone. One theory behind better outcomes with just compression is that the interruption of compressions required while the rescuer administers assisted breathing is counterproductive and may reduce the benefit of the compressions.

When cardiac arrest occurs, a rescuer has only a few minutes to begin CPR with any hope of success. It is impossible to get the heart beating again by administering CPR; the benefit from the procedure is that it keeps the blood circulating in the absence of a working heart and, in doing so, keeps cellular tissue throughout the body oxygenated and alive.

Students of CPR training classes will learn that brain cells can safely lie dormant, without blood flow, only four to six minutes. After that time, cellular damage becomes so severe that to attempt CPR after six minutes causes more harm than good. When blood flow is rapidly restored to brain cells deprived of oxygen longer than six minutes, the sudden infusion of fresh blood caused by CPR only causes more damage. Survival after six minutes requires the administration of several highly technical procedures that work together to slowly resuscitate the patient.

Recent studies have demonstrated a survival rate as high as 79% when gradual restoration procedures were administered versus a 15% survival rate when traditional CPR was administered after the six-minute interval.

The most effective CPR compressions closely mimic a normal heart beat, steady and rhythmic. One study of CPR training made some amusing but ironic headlines last year when it was discovered the very best results were achieved when rescuers administered compressions while keeping time to the beat of the Bee Gees’ hit song, Stayin’ Alive.

Watching someone do cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on television or in a movie can be a bit misleading. No one’s life is really at stake and the actors, even the one who seems to be ailing, is actually quite healthy while the scene is being filmed. The goal is drama rather than results.

In real life, however, CPR can save real lives but it’s a complicated process that is usually different than the dramatic on-screen procedure. To best understand the hows and whys of the procedure, CPR classes are required.

CPR classes are available all around the world. Some people enroll in classes offered by the local chapter of the Red Cross and they’re popular classes at community colleges, too. Some corporations who employ many, many people offer them in-house to anyone interested in learning how to perform this life-saving procedure. Classes are not hard to find and most telephone books have them listed. They’re even easier to locate using an internet search.

There have been repeated changes in CPR classes over the last 50 years or so, though, as CPR techniques have improved as medical science has advanced. Some aspects of the training once considered standard are outdated now. The evolution of the science means it’s important to take periodic refresher courses to keep personal knowledge up to date and most effective.

One example of change is that of breathing into the mouth of the person needing CPR. The object of CPR is to keep the blood circulating until more intensive treatment can be gotten. In many cases, the patient is still breathing on his or her own although the respiratory rate may be so slow or shallow that only a trained medical profession can detect it.

Students of CPR classes will learn the most important role of performing CPR is to keep the blood circulating so oxygen-starved tissues will not begin to deteriorate and die. Saving brain tissue is especially important because a loss of blood to the brain for as little as four minutes can have devastating consequences.

For these reasons, the emphasis in CPR classes of today stress circulation over respiration. Rhythmic compressions to the chest or abdomen keep the blood flowing throughout the body even though the heart has stopped beating. The compressions are also likely to reinforce the patient’s own ability to breathe, although he or she may appear to be not breathing when compressions begin.

Many people who learned CPR ten or 20 years ago, when compressions were alternated with breathing into the patient’s mouth, are reluctant to perform it because they’re afraid they’ll catch any diseases or infections the patient might be suffering. Since assisted ventilation is no longer emphasized but more importance is placed on updated compression techniques instead, refresher CPR classes will teach the newer method, which is more beneficial to the patient at the same time it is more hygienic for the person performing this vital maneuver.

Anyone who’s completed CPR classes and actually put their knowledge to use will undoubtedly say the entire process might not have looked as dramatic as it does when a movie star performs it on the silver screen but the real-life drama of knowing someone’s life is being saved surpasses those make-believe saves any day.

The World Health Organization, or WHO, is located in the Geneva, Switzerland and is an international unit that is comprised of 191 countries that focuses on the improvement and protection of the whole population’s health all throughout the globe. Its associated states are allocated into six geographic regions; namely, the Western Pacific (HQ in Manila, Philippines), the Americas (HQ in Washington, DC), the Eastern Mediterranean (HQ in Cairo, Egypt), Africa (HQ in Brazzaville, Congo), Southeast Asia (HQ in New Delhi, India) and Europe (Copenhagen, Denmark.

The director general manages the organization’s mission to maintain, uphold and develop health through the means of quality education, health programs, supervision of disease-related epidemics, taking action in urgent situations as well as supporting the needed programs and the nutritional support.

History and Undertaking

In the year 1945, three physicians, Brazil’s Dr. Geraldo de Paula Souza, Norway’s Karl Evang and China’s Szeming Sze, proposed the conception of a sole health organization that functions to deal with the health needs of people around the world. Their combined assertion to institute an intercontinental health organization surfaced after it was approved as the World Health Organization in 1946.

The overture of the establishment classifies health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” The first major concerns are comprised of the project to tackle the issue of malaria, tuberculosis, maternal and child wellbeing, nutrition and ecological cleanliness, public health management and mental health. The World Health Organization also included their initial approach on the issues of venereal, parasitic and viral diseases.

Programs

The World Health Organization also provided conceptions on the matter of health as well as the development of nutritional status all through programs that deals with:

• Water safeness and basic cleanliness
• Food, food wellbeing and nutrition
• Immunizations
• Education for health
• Control and preventive measures of local widespread disease
• Treatment and medication of common diseases, ailments and injuries
• Specifications of essential drugs

World Health Organization’s programs also have the Applied Nutrition Program, which started in the year 1960 and tries to develop the worldwide population’s nutritional health. Careful planning have been made to encourage breastfeeding, distribution of additional foods, providing health education as well as the support in producing foods that will improve local diets.

Plans like these include several factors that the organization should address in each region’s particular needs. The aims of action to be achieved are the diet safeness, nutritional education and the healthy preferences of living.

The opportunities for travel nurse employment are growing as rapidly as the nursing industry itself. And nursing is one of the fastest growing industries in the country.

In fact, the need for nurses is greater than the number of qualified nurses available to fill all those positions. In locations where the nursing shortage is really critical, travel nurse employment opportunities abound.

Signing on for travel nurse employment may take you to many different places where nurses are needed for many reasons. The good thing is that you will always have the final say in the location and job assignment.

Travel for as little as a few days a year or stay for months. Some travel nurse employment opportunities even become permanent full-time positions. The choice is yours.

Like the idea of taking a vacation but want to do something more meaningful than read this summer’s bestseller on a hot, gritty beach? Look for travel nurse employment in a tropical setting and you can exercise your compassion while on shift and enjoy that steamy novel under the swaying beach-side palms on your off hours.

Want to move someplace you’ve never been before but want to explore before packing up the household? Try a travel nurse employment assignment that takes you to the location in question. Make your work assignment an opportunity to explore the community and get a feel for the place that you won’t get with mere visits.

There are many travel nurse employment agencies that can help you find just the right assignment to meet your particular needs. Explore an interesting location, practice your specialty, work for as little or as long as you please.

Many travel nurse employment opportunities are found with agencies that specialize in traveling nurses. Other agencies that offer more traditional placement services often offer travel assignments, too.

Travel arrangements give you headaches? Nightmares? No worries. The travel nurse employment agency will take care of all transportation needs, including housing at your destination. Kind of like a travel agency and an employment service combined.

Are you a nurse who loves the work but can’t cure the pervasive bite of the travel bug? If so, you may want to consider researching a travel nurse agency or two to see what opportunities await someone with your qualifications and inclination for adventure.

A travel nurse agency is a networking service for people like you. Focused on the nursing occupation but clients looking for nurses who are, literally, everywhere.

It’s possible to find both long-term and short-term employment opportunities when working with a travel nurse agency. Permanent placement services are offered by many of these agencies but they have the leads to connect you with many shorter term assignments as well.

Job locations that you are likely to find when working with a travel nurse agency may be right there in your current home town but they may be across the country, too. Or even in another country altogether. The choice is yours.

Almost every travel nurse agency has jobs available at all levels of the nursing occupation, from licensed vocational nurses to nurse supervisors and administrators. Their services cover all the medical specialties, too, so you can use your expertise in a specialty you love in any location you’d like.

Check with a travel nurse agency if you are looking for a change in your life. Just starting out and want to explore the country? Kids now all grown and moved away from home? Consider working with a travel nurse agency an excellent opportunity to maintain skill levels and contact with your professional network while exploring new opportunities from the personal perspective.

Don’t select one travel nurse agency without comparing services offered by several of them. Most of them work in similar fashion but all businesses operate differently. One of them is more likely to suit your individual needs more than the others.

Like the idea of regular travel but housing expenses keeping you home? Explore assignments using a travel nurse agency that includes housing and per-diem expenses as part of their services. The concierge services offered by some agencies are excellent.

Still like the idea of traveling to exciting places to work but worried about who will tend to Fido while you’re gone? Make sure the travel nurse agency you choose makes travel arrangements for your beloved pet, too.

There are almost two thousand registered nursing schools in the country. There’s bound to be one near you. And in the off chance there really isn’t one of these schools within commuting distance to you, there are hundreds of them that offer distance learning opportunities.

There are actually three approaches a student can take to attendance at registered nursing schools. All these approaches will meet the educational requirements necessary to take your state’s licensing examination. All nurses practicing in the United States must obtain a state license before doing so.

Some registered nursing schools offer a four-year training program that culminates in the awarding of a bachelor’s of science degree in nursing (BSN). These schools, which number more than 600 strong, are most often affiliated with a university or college. The studies for nursing are supplemented with other college-level classes to complete the full load of studies required to graduate from this type of learning institution.

It’s possible to earn an associate’s degree in nursing (ADN) in one of the nation’s 800-plus registered nursing schools that offer training at this level. These schools are most often junior or community colleges and can usually be completed in about two to three years, depending upon the educational requirements dictated by the particular state’s board of education.

The third option in registered nursing schools is a diploma program that is administered within a hospital system. There are less than 100 of these types of programs, which often take about three years to complete.

It’s possible to attend many of the registered nursing schools that offer the BSN and ADN degrees online. These schools have adapted their training programs to fit the needs of the distance-learning environment and are proud to offer programs that meet the same standards they offer in person only via different means of delivery.

Regardless of which of these registered nursing schools are chosen, completion of their training programs will qualify the student for state licensure and a job as staff nurse.

When considering income, there are many factors to consider in registered nurse salary comparisons. Location, setting, and specialty are three major factors that affect a nurse’s income.

A registered nurse salary in a major city will almost surely be higher than a nurse with an almost identical position in a small town. Registered nurses in cities such as New York or Los Angeles will most likely be higher than a registered nurse holding a similar job in Birmingham or Omaha.

The registered nurse salary for someone in a well-known hospital such as the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, or Cedars-Sinai in the Los Angeles area is probably going to be higher than a similar job in a county hospital in those same cities. Registered nurses working in major hospitals or research centers can probably expect to earn more than a registered nurse working in private practice, home care, or public school.

Where specialties are concerned, the registered nurse salary for someone in the oncology department of a major research facility will probably be higher than the registered nurse working in a nursing home or hospice. The more specialized the service, the more likely the pay will be higher. For example, a nurse specializing in cardiovascular issues in the neonatology ward can probably expect to earn more than a nurse working with general pediatrics in the same facility.

With these factors in mind, however, we can get a pretty good idea of what the typical registered nurse salary is based upon data published by the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Each year, the data is updated and the most recent numbers pertain to the year 2004.

According to the BLS, in 2004, the median registered nurse salary was $52,330. Those earning in the lowest ten percent of figures reported earned less than $37,300 and those earning in the upper ten percent earned more than $74,760.

The typical registered nurse salary that fell within the middle fifty percent of reported income fell within the range between $43,370 and $63,360.

These registered nurse salary statistics represent the incomes of nurses working in the private sector only. The incomes of nurses working in government-operated facilities are not included in these figures.