Achieving the Work, Study and Family Balance

Fewer and fewer people can afford to leave their employment to enter fulltime continuing education. The current financial crisis and increasing unemployment levels throughout the world has left many feeling increasingly insecure. The flexibility of online training enables professionals to continue their employment while developing new skills and certifications to enable their career to progress and to help them achieve financial stability.

Health Care Professionals and Continuing Education

The Health Care Industry is constantly undergoing change as new technology is developed and new knowledge is learned. Healthcare providers have embraced online education as a means of adding new knowledge to their work practices and continuous improvement of their skill base. Some have taken the opportunity to diversify into other areas of practice, using the skills and knowledge they already have and adding new knowledge to prepare for a completely different career pathway.

Legal Nurse Consulting

Legal Nurse Consultants (LNC) are one group of nurses who embraced the benefits of continuing education and transferred their medical skills into the legal profession.

They use the specialized medical training they have received to provide essential under pinning knowledge to legal cases involving medical related situations. The Legal Nurse Consultant provides essential support to the attorney in cases of litigation, by acting as an expert witness.

Continuing Education and Legal Nurse Consultants

Nurses who choose to add a Legal Nurse Consultant qualification to their credentials undertake study which they can do online through a variety of courses offered by higher education facilities. Course options vary from basic to more advanced training, but for those studying online, a major benefit is the ability to continue working while studying.

Opportunities for Employment

Legal Nurse Consultants are just one of many subject choices that nurses and other healthcare professionals can study online to effect a career pathway change. Nurses may study to become Lactation Consultants, Nurse Practitioners or other careers with courses that extend their current qualifications. Other allied healthcare workers may continue to increases their education to enable them to move into higher responsibility and therefore higher paid positions.

Cost of Continuing Online Education

The cost of continuing online education is usually competitive with more the more conventional studies offered on location in a university. Students are usually able to self pace within a set study period. This may enable them to achieve a work-study-life balance that may elude other full time students

Healthcare Professionals And The Need For Continuing Education

As a professional in health care you have already proved your capability and will have already achieved the basic qualification or certification required for your job. But if you are considered an expert in your field, that usually carries with it an assumption that you follow the most modern, legal and certified practices available. And to do that, it’s essential that you stay trained in the latest developments in the industry. That can be difficult sometimes if you work a full week, and possibly have to care for a family, but it is possible with all of the great schools and organizations that will work around your schedule to help get you trained. If you’re a healthcare professional, let’s look at why you should think about updating your credentials, and how to go about it.

Why Continue Your Education?

Your professional organization will require its members to be updated in their qualifications and skills so that they’ll be able to represent the profession well. It may be that your particular profession is governed by a practitioner’s license or certification that requires periodical renewal. Quite simply these are mandatory in order to continue practicing and the renewal will require that you have current knowledge.

In all sectors, there are continuous movements with changing standards, developments, technological advancements and amendments to new governing laws. A professional must keep abreast of the changes and adapt to them as required. This is crucial to the health and medical field because of the sensitivity of the work. Your professional association will keep you up to date with changes and their relevance to you. Or you might want to consider your continuing education because you want to specialize in one area that is related to your field or you may be looking to add additional skills to increase your employability and earning potential.

How To Continue Your Education

Your professional association will provide invaluable advice for what you have to do to be compliant with any required changes, and also will provide the resources you need to advance your skills. Most associations also run regular update courses, refreshers, conferences and seminars. If the on-site academic route is not your preferred choice then you can consider on the job training, part-time or evening courses or even home-based learning. If you want to learn a new skill the method you choose will be dependent on your individual circumstances and what facilities are available to you.