If you are looking to pursue a nursing career it is important that you be familiar with some of the most influential nurses in history. Understanding where these nurses came from and what they did will help you appreciate and fulfill your duties as a nurse.

The most famous nurse in history is Florence Nightingale. She was born in 1820 and passed away in 1920. Florence was born to a very affluent family in Britain and her mother was distressed when she gave up her status to become a nurse.

This woman was very attracted to helping the poor and she felt that she had been given specific capabilities and desires to fulfill a call from God to be a nurse. She traveled to many countries to help the poor and she is most famous for trying to reform the British military health system.

Milnes, the poet, asked Florence to marry him and she refused because she was so dedicated to her career. Not only did this woman contribute greatly to nursing, she also contributed to mathematics.

Walt Whitman is often times credited for his poetry and the majority of people do not recognize or even realize that he was also a volunteer nurse at Army hospitals during the Civil War.

“The Great Army of the Sick” was inspired by the experiences that Whitman had as he was volunteering as a nurse. Whitman was born in 1819 and lived until 1892.

During the Civil war the wife of Abraham Lincoln became a great nurse in the field. She was an educated woman from Lexington Kentucky and she helped many young soldier’s in the infirmary to feel happy.

Clara Barton was born in 1818 and passed away in 1882. From a young age Clara Barton had known that she wanted to be a nurse.

When she was only 11 years old she cared for her brother after he fell from a barn. Barton is most commonly known to be the founder of the Red Cross.

Barton started the Red Cross as she began to carry supplies to the soldiers in the battle field.
Barton was going against the grain in society as she had not received any authorization to be on the battlefield during the Civil War.

Mary Eliza Mahoney was the first registered African-American professional nurse. She was known for working tirelessly to give her patients the best care.

She was a co-founder of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, giving hope to many African-American women that wanted to pursue a career in nursing. This association eventually became the American Nurses Association.

Mary Seacole was another nurse that offered relief to fallen and hurt soldiers. She was born in Jamaica and witnessed the Crimean War.

Seacole’s mother taught her the traditional herbal medicines and remedies. She ended up spending her own money to get to Crimea where she would help the wounded soldiers.

Mary Breckinridge was a foremother in family care centers. She took a whole different look on health care and worked hard to provide it for the rural areas of America.

She started her family health care centers in the Appalachians. Breckinridge had received training in Britain to be a midwife.

Florence Guinness Blake was a nurse that had a large impact on the education that nurses receive. From a young age Blake was encouraged to be a nurse and she took advantage of the opportunities that she was presented with.

Blake received a Master of Science degree and became a teacher in a nursing program. Blake’s specialty was pediatric nursing and she pioneered the advancement of the graduate level nursing programs for nurses that were interested in working with children.

Edith Cavell was a strong woman with very specific goals. She knew that she wanted to be a nurse and that she was going to do everything she could to help those that were suffering around her.

Cavell became known worldwide as the nurse that helped soldiers on either side of the battle in WWI. She ended up being executed because she helped allied soldiers escape Belgium and her execution was followed by outrage of citizens all around the world.

Nursing is a great career that has been pioneered by some amazing women. This field of study is renowned and respected.

If you are looking to go into nursing it is important to find the right nursing school for you. A school that has similar morals and understandings of the field will provide you with the opportunity to add your name to the list of influential nurses.

Jack R. Landry has worked as a nurse practitioner for the last 16 years. He is an advocate for higher education and recommends (http://www.mlatc.edu) for a Utah nursing school.

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If you are looking to lower your high blood pressure, you must first get to a healthy weight. A good way to determine if you are at a healthy weight is to calculate your body mass index.

To calculate your BMI you must first weight yourself. After you have calculated your weight multiply it by 703.

Now, take your height in inches and square it. After you have found this number you must then divide your weight times 703 by your height in inches squared.

After you have completed this you should have come up with a number. This is your body mass index.

As of now, this number may not mean anything to you at all. This is the number that can tell you if your weight is in a good range for your height.

If your final number is below 18.5 you are underweight. Being underweight can be a serious problem.

When you are underweight you put unnecessary strain on your heart. This strain can result in a blood pressure that is higher than normal.

If your final number is between 18.5 and 24.9 you are considered to be a normal weight. If you find yourself in this category then you are ready to start trying alternative methods for lowering your blood pressure.

If your BMI is between 25 and 29.9 you are in the overweight category. Before you begin to find alternative methods to lower your blood pressure you will want to start by losing weight.

If your BMI is above thirty you are in the obese category. If you find yourself here, it is crucial that you begin to work hard now so that you can get your weight into a manageable BMI zone.

When you are overweight or obese there are often times particles of fat that begin to build up in the arteries of the heart. If these particles begin to clog the artery you will become at risk for a heart attack.

Before you begin to work on lowering your blood pressure you need to be a healthy weight. To lower your weight you need to start with you’re eating habits.

First, do not skip your breakfast! Although your mornings may be rushed, breakfast is a very important part of the day.

Eating a breakfast that is full or fruits, vegetables or grains will start you off right. You need to eat a breakfast that fills you up and will keep you full.

Whole grains are a great way to achieve this. The fiber that is found in whole grains will make you feel full and make that feeling last until lunch time.

You should also be snacking on healthy snacks throughout the day. Taking the time to get healthy snacks together will be very beneficial for your health.

Whether you take some carrot sticks and hummus or an apple with some peanut butter make sure that the snack is something that you enjoy to eat.

If you pack healthy snacks that you do not like to eat, then you will find it very tempting to forego the snacks that you have packed and instead snack on something unhealthy.

If you have a desk job make sure that you are not mindlessly eating. Eat when you are hungry.

You’re body was designed to tell you when it is hungry and when it is full. Listen to these indicators and act in accordance with them.

If you continually eat when your body is not hungry or do not eat when your body is hungry you will ruin those sensors. Take small portions so that you are not as tempted to overeat.

You should also begin to exercise regularly. A thirty minute cardio workout three times a week is a great place to start.

Once you have developed healthy eating habits and an exercise routine you may want to start concentrating on lowering you blood pressure.

If your blood pressure is not lowering on its own because of your lifestyle change there are many supplements that you can take.

Supplements are a healthy alternative to many prescription medications. There are many medications that can have adverse affects on other parts of your body.

If you are consistently taking a medicine that is hard for your body to digest you may be forcing your liver to overwork. If you continue to do this over a long period of time you may be subjecting yourself to liver failure.

If your blood pressure refuses to fall, visit your doctor and counsel with him or her to learn how you can effectively lower it.

Jack R. Landry has worked as a marriage counselor since the 80s. He has been married to his wife, Judy, for the past 33 years but he recognizes that everyone needs help with marriage. He recommends (http://www.survive-divorce.com ) for help saving your marriage.

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Sports have become a mainstream part of the American society. We know famous athletes, athletics are a popular hobby and we watch popular sport games.

The competitive nature of sports is believed to help children learn how to compete in a healthy manner. The social skills that are developed and the life lessons that are learned in sports are invaluable to many who participate.

Another reality of sports is injury. Sports injuries happen all the time.

The range of injuries is vast. There are injuries that are just nuisances while other injuries can be fatal.

To prevent injury make sure to take the time and stretch before you participate. It may not look cool and no one else may be stretching, but it is important.

If your muscles are extremely tight as you start to play, you are much more likely to hurt a muscle. When the muscles are stretched and have lots of blood flowing to them they can endure a lot more.

Your body will be twisting and turning in ways that your body is not necessarily used to. Making sure that your muscles are well equipped to handle the twists and turns is necessary.

No matter how much preparation people do to play sports, there are always times that someone gets injured. When someone is injured there are a few different acronyms to help you remember what to do after that.

The first acronym is P.R.I.C.E.R. The P stands for protect. You need to make sure and protect the injured part of your body from further injury.

You need to remove yourself from the game setting to make sure that you do not hurt yourself further. If you keep on playing you will run the risk of making a mild injury a serious injury.

The R stands for rest. Your muscle will need time to heal.

If you continue to strain and exercise the muscle it will never heal because the energy within the muscle will be concentrated on moving and working rather than healing. It is best if you are able to not use the injured area at all.

The I stands for ice. You must ice the injured area for 15 minutes at a time.

It used to be believed that you should ice an area for as long as possible, but it has been found now that this can be very mal-beneficial.

If you ice the injured area for more than fifteen minutes it is possible that you will incur nerve damage. So, the recommended remedy now is to ice the injured area for fifteen minutes and then heat it for fifteen minutes.
The C stands for compression. By keeping the muscles compressed you will avoid much of the inflammation that can occur.

The inflammation makes it much harder for the muscle to heal itself. If you can reduce inflammation you will have a much quicker recovery.

You should also always keep the injured are elevated. By keeping the injury above your heart you will not have a dramatic increase of blood flow to the injured area.

When the blood flow dramatically increases to an injury it will increase the chances of inflammation. The throbbing sensation will also decrease if you keep the injury above your heart.

The R stands for referral. When you have a serious injury you will need to get a referral from a professional.

The professional will be able to advise you as to what exactly you need to do to optimize the healing process. If you try to figure it all out on your own you may make the injury worse.

Many times injuries will be too hard to understand from just looking at the surface. Instead of using invasive methods to figure out what is going on inside of you doctors will use a musculoskeletal imaging device, an x-ray or an MRI.

These tools will give the doctor a picture of the inside of your body. They will have been trained in understanding what pictures mean and what different problems look like.

Having this done is very beneficial and if your doctor recommends that you have one of these pictures taken it is most beneficial to do so. There may be a need to have a picture taken by more than one of the methods.

Knowing your limitations and understanding what your body is trying to communicate to you are very important skills in sports. Although people are injured everyday in sports people all over the world join together to play the sports that influence communities, countries and individuals.

Jack R. Landry is an health authority who has been in the industry since 1991. He specializes in Musculoskeletal research and recommends (http://www.msktelerads.com) for consulting.

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Harvard just published a study finding that high blood pressure plays a large role in more than 15% of deaths in the United States.

As one of the most preventable conditions it is important to know how to avoid this condition in your life or get rid of it.

Hypertension does not cause any prevalent symptoms. This can be quite a problem because some people that have this condition do not even realize what their body is going through.

The risk of heart attack, stroke, aneurysms, cognitive decline and kidney failure all increase drastically when you have hypertension. It is estimated that about 28% of Americans have the condition and do not even realize it.

If you have not had your pressure checked in the past two years you will want to go see a doctor as soon as possible to have it checked. After you have it checked it is important that you continue to have it checked regularly.

On the positive side, high blood pressure is easy to avoid and easy to get rid of. First, you must be a healthy weight.

If you do not know if you currently weigh a healthy weight, first look at a body mass index chart. This will give you a good range of weight for your height.

The body mass indexing system can be skewed. If you have a lot of muscle the body mass index may not be equipped to estimate what your weight should be.

Once you are to a healthy weight you can start taking power walks. When patients are diagnosed with hypertension one of the first things recommended is to start walking at a brisk pace.

This has proved to be successful in past years, lowering pressure by almost 8 mmgh over 6 mmgh. This exercise helps the heart to use the oxygen we breathe much more efficiently.

If your heart is efficiently pumping blood it will not be working as hard and thus lowers blood pressure. To keep your heart working and growing you should increase your speed and/or distance over time.

Taking the time out of your day to breathe slowly and practice meditation will also help your heart. These practices decrease stress hormones which then elevate rennin, which is a kidney enzyme that raises blood pressure.

If you are able to go to qigong, yoga or tai chi classes take advantage of their stress releasing benefits. If you are not able to go to a class it is enough to take five minutes in the morning and five minutes at night to participate in some meditative breathing.

Increasing your intake of potassium can also help alleviate hypertension. Aiming for potassium levels ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 mg a day is a good goal to shoot for.

Some of the most potassium rich foods are sweet potatoes, tomatoes, orange juice, potatoes, bananas, kidney beans, peas, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, and dried fruits such as pines and raisins.

Another change to make to your diet is to cut down on the sodium. Eating less sodium does not mean to just go easy on the saltshaker.

The majority of the sodium we take in comes from processed foods. Take the time to buy foods that are not seasoned and instead season them with spices, herbs, lemon and salt-free seasoning blends.

While you are cutting back in so much of your diet, you should reward yourself daily with some dark chocolate. This is not going to set you back at all because it is also prescribed to lower blood pressure.

Dark chocolates contain flavanols. These flavanols make blood vessels more elastic.

The chocolate must contain at least 70% cocoa. If you eat half an ounce of this dark chocolate a day you may see a decrease in pressure.

There are also many supplements out there that can help you lower your blood pressure. One such supplement is coenzyme Q10.

This antioxidant is required for energy production and it dilates blood vessels. Helping the blood vessels in your heart dilate will ease some of the burden that the heart feels.

Lowering the amount of caffeine you consume will also help you decrease your blood pressure. The caffeine tightens blood vessels and magnifies the effects of stress.

If you are drinking coffee consistently try to drink more decaf. It may also be very beneficial to start drinking tea instead of coffee.

All in all, high blood pressure is very avoidable. If you find yourself having hypertension take the time and the energy to lower the pressure on your cardiovascular system.

Jack R. Landry has worked as a nurse practitioner for the last 16 years. He has worked in local clinics and the ER and recommends (http://livingwithoutdisease.com) for heart disease remedies.

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Musculoskeletal imaging is becoming the best way for doctors to look inside your body and assess what is going on without any intrusive actions. Understanding when a musculoskeletal image would be necessary for your health is very beneficial.

First, it is important to understand what a musculoskeletal image is exactly. When you go to the doctor it is easy to get lost in the lingo they use.

Doctors use terms and words that the average American citizen may have a hard time understanding. Musculoskeletal is definitely one of the words that may be difficult to understand.

The musculoskeletal system is the system of muscles, bones, tendons, veins and ligaments throughout your body. This is the system that gives humans and animals the ability to walk, run and balance.

All of the components of the system enable our body to move. Taking care of the musculoskeletal system will give you a healthy body and a better quality of life.

There are times when the musculoskeletal system is injured. There are parts of this system that are very hard to see by using just an x-ray.

Musculoskeletal imaging enables doctors to look deep into the many components of this system. This process takes place when the doctor needs to assess what is wrong with the system.

Arthritis is a very common problem among Americans and often times doctors will use advanced imaging systems to find out exactly where the pain is originating and what can be done for the patient.

There are hundreds of different kinds of arthritis, but the most common among Americans is osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis can be a result of trauma to a joint, infection of the joint or simply age.

The pain associated with arthritis can be very mild or it can be crippling. If you are beginning to feel consistent pain in one particular joint is very important that you see your doctor and explain this pain.

The doctor may use an advanced form of imaging to pinpoint the problem. If you do have arthritis seek your doctor’s advice as to what steps you should take from there.

If you are experiencing pain in your joints you may also have a degenerative joint disease. If this is the case, it is important to catch the disease early.

If you catch a disease you may be able to prevent further degenerative effects. There are times when preventing any further degenerative effects may be impossible.

When you cannot prevent the effects of a disease, you can at least make a plan with your doctor as to how you will manage the disease. By taking the time to understand what is going on and how you will be feeling you will better understand how to take care of your body.
Osteoporosis is another common reason for a doctor to order an advanced image on a patient. Osteoporosis is a disease within the bone.

This disease leads to an increased risk of fracture. When a man or woman has osteoporosis their bone mineral density decreases.

Although osteoporosis is most common among women that are postmenopausal, it can also develop in men.

Sometimes osteoporosis is the result of a medication or a hormonal disorder. In cases such as these the age and sex of the patient vary greatly from case to case.

This disease makes patients very fragile. This fragility can be very severe and when it is it can affect life expectancy and the quality of life for the patient.

If a patient is suffering from a spinal disorder a doctor will often times need a very precise, very in depth look at the spine in question. One of these spinal disorders is diastomatomyelia.

This disorder is a congenital disorder that results in part of the spinal cord being split. This split often occurs at the level of the upper lumbar vertebra.

This condition is much more prevalent among women and can be very painful. When a doctor is able to fully assess what is happening in the back, he is much better equipped to prescribe a treatment.

Spinal stenosis is another spinal condition that often requires the doctor to have a very in depth look at the spine. This condition results in the spinal canal narrowing and compressing the spinal cord and nerves.

This can cause extreme amounts of pain. When a doctor understand that this is where the pain of his or her patient is originating they can help alleviate the pain.

From arthritis to spinal condition, musculoskeletal imaging is a very important part of modern medicine. By understanding exactly what is going on beneath the skin, doctors are then able to properly treat their patient.

Jack R. Landry is an health authority who has been in the industry since 1991. He specializes in Musculoskeletal research and recommends (http://www.msktelerads.com) for consulting.

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Every year 30% of Americans die due to heart disease. Two out of three cardiac deaths occur yearly were never diagnosed. Until 2005 cardiovascular disease was the number one cause of death in America.

The United States and many other western countries have faced cardiovascular disease with a blind unconcern. Unfortunately the high rates of disease are only increasing.

Cardiovascular disease is a term that includes any disease related to the heart and blood vessels, or in other words, the arteries and veins. Technically, this term also refers to any disease related to the cardiovascular system.

The term is most often connected with those who have atherosclerosis arterial disease. There are many different causes of these diseases, but they are all related.

The main cause is a slow accumulation of buildup of plaque in the arteries and many other small problems since adolescence. By the time the symptoms can be detected the disease is already in an advanced state.

The build up of plaque on arteries is a condition called atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a result of high cholesterol and fatty diet.

There are several possible detection factors. However, many of these are successful in indicating a possibility of the disease but are widely unproven.

These factors include high fibrinogen and PAI-1 blood concentrations, high homocysteine, high blood levels of asymmetric dimethylarginine, and high blood levels of B-type natiuretic peptide (BNP).

Cardiovascular disease is one of many diseases that are largely preventable when young. It is also more easily prevented than treated.

Several controllable risk factors for cardiovascular disease include smoking, cardiovascular exercise, and healthy eating. Smoking can be difficult to stop, but it has tremendous health benefits.

By exercising and eating right serum cholesterol levels can be improved, effectively lower the risk of contracting cardiovascular disease. Typically, a healthy cholesterol level is below 150.

People who keep their cholesterol levels well below 150 have a significantly higher chance of not becoming afflicted with cardiovascular problems.

Another contributing factor to cardiovascular disease is a magnesium deficiency, which contributes to heart disease. A healthy diet containing the proper amounts of magnesium effectively can prevent this cause of heart disease.

A diet with low amounts of sodium can also help reduce the risk of future cardiovascular problems. Studies have shown that this simple change can even lower the risk by 25%.

People striving to obtain a low cholesterol diet may want to include things like dark chocolate, almonds, fish, wine, fruits, vegetables, and garlic. These things not only decrease the risk for cardiovascular disease but can increase life expectancy.

Studies have found that eating oily fish twice a week dramatically lowers sudden deatha dn arrhythmias. Omega-3 fats also produced lower risk ratios than statins.

However, there are also several uncontrollable risk factors for contracting cardiovascular disease. These include gender, age, and family history.

In these cases, there may not have been anything that could have been done to prevent it. However, these prevention measures help with many related health issues.

When cardiovascular disease is diagnosed it is treated by a variety of specialists depending on the particular disease that needs to be treated. These specialists may include cardiologists, thoracic surgeons, vascular surgeons, neurologists, and interventional radiologists.

These doctors will also prescribe a variety of treatments according to the afflicted organ. If the problem is high cholesterol, the doctor may prescribe drugs like statins that can help lower the cholesterol.

The doctor may also prescribe aspirin which prevents clot formation and is routine for patients with more than one cardiovascular problem. Clot formation can lead to problems such as myocardial infractions and strokes.

Magnesium may also be prescribed to combat a buildup of excess calcium in the veins. This treatment is effective over the long term, and in preventing complications of cardiovascular disease.

While there are limited treatments for cardiovascular disease the best solution is to prevent contracting it. It is much easier and has fewer side effects.

Jack R. Landry has worked as a nurse practitioner for the last 16 years. He has worked in local clinics and the ER and recommends (http://livingwithoutdisease.com) for heart disease remedies.

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