This course is designed to provide greater awareness of sexual harassment in the workplace, steps to take to prevent it, and methods to deal with it if it does occur. The course will focus on federal laws, liability issues, harassment policies, employee rights, supervisor responsibilities, and investigation procedures.

The content in this course is applicable to supervisors in all settings.

Antibiotic stewardship is a movement which aims to treat this powerful group of medications resourcefully, implementing antibiotic use with evidence-based practice. As part of the antibiotic stewardship movement, providers and other team members such as nurses are called upon to be stewards of antibiotics so that these medications can continue to be used to fight infections in the future. In this module, you will learn about antibiotic stewardship and apply your knowledge in several case studies. You will learn about the Core Elements of Antibiotic Stewardship developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and how you can apply components of the program to your nursing practice.

This course, which was designed to comply with HIPAA law, will help you protect the privacy of the people you provide care for. Allowing unauthorized individuals to see a person’s personal health information can have severe consequences for you and your organization, even if it happens by accident.

The goal of this course is to provide post-acute care staff with basic information about the principles of confidentiality, privacy, and security.

Members of the healthcare team must be able to recognize symptoms of bacterial meningitis to expedite testing and treatment, and advocate for preventive vaccination among appropriate age groups. With knowledge of preventive measures and awareness of early symptoms, the impact of meningitis can be greatly reduced.

This is an exciting time to work in the field of behavioral health treatment. The field has changed dramatically in the direction of operating on the principles of recovery. Recovery treatment involves changing our attitudes and beliefs about serious mental illness and the long-term effects of these illnesses over the lifespan to reflect the belief that recovery is the expected outcome. The field continues to expand into areas of advancing the integration of mental health to physical health, connecting to multiple dimensions of wellness and alternative medicine, as well as incorporation of peer recovery specialists. Each of these areas supports the recovery of persons with behavioral health issues.

Healthcare supervisors and managers are presented daily with challenges. These challenges present as process failures or those surrounding staff behaviors. An organization’s management team maps a path to support their supervisor’s success in dealing with these challenges. The approach is defined by proven characteristics, skills, and experiences. This course discusses the basic tools needed for supervisors and managers to be successful in their roles. 

In the operating room, patient safety depends on high quality communication and shared knowledge among the surgical team. Several factors in this setting can contribute to communication failures like time constraints, shift changes, environmental barriers, the complex nature of surgical procedures, and clashing communication styles. All members of the surgical team must understand the risks to patient safety associated with communication failures, what information must be communicated and when, and how to use an assertive communication style.

The goal of this course is to equip nurses and CSTs with best practices for effectively communicating in the operating room. 

Quality Improvement (QI) can be implemented within almost any healthcare setting and can prove highly beneficial for achieving improved delivery of service outcomes. For quality improvement to be effective, it is crucial that everyone at your agency or clinic be informed of any QI projects and how their roles and responsibilities might impact these projects. The better you understand the QI process, the more proficient you will be as an active participant in improving the quality of services your agency or clinic provides. Using several quality improvement models, as well as detailed and specific examples that demonstrate these models in action, this course offers an overview of quality improvement, along with relevant aspects of how quality improvement impacts not only your job, but also your clinic or agency’s performance. You will be armed with the knowledge you need to apply these concepts in your own setting.

This course will familiarize the learner with personal protective equipment. The different types and proper application of personal protective equipment are discussed. Choosing the correct personal protective equipment for the type of exposure is presented. This course engages the learner in discovering educational resources for commonly used chemicals and tactics for choosing personal protective equipment used in situations where exposure risks are evolving. 

Dementia gradually destroys the areas of the brain responsible for sending and receiving messages, making communication difficult. There are guidelines that you can follow to ensure effective communication with persons with dementia, even those who have severe cognitive impairments. In this course, you will learn how to understand the person with dementia by knowing them as an individual and recognizing common speech patterns, how persons with dementia use behaviors for communicating discomfort, and the communication strategies you can employ to ensure the person receives your message.

Earthquakes and tsunamis unleash powerful forces of nature. They cause catastrophic infrastructure and property damage and can result in tremendous loss of life. This course presents some basic facts about earthquakes and tsunamis, including considerations for preparedness and protective actions.

The goal of this course is to provide all staff with a basic overview of earthquakes and tsunamis.

The prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is increasing in the U.S. and worldwide. However, if the condition is well managed, it can result in a healthy pregnancy. Maternal child health professionals must understand the condition, risk factors, and how to treat it.

The goal of this course is to help nurses and speech-language pathologists (SLP) in early identification of dysphagia after a stroke. This course will review the incidence of dysphagia in stroke and the types of screenings and exams used for early detection and diagnosis. After reviewing swallow screens in detail, you will be able to understand how each member of the interprofessional team plays a role in the implementation of these assessments.

Influenza, also known as the “flu,” can have a significant cost due to restricted activities, illness, and deaths. Pregnant women, children, older adults, and individuals with respiratory or chronic debilitating conditions are particularly vulnerable to serious complications of influenza. This course will teach you simple steps to protect yourself and those you serve from getting or spreading the flu.  

The goal of this course is to provide all staff with the basics of flu prevention, symptoms, and treatment strategies.

The OR is a complex environment. Highly trained individuals interact in a specialized setting with sophisticated and technically complicated devices, instruments, and equipment. There are also substantial differences among team members related to education, experience, skill level, influence, and formal and informal power. This course will inform nurses and surgical technologists of the evidence-based steps to take to create a culture of safety in the OR.

The use of technology has bloomed in the healthcare industry. While technology’s use has improved the delivery and continuity of care, it increases the chance that an unauthorized person will be able to access individuals’ protected health information, or PHI. Therefore, to protect electronic PHI, your organization is required to follow a specific HIPAA rule, known as the Security Rule.

The goal of this course is to describe the Security Rule and ways you can prevent breaches.

Pediatric patients are not small adults and medical errors and patient harm in the pediatric population differ in many ways from those associated with adults. For example, one study estimated that adverse drug events occur three times more often in pediatric patients than adults, due in large part to their smaller physical size, early developmental stages, and dependence on others for care (Mueller et al., 2019). All perioperative nurses and surgical technologists should have a fundamental understanding of the anatomical, physiological, psychological, and emotional differences of children compared to adults and how these differences impact the care needs of pediatric patients in the pre-, intra-, and postoperative phases.

You can better assist your patients who have asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by building care teams in primary care. Learn how to assemble these teams and utilize certain disease-specific checkpoints for improved patient outcomes and health management.

About 20 percent of emergency department visits are due to hand and wrist injuries. While most hand injuries are straightforward, many cause long-term complications that may profoundly alter a person‘s ability to work, create, and enjoy life to the fullest. This continuing education program, which includes the steps for preserving an amputated body part, addresses the assessment and treatment of patients with hand trauma.

The persons you serve in your service setting are entitled to specific rights under the law. This course will introduce you to these basic rights. Knowing how to promote and protect your clients' rights is key to their health, safety, and well-being. It will also help you and your organization succeed and provide quality, ethical, and legally sound care. The goal of this course is to provide paraprofessionals in behavioral health settings with information about client rights.

Healthcare professionals are often unprepared to respond to requests for physician-assisted death. With the increase in end-of-life discussions and more arguments for legalizing physician-assisted dying, healthcare professionals need to understand the reasons patients may initiate such a request. Healthcare professionals need to appropriately respond to these requests. This course discusses physician-assisted death and the related concepts. It also discusses ethical and legal concerns related to physician-assisted death. Without the knowledge and understanding of physician-assisted death, healthcare professionals may not respond appropriately to these requests from patients.

As a healthcare professional, you have often heard the adage that says, "If you didn’t document something, you didn’t do it." It is no longer true that you can be exempt from malpractice or negligence claims because you were following orders. As a professional in the healthcare industry, you are expected to be familiar with many aspects of care. If you are a nurse, you are responsible for assessing, planning, implementing, and evaluating nursing care. If you are a social worker, you are responsible for assessing, planning, implementing, and evaluating psychosocial care. What you document can and does reflect the care provided and the resulting outcome when the documentation is factual, complete, timely, and detailed. In this course, you will learn about concepts and rules regarding documentation in the medical record as it relates to negligence, malpractice, and civil litigation.

The goal of this course is to provide addictions, behavioral health counseling, marriage and family therapy, nursing, psychology, and social work professionals in health and human service settings with information about how substance use disorders can impact family systems and approaches to help the family system. 

Symptoms such as fever, cough, and chills can alert you to the presence of an infectious or communicable disease in a child. When identified, these symptoms can alert you to potential concerns in your environment. Some symptoms are less obvious and may require careful inspection of the child to determine potential risk factors. Children are exposed to a variety of environments. Caregivers working with families must have the ability to identify health care concerns quickly to stop the spread of disease.

Treatment planning documentation is a critical link between the client, the services you provide, and the client’s progress. This course will reinforce what you already know about plans of care while offering you direction and structure for capturing the real therapeutic relationship on paper. You will learn how to better represent the care process by incorporating the core principles for clinical documentation. You will take a fresh look at ways to record your client’s strengths, goals, and treatment objectives, while also evaluating methods to accurately represent interventions, outcomes, and discharge plans. The goal of this course is to provide professionals in addictions, behavioral health counseling, case management, care management, marriage and family therapy, psychology, social work, and nurses in a health and human services setting with current strategies and recommendations for effective and person-centered treatment planning documentation.

Despite great strides in the reduction of medical errors, mistakes that result in patient harm remain too frequent in American healthcare institutions. In recent years, healthcare systems and institutions have sought to emulate the model of the high reliability organization or HRO. HROs are known for their safe operation and limited degree of failure despite engaging in potentially hazardous and highly complex activities. Researchers have identified several distinctive qualities specific to HROs that may be applied to healthcare contexts, with some caveats. Due to their unique and ubiquitous role within healthcare institutions, nurses have the potential to make significant contributions to this process.

The goal of this course is to equip nurses with knowledge of the characteristics and principles of high reliability organizations and the role of nurses in supporting high reliability.

Learn how to identify best practices for building care teams for patients with depression and anxiety, define key checkpoints and patient follow-ups, identify strategies for coordinating care with other providers, and evaluate the care provided by the team.

It can be difficult to work with certain people due to issues such as communication breakdowns, personality clashes, or conflicting work habits. You may not like everyone you work with, but it’s important to respect everyone. By learning ways to reduce conflicts, you’ll become more respected too. In this course, you’ll learn strategies to calmly address misunderstandings before they blow up, deal with differences, communicate clearly, and listen respectfully.

Mammography, the most widely used screening tool for breast cancer, has certain limitations. Several imaging modalities are being developed and improved to overcome mammography’s shortcomings. This course discusses how imaging techniques can reduce breast cancer mortality when used for routine screening and diagnosis, as well as for staging breast cancer, planning treatments, and monitoring response to chemotherapy.

This course explains the indications for hysterectomy, a commonly performed surgical procedure. You will learn the different approaches and the areas of special learning needs for women experiencing this procedure. Also covered is post-operative nursing care for women who undergo a hysterectomy, whether that care takes place in a surgery center, a hospital, or at home.

Healthcare-associated infections are a serious issue. On any given day, approximately 1 in 31 hospitalized patients has a healthcare-associated infection, and over 75,000 of these infections result in death (CDC, 2018). Astounding, isn’t it? And these numbers don’t account for infections acquired in other healthcare settings. Preventing the transmission of infections from one person to another is critical.

The goal of this course is to provide staff in all healthcare settings with the basics of infection control.

This course provides an overview of essential skills and considerations for engaging in sensitive and effective advance care planning conversations. You will learn the most important decision domains to address as outlined in the FIVE WISHES® framework, how to demonstrate compassionate communication, and conversation skills specific to eliciting values-based end-of-life care decisions.

The goal of this course is to provide healthcare professionals in all settings with enhanced communication skills related to advance care planning.

 To care for a child with a tracheostomy tube, clinicians must understand the reason the child requires a tracheostomy, the functional status of the child’s upper airway, and the child’s medical condition. Children with tracheostomies routinely receive care in both home and healthcare settings. Patients with tracheostomies can experience complications and there is an increased risk of death associated with tracheostomy-related emergencies. The management of a child with a tracheostomy requires clinicians to be skilled in routine and emergency tracheostomy care.

The state of healthcare in the U.S. is poor when compared to other developed countries and the need to balance cost and quality has become apparent (The Commonwealth Fund, 2019). Utilization management helps ensure the most optimal care is being provided and waste of resources or services is reduced when possible. Clinicians in utilization management perform a variety of functions to help achieve a balance between quality and cost of care. Utilization reviews are one method to reveal areas where cost or quality can be improved and can serve as a basis for quality improvement initiatives in all healthcare settings. Thus, the importance of utilization management will continue to grow as regulatory bodies and healthcare professionals strive to improve the state of U.S. healthcare.

As a healthcare worker, you are in regular contact with residents, visitors, and coworkers. When harassment or bullying occurs in the workplace, the impact on staff and visitors creates a troubled workplace. Facility operations are also disrupted with long-reaching effects. Workplace violence refers clearly to threats or actual use of physical force against a person in the workplace. In recent years, more healthcare workers have assumed a greater risk of exposure to workplace violence. In this course, you will learn how to spot, prevent, and respond to workplace violence. 

Sepsis is the result of a dysregulated host response to severe infection that can result in systemic inflammation, immune system dysfunction, coagulopathies, multi-organ system failure, and death (Rhodes et al., 2017). The signs and symptoms of sepsis can vary in onset and presentation and depend on many individual patient factors. Early recognition and intervention is key to improving patient outcomes. Nurses are vital in this role as they are readily at the bedside and able to continually assess the patient and communicate changes in patient condition to providers. The goal of this course is to challenge the learner’s ability to identify key risk factors for sepsis and recognize signs and symptoms of early and progressive sepsis. It will also challenge the learner to accurately anticipate management strategies in the treatment of sepsis and sepsis-related complications.

Healthcare professionals often feel unprepared to ask about abuse or to counsel a pregnant woman who is being abused, although they are in a unique position to assess for IPV and to support women who experience it. As such, it is necessary for clinicians to skillfully screen for IPV and offer effective interventions when appropriate.

Social media and other forms of electronic communication allow people to instantly share pictures and messages with anyone, anywhere. But as the opportunities to share information online have increased, so have the challenges for keeping information private.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA, was designed to protect individuals’ rights and their personal healthcare information. HIPAA applies to both the storage and transfer of electronic protected health information, so these electronic communications must be handled carefully.

This course explains the concept of a professional therapeutic boundary and how it differs from a personal relationship. You will learn about the ethical role of the clinical practitioner in establishing appropriate roles and boundaries, the difference between boundary crossings and boundary violations, how to appropriately use social media and other technology, and how to recognize situations with high potential for harmful boundary violations. As you master these skills, you will become more effective in maintaining an appropriate relationship between you and your clients.

Improving hospital processes surrounding discharge and transitions of care can reduce adverse events and readmissions. Process improvements may also lead to better patient adherence to the treatment plan and their overall experience with care. The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey is a national standardized survey required for hospitals participating in Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) programs. Survey results are linked to hospital reimbursement from CMS. This course provides updated information for clinicians about care coordination and transitions of care in relation to HCAHPS.

Diabetes, a very common chronic condition, can be managed by prescribing proper diet, exercise, and pharmaceutical treatments. This course discusses building care teams for these patients, teaching team members key milestones and checkpoints, ensuring medication adherence, and coordinating care with other providers as it relates to diabetes.

Conflict in the workplace is inevitable, because every person is different. However, handling it the right way leads to better relationships, an improved work environment, a stronger team, and personal goal achievement. This course presents techniques essential to handling conflict in the workplace.

As the number of older adults increases, especially those who are older and frailer, the incidence of elder abuse is expected to increase. Mistreatment of older adults often occurs in isolation and often remains undetected. The first step to addressing the problem is to heighten awareness of abuse of the old, in particular among those who serve them or have frequent contact with them. Throughout this course, you will learn about types of elder abuse, indicators, consequences, risk factors of abuse, and interventions. You will have the opportunity to test what you have learned in each section through brief quizzes. The course also offers typical elder abuse case scenarios drawn from actual case material from Adult Protective Services or other elder abuse program caseloads.

In helping people maintain their health, well-being, and independence, nurses must feel confident in their ability to make appropriate decisions. This course discusses ethical concepts that will guide you in tough situations where making the right decision is critical. Included is a discussion of ethical principles for nursing practitioners in the geriatric setting, along with how to utilize a decision-making process to resolve ethical situations and problems.

The goal of this course is to provide all staff with an overview of CPR.

NOTE: This course does not replace the formalized training and return demonstration that must be completed for competency according to the American Heart Association. This course should only be used as a “refresher” to remind the learner of the key action steps in CPR.

The content of this course is sourced from the American Heart Association’s CPR and ECC Guidelines unless otherwise noted. The American Heart Association is not affiliated with nor endorses this course.

While strokes can be fatal, symptoms of stroke can be abetted if the patient is treated early enough. Educating patients on stroke prevention is vital for those who are at risk to avoid a medical emergency. In addition, it is important for healthcare providers (HCPs) to understand the etiological risk factors for stroke, as well as management techniques for patients who have already suffered a stroke.

Floods and landslides can occur in many locations throughout the U.S. This course provides basic information about these hazards and the destruction they can cause. This course emphasizes the importance of being informed about flooding and landslide risks and hazards around you and various protective actions you could consider taking.

The goal of this course is to provide employees with a foundation for staying safe during flooding and landslides.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that approximately 795,000 people within the U.S. experience a stroke annually, and among these individuals, over 75% experience a stroke for the first time (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2021). Stroke, a national and international neurological problem, is the fifth leading cause of death in the U.S. and the second leading cause of death globally (World Health Organization [WHO], 2020; American Stroke Association [ASA], n.d.). Nurses need to be informed about the urgency of early treatment to be proactive in educating their communities. They also need to understand the resulting behavioral differences created in right- versus left-hemispheric strokes, and how a lack of knowledge can negatively impact immediate post-stroke care.

Proper functioning of the endocrine system is essential to checks and balances that maintain internal equilibrium. Antidiuretic hormone (ADH) plays a major role in controlling fluid balance. The release of ADH is initiated when the body recognizes a low circulating blood volume causing an increase in water absorption. Syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone (SIADH) is a condition in which the body has an increased response to ADH or an excessive amount of ADH is secreted. In this course, you will learn about SIADH and associated nursing care.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2021a), more than 795,000 people experience a stroke each year in the U.S. Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the U.S. and is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability. Over half of individuals 65 years old or older who survive a stroke have mobility deficits. Up to 40% of people who suffer a stroke continue to have moderate to severe impairments and require extra care (American Stroke Association, 2019). By understanding the cause of stroke and how to both treat and prevent it, you have the power to improve the lives of the people in your care. This course discusses how to identify when someone is having a stroke as well as treatment both during and after a stroke.

Hospitals and providers currently receive reimbursement by meeting criteria established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Quality measures and length of stay data are measures that affect hospital reimbursement. Yet the patient’s experience of care also remains a key factor in hospital reimbursement models. CMS uses the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey to measure the patient’s experience, and nursing care is one part of the survey. Hospitals that perform well on the HCAHPS ratings are more likely to receive better reimbursement and bonuses. Nurses impact hospital ratings and reimbursement by providing the patient with a positive care experience.

Identify checkpoints for managing and preventing the hospitalization of patients with hypertension (HTN), congestive heart failure (CHF), and coronary artery disease (CAD).

The goal of this course is to provide the clinician with up-to-date best practices for identifying and treating patients who have peripheral artery disease (PAD). The module covers symptoms, complications, risk factors, and modifications of PAD, along with the topics of diagnostic tests, assessment, and treatment strategies.

This course is about harassment in the workplace, including sexual harassment and other types of workplace harassment. It looks at the basic skills needed to deal with situations involving harassment. This course will provide information that will help produce a healthy work environment that is free of harassment. It will also help you understand your role if you encounter harassment in the workplace. The content in this course is applicable to all employees.

The perioperative nurse plays a primary role in the operative process. Knowledge of procedures, appropriate patient assessment, and care management guidelines will positively impact patient outcomes. Patients consider anesthesia to be a major risk of surgery and expect perioperative team members to be their advocates by caring for their pre-, intra-, and post-operative needs and providing safe and effective care. This course discusses anesthetics and adjuvant medications used in the clinical setting, anesthesia-related complications, and the nurse’s role in management of perioperative patients.

Diabetes is not an uncommon condition in today’s healthcare systemthe U.S.. This high-volume condition can be managed very effectively, but diabetes disease management can also become very complicated. How can patients learn to manage their own diabetes? What strategies are most effective in teaching patient self-care? By creating an action plan with their patients, primary care providers can not only help to improve patient outcomes, but they can also empower the patients to take a bigger role in their own their disease management. When patients take on more responsibility for their care, resources (both time and economic) are freed up and can be allocated to other patients or areas of need. However, creating an action plan requires input from both the primary care provider and the patient, and no two plans are likely to be the same. Factors such as finances, living situation, or other social determinants of health must all must be considered when putting together a plan. A patient’s diet may also play a role. In this module, the topics of action plans, the social determinants of health, and nutritional counseling will be explored.

The goal of this course is to provide case/care management, nursing, and social work professionals with information about diabetes management.

Chronic conditions such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, lung disease, obesity, and arthritis create a significant burden on our healthcare system. Healthcare professionals witness the impact on patients’ quality of life and also see how hard it is for people to make changes in their health. Instructing patients what to do, alone does not tend to lead to positive behavior changes.

Motivational interviewing is a style of patient counseling that helps resolve a person’s ambivalence about changing his or her habits. The approach is based on what matters to the patient. When each member of an interprofessional team practices from this point of view, the results can be positive for the patient, and for the practitioners.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects thousands of people each year. IPV affects people of all social and economic backgrounds, ages, sex, sexual orientation, race, and ethnicity. Those who experience IPV often suffer adverse social and health outcomes that make early recognition, identification, and response a priority for professionals working in healthcare and health and human services. The goal of this educational program is to provide nurses, psychologists, social workers, alcohol and drug counselors, marriage and family therapists, and professional counselors in health and human services with information for recognizing, identifying, and responding to intimate partner violence.

Failing to properly onboard employees results in poor performance and unnecessarily high turnover. In this course, we’ll cover best practices and lay out a plan for the first 6 months of a new employee’s orientation and performance expectations. We’ll also explore the importance of culture development as it relates to onboarding.

Advance directives are legal documents with instructions that apply if an adult is not able to make decisions about their own healthcare. They are meant to ensure that a person’s values related to dying, quality of life, and other relevant matters are honored.

The goal of this course is to inform all healthcare staff about the basics of advance directives.

Depression and suicide are among the top public health concerns facing older adult populations. Older adults encounter changes physically, cognitively, and psychosocially that often contribute to the onset of depression. Further, older adult populations have among the highest incident rates of suicide than any other age group, which makes appropriate diagnosis and treatment of depression in this population even more critical. This course will provide an overview of some physical, cognitive, and psychosocial factors that could be contributing to depression in an older adult, as well as important information on recognizing risk factors and warning signs of depression in this population. Additionally, information related to evidence-based treatment strategies for older adult populations will be discussed along with the importance of monitoring treatment adherence.

Critical thinking is the cognitive process of analyzing or evaluating information, and the “disposition to be deliberate about thinking that lead to action that is logical and appropriate” (Von Colln-Appling & Giuliano, 2017, p. 106). Critical thinking involves using a variety of cognitive skills and making an intellectual commitment to using the information gained to inform and direct behavior. This course covers the critical thinking process and describes its relevance and benefits, as well as practical ways to apply critical thinking for nurses and leaders in healthcare settings. While this course focuses on the application of critical thinking in the nursing profession, concepts and strategies presented in this course can be applied to all aspects of healthcare.

In today’s workplace, the abundance of “noise,” such as technology, multitasking, stress, and information overload, can make it hard to communicate effectively, ultimately costing time and money. But by learning how to communicate clearly, concisely, and professionally, you’ll increase understanding with your coworkers. This course identifies primary verbal and nonverbal cues, explains active-listening techniques, and suggests how to avoid barriers to good communication.

Pediatric immunizations are orchestrated specifically to protect young children from life-threatening diseases. These immunizations are often administered on a schedule. This course discusses the immunization schedule recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as related contraindications for pediatric immunizations.

Controlled prescription medications, such as opioids, central nervous system depressants, and stimulants, are used to help manage health conditions but are also misused. Because of this, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and state agencies monitor use closely. Practitioners and pharmacies are required to monitor and report use of these substances and make ethical dispensing decisions. Due to many regulations regarding controlled substances, pharmacy technicians should be familiar with warning signs of misuse, signs of fraudulent prescriptions, and laws. They should avoid unnecessary judgment or bias and treat patients with compassion and respect.

Pain management in the emergency department relies heavily on the use of opioid analgesics, which generates risk for patients to develop long term opioid use or an opioid use disorder.  Multimodal analgesia can improve the patient experience and reduce the risks of opioid use if emergency providers approach pain with a more critical mindset.This activity is designed to help emergency providers improve management of pain while decreasing patient exposure to opioids.  It is also designed to help providers navigate how to manage patients with opioid use disorder.

Healthcare providers are constantly challenged to quickly adapt to organizational change and respond to turbulent environments with many interconnected and moving parts. Experts maintain that interprofessional healthcare teams can improve the quality of care, problem-solve more effectively, and improve outcomes. Building a team with diverse backgrounds and unique perspectives has been shown to have a positive impact on performance. Nurses can make a distinct impact by influencing the design of care delivery and improving the practice environment as part of strategic interprofessional planning . 

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, commonly called HIPAA, protects the confidentiality and security of healthcare information. HIPAA creates and protects individual privacy rights for protected health information and governs the use and disclosure of that information.

The goal of this course is to provide all staff with an overview of the principles of HIPAA.

The content of this course is sourced from 45 CFR Parts 160,162, and 164 (2020) or HIPAA-related resources from the Health and Human Services (HHS) unless otherwise noted.

All healthcare organizations must follow a specific HIPAA rule, known as the Privacy Rule. This rule limits the use and disclosure of protected health information, known as PHI. The Privacy Rule also grants people the right to view and correct their medical records, receive copies, or request that copies are sent. The goal of this course is to provide all staff with knowledge of the HIPAA Privacy Rule.

You will learn about the costs, benefits, and goals of integrated care systems. As there are numerous challenges to integrating care, you will become aware of some of these key challenges, and familiar with particular characteristics of well-functioning integrated care systems. Finally, you will learn a variety of ways that behavioral healthcare professionals, including you, can function effectively in an integrated care environment.

A ‘culture of safety’ is an often-heard term in clinical settings. Most patients require complex care, with many interprofessional teams working together. Large patient volumes, an expectation for rapid delivery of care, the consumer’s ability to choose providers, and government reimbursements all drive acute care facilities to invest in preventing or reducing errors. Improving safety is beneficial to the patient primarily, with less risk of injury or death, but also to the facility and staff, improving retention and job satisfaction, with the added benefit of extensive cost-savings.

Within any healthcare organization, there are systems, policies, and procedures that can be improved or events that could have been prevented. A root cause analysis is a tool that helps healthcare organizations improve their systems by using a team process of discovery. When you understand how to use a root cause analysis, you can apply it to create better solutions, prevent adverse events, and create more effective and efficient systems. This course discusses what a root cause analysis is and how to use it.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of children in the United States are abused or neglected (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). It is imperative that medical professionals have a better understanding of what they can do to address this serious issue. In this course you will learn the definitions of child abuse and neglect, how to screen and assess risk factors that predispose children to maltreatment, and how to help children and families receive the care that they need.

This module provides healthcare professionals with information about evidence-based medical therapy, best practice recommendations for the treatment of heart failure, and the role of interprofessional collaboration. It will increase your knowledge about heart failure — how to both recognize and manage it.

Substance use is a growing problem across populations. As a helping professional, you need a basic understanding of how substance use affects your clients. This information will help you to provide support and resources to help clients seek treatment and recovery. In this course, you will explore substance use disorders, how they develop, and their impact on individuals. The course also explains your role as a paraprofessional when working with individuals with substance use disorders. You will be provided an overview of evidence-based interventions and the types of substance use treatment programs available, when additional treatment may be necessary. Detailed examples will help you to apply this information in your own work. The goal of this course is to provide paraprofessionals and peer support specialists in health and human service settings with information on substance use disorders and evidence-based interventions.

This course will introduce you to the influenza pandemic response and its three stages of preparation, response, and recovery. You will learn about the basic elements of a pandemic influenza plan and the steps needed to implement this plan when responding to pandemic levels of influenza in the community.

Polypharmacy is a widespread problem in older adults as a direct result of chronic conditions requiring an individual to take five or more daily medications. It often leads to adverse drug events that can range from mild to severe or even death. This course discusses polypharmacy, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics. It also discusses basic medication actions and interactions with a focus on the physiological changes and potential reactions seen in older adults. Understanding the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of how medications work on and within the body is important in preventing adverse drug events from polypharmacy.

Being healthcare providers, we know the medical error statistics all too well and, at times, they occur too close to home. The purpose of this course is to help you, whether you work in a skilled nursing facility or an assisted living community, recognize error-prone situations and the factors that impact medical errors in an effort to prevent them.

In healthcare, social media posts can influence the hiring process, violate patient privacy, and result in termination of employment. This module informs healthcare professionals of the risks of social networks, which break down the walls separating our personal and professional lives.

The healthcare system is becoming increasingly complex. Therefore, care coordination and case management (CM) are integral to producing optimal member outcomes, decreasing the cost of care, and ensuring effective use of healthcare services. In this course, you will learn about the function, need, goals, and principles of care coordination and CM within the payor setting as well as common challenges that may be encountered. Finally, you will learn about the care coordination and CM process and the benefits to providers, members, and payer organizations.

The goal of this course is to equip nurses and CM professionals with education about the functions and benefits of the care coordination and CM process.

This course is about workplace slip, trip, and fall hazards. It alerts you to the serious consequences that can result even from a simple fall or a near fall and provides information about measures that can help you prevent these incidents and reduce potential injuries.

Grief is a normal and natural response to loss. It is not a problem to be solved, but rather a way of coping. This course discusses the basics of the grief process, the different types of grief, and ways of expressing grief. It also discusses tools to help you stay present and resilient as a healthcare professional supporting individuals and families.

Worldwide, postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) accounts for high rates of maternal morbidity and mortality. It is important to understand the definitions and causes of PPH, as well as the many risk factors associated with PPH and how to assess a woman’s risk. Early recognition is key to have good outcomes. Recognizing PPH, the stages of PPH, and how to measure blood loss is essential, since treatment is based upon the stages of hemorrhage. Additionally, it is important to understand nursing interventions, treatments for PPH (including medication, surgical procedures, and blood products), and teamwork and communication needs to improve perinatal outcomes.

Stress is part of everyone’s life. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. A certain level of stress is healthy because it motivates you to be productive. However, too much stress can do the opposite, leaving you feeling drained and irritable. You can’t escape stress, but you can learn to respond to it differently.

The goal of this course is to teach employees how to identify triggers and develop a personal stress management plan.

This course discusses what quality payment programs are and who can participate in them. Included are Alternative Payment Models (APMs), Advanced APMs, and Other Payer Advanced APMs, along with the criteria to be considered for each of these programs. Also covered are Qualifying APM Participants (QPs), how payments apply to QP determinations, threshold scores, and payer combination options, along with a discussion of the Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC). This module is designed for presentation to trainers and other information givers and can easily be adapted for presentations to groups of beneficiaries.

This course is the fourth in a five-part series on the social determinants of health as defined by the Healthy People 2020 initiative. One of the pillars of the social determinants of health is health services. This course provides an in-depth and interactive analysis of how individuals' access to healthcare and primary care, along with their health literacy, affects their health and wellbeing. You will learn how to leverage this knowledge to improve your patients' health outcomes.

This course will familiarize the learner with basic information concerning domestic and intimate partner violence (IPV). Information about IPV’s prevalence, characteristics, legal protections and risk factors will be presented. The cycle of abuse will be explained along with issues related intimate partner homicide. Screening and intervention protocols will be described along with community resources available to people experiencing domestic and intimate partner violence.

Each year, substance use is linked to over 11 million deaths worldwide (Ritchie & Roser, 2019). Supporting individuals’ long-term recovery from substance use can help save lives. Recovery is a lifelong process that aims to keep an individual substance-free while improving their overall quality of life. Wellness strategies enhance recovery outcomes by focusing on optimal health across all dimensions of an individual’s life.