Where to Find Healthcare Education Programs in California

California has one of the world's largest economies, and is one of the most technologically progressive states, making it a great place to start (or continue) your medical or healthcare career. Here are a few places you can find healthcare schools and other medical training programs in the state of California.

Nursing: As the most numerous healthcare professional, nurses always have job opportunities, which should make finding nursing schools in California a top priority for anyone entering this field. Registered nurses in CA regularly earn over $78,000 annually. (also see this page on becoming a registered nurse.)

Dental Assisting: This field is growing in popularity very quickly, with as much as a 29% growth rate in California, according to labor statistics. Here is a page where you will find several good dental assistant schools in California.

Medical Assisting: For students looking for California medical assistant schools, you will find a lot of strong options, as well as a high-demand work environment once you're placed into your hospital (or physician's practice). Medical assistants can have a clinical or administrative focus, and their job description is worth checking out.

Sonography: Ultrasound Technicians are some of the more tech-savvy members of the healthcare industry. These training programs are usually in very high demand, and you may have to wait a few months before gaining entry into your program. Here you can find some ultrasound technician schools in California to apply to.

Pharmacy Tech: Another extremely explosive medical occupation to be in is pharmacy technician. These are entry-level healthcare professionals who have the potential to move up to pharmacy practice, and can also segway into other fields of healthcare rather easily. These California pharmacy technician schools can help you get the training you need.

Medical Blogs to Watch

These med blogs give a nice point of view on ER operations, nursing and other hospital work. That, and they're about the most entertaining medical reading you can find on the Web. Worth a click any day of the week.

ER Nursey

Code Blog

PharmaGossip

Crass-Pollination

GuitarGirl RN

Addicted to Medblogs

20 out of 10

Will add more as I go...

Nurses Deliver Octuplets in California

A set of octuplets was delivered safely Monday by a team of nurses at a Bellflower, California hospital, CNN reported. Tuesday saw them in good health, and beginning to breathe without the aid of ventilators.

Six boys and two girls arrived during the 30th week of their mother's pregnancy, ranging in size from 1 pound, 8 ounces to 3 pounds, 4 ounces. Their mother has chosen to remain anonymous.

Initially, ultrasound scans only revealed seven fetuses. The eighth was discovered during Caesarean section, surprising both mother and attending nurses. With a letter assigned to each newborn, seven nurses were assigned to care for infants A through G -- so when newborn H arrived, nurse G took over, with the help of doctor F.

For now, the infants are staying in incubators, where they may remain for up to eight weeks after their birth.

This is the second instance of live octuplets being born in the US, the first being born in Houston, Texas in 1998.

That Corn Syrup Might Contain Mercury

Trace levels of mercury were found to be present in high-fructose corn syrup, a sweetening agent that is used in many of the processed foods we consume on a daily basis, a recent study found.

According to researchers, the mercury finds its way into corn syrup by way of the processing equipment used to make it. MedicalNewsToday reports the element in question is caustic soda, which is used to separate the starch from the corn kernel during processing. The caustic soda has been produced for years in industrial chlorine plants, which use mercury cells. The mercury has been migrating in trace amounts into the caustic soda, and from there into the corn syrup.

The good news is, some processing plants use caustic soda that is not produced alongside mercury cells, and the industry has only to shift to using it, rather than the more dangerous product.

Legislation has been in process since 2007 to phase out mercury cell technology.

Toxic Concerns are Different for Kids

Toxin regulators are looking at the levels of potentially harmful chemicals present around schools, and are considering the notion that levels affect kids differently than they affect adults.

According to USA Today, the affects of the toxins found in everyday buildings, homes, and offices are usually measured against the defenses of a healthy adult. Those levels are used to establish what is a "safe" amount of a particular chemical.

But when measuring the levels of carcinogenic chemicals in the air outside of schools, authorities are taking the different reactions of kids and adults into consideration. For example, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has known children to have died after being exposed to levels of one chemical, acrylonitrile, that only cause minor irritation in adults.

As a result, one school in Addyston, Ohio was closed after authorities found unsafe levels of acrylonitrile and the chemical butadiene in the air surrounding it.

These chemicals are known to pose a definite threat to human health, but when you compound the lack of knowledge about chemical reactions with humans with the myriad of other toxins even less is known about, the situation becomes extremely difficult.

"The fundamental problem is truly how little we know about interactions," one physician was quoted as saying. "There are just gaps in knowledge that are really of grave concern."

Muscle Relaxant Cures Alcoholism?

French cardiologist Dr. Olivier Ameisen says he has found the cure to his own alcoholism in the muscle relaxant pill baclofen.

The pill (brand names: Lioresal, Kemstro) is normally used to treat muscular spasticity. According to ABC News, Ameisen says he started taking baclofen after he read about a cocain addict who had dropped his addiction after being prescribed the pill for muscle problems.

Ameisen found that his 10-year alcoholism, too, was curbed after taking the pill.

"I detested the taste of alcohol, but I needed its effects to exist in society," he has written about his experience.

He began taking baclofen in small doses in March 2002, and after increasing his dosage, discovered that he no longer desired alcohol.

Other studies have yielded results ranging from inconclusive to highly suggestive, but doctors maintain it is not an absolute cure.

One possibility is the relaxant simply fills the needs an addict had previously filled with their drug of choice, and Ameisen is only switching from alcohol to pharmaceuticals, but this possibility is not addressed in news stories. Readers are welcome to leave their own insights on this.

Dr. Ameisen has published his story in a book titled "Le Dernier Verre" ("The Last Glass"), which is currently a best-seller in France. It is slated for a 2009 release in the U.S. under the title "The End of My Addiction."