New Jersey Hospital Nursing School

Bloomfield, NJ – The Mountainside Hospital School of Nursing has been one of the state’s oldest schools since its inception in 1892.

Now the school, one of few diploma schools for nurses in the state of New Jersey, is closing its doors for good. The school consistently enrolls 140 students a year. This year’s class, the class of 2011, is the school’s last graduating class.

The Mountainside Hospital School of Nursing is affiliated with Mountainside Hospital, a 365-bed private hospital in Glen Ridge.

Graduating over 3,100 nurses in 117 years, the School of Nursing will now combine its faculty and students into a new nursing program at Caldwell College, as the bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) has become the standard for nurses. Students who graduate from the two-year nursing program are then able to take the state test to become a registered nurse.

With the already low amount of nursing schools in the area, and the shortage of nurses in the United States medical industry, it stands as good news that Caldwell College will host its first-ever BSN program, pending an approval from the New Jersey Board of Nursing and others.

The balance between a higher standard for nurses and adequate nurse staffing levels is becoming increasingly more delicate in a time where hospitals are populated by more critical-care patients and nurses are expected to know and understand new medications.

Although the School of Nursing is closing its doors, the library and a 75-seat classroom will continue to be used by Caldwell College nursing students. The 12 faculty members on the will continue to be paid through the Mountainside Hospital payroll and continue to be faculty at Caldwell College.

The increased expectations for nurses in the medical field have led Mountainside and other nursing schools to push for more advanced training. Other nursing schools in New Jersey that suffered the same fate include the Charles E. Gregory School of Nursing and the Helene Fuld School of Nursing.

The American Nurses Association believes in bachelor’s degree requirement, as they believe 66% of the nurse workforce should have BSNs. Studies have shown that registered nurses with BSNs would save 4 lives out of every 1,000 surgical patients (according to the Journal of American Medical Association). The New Jersey Sate Nurses Association believes that nurses should obtain the four-year degree within a decade of nursing school.

One of the most historic schools in the state, the Mountainside Hospital School of Nursing has closed its doors, but has not given up on its goal of producing committed, compassionate nurses dedicated to providing high-quality health care.

Pennsylvania School of Medicine

With a top five ranking from U.S. News & World Report, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine is recognized worldwide for its superior education and training of the next generation of physicians, and the future leaders of academic medicine.

The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine is the nation’s oldest medical school, founded in 1765. Its rich tradition and heritage, combined with its consistent new developments and innovations in medical education and research makes it one of the top medical institutions in the nation. The students attending the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are placed into an environment where skillful compassion reigns supreme: skill from the education of a top five research-oriented medical school and compassion for the patients they feel privileged to serve.

Today, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine boasts 1,700 full-time faculty members dedicated to teaching 725 medical students. They also host more than 1,000 residents and fellows and 560 PhD students. Furthermore, they are affiliated with the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (the nation’s first teaching hospital), Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (a top 100 hospital for cardiovascular care by Reuters), and Pennsylvania Hospital (the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751), three acclaimed hospitals that are part of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Students who attend the School of Medicine enjoy the city of Philadelphia, which had the third-largest downtown in all of America.

Ranking number 2 in the U.S. News & World Report in research grants from the National Institutes of Health, the School of Medicine remains at the forefront of new knowledge and therapies aimed to improve human health. The research team’s highlights include: restoring sight in children and adults with congenital blindness using gene therapy, discovering a drug that is the first and widely-accepted medical treatment for alcohol dependence, and building the first new protein to be completely constructed from scratch. The research enterprise encompasses all areas of contemporary biomedical investigation on one single campus. The School of Medicine includes 18 Centers and Institutes, some of which include Abramson Cancer Center, the Penn Cardiovascular Institute, and the Penn Comprehensive Neuroscience Center.

Penn Medicine has recently made a splash in medical news, being chosen by TIME magazine, along with CHOP Autism Genetic Research, as one of the Top Ten Medical Breakthroughs of 2009. The team from Penn Medicine found that multiple gene variants, both common and rare, may raise the risk of autism spectrum disorders.

The first study found that a particular genetic variation is found in about 15 percent of children with autism. The second study, missing or duplicated stretches of DNA along two crucial gene pathways were identified. Both studies detected genes implicated in the development of rain circuitry in early childhood. In June, Penn Medicine autism genetic experts announced that they had identified 27 additional genetic variations where missing or extra copies of DNA segments were found in children suffering from autism spectrum disorders.

Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, fueled by their mission of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania Health System combine to create the Penn Medicine enterprise. Visit their website here for more information.

Stony Brook University

The School of Medicine at Stony Brook University Medical Center is responsible for the preclinical and clinical education of 450 medical students. It is the only School of Medicine in the region and offers excellent research and clinical opportunities, as well as possessing a faculty of national and international renown. The primary goal of the School of Medicine at Stony Brook University is to educate caring and skilled physicians to be well-prepared to enter graduate and specialty training programs.

Graduates understand, value and apply the scientific method to the solution of clinical problems. They are capable of integrating clinical, biomedical and behavioral knowledge to promote the health and well-being of patients and communities. They value lifelong learning and locate, evaluate critically and integrate new scientific and clinical findings that advance the practice of medicine. Additionally, training of medical students, residents, physicians and nurses is enhanced through the Clinical Skills Center, a state-of-the-art facility in which the trainees interact with standardized patient-actors and with simulated patient mannequins. Capable of providing high competent and compassionate, patient-centered care while maintaining professionalism and sensitivity to the complex cultural and personal context in which medical care is delivered, graduates of Stony Brook University are among the best in the field.

The three goals of Stony Brook School of Medicine are:

Educational: Achieve excellence in education of students for careers in medical practice or research by providing broad knowledge and skills, developing appropriate professional behavior, mastery of essential competencies, and preparing students for continued intellectual growth.

Research: Advance medical knowledge by conducting active programs in basic and applied research.

Service: Provide the highest quality of medical care, as well as ensure access to health and educational services for the local, national, and international communities.

The School of Medicine at Stony Brook does not focus only on health on the local level, but its staff, doctors, and students help people all over the world with their commitment to global education and healthcare outreach. The school is offering students with international health opportunities in the form of successful programs that include The Barry Coller Fund, which supported international research opportunities for dozens of students. Additionally, the School of Medicine secured a working relationship with the University of Nicaragua School of Public Health that will bring an exchange of students and faculty between the two schools on a regular basis. The School of Medicine is also developing relationships with other medical and public health programs worldwide to establish student exchanges and global health electives, keeping the school in the forefront of the growing issue of global health.

Recently, researchers from the Department of Orthopaedics at Stony Brook University Medical Center developed an injectable form of the enzyme, collagenase, that significantly improves outcomes of Dupuytren’s contracture (or disease), a debilitating disorder caused by progressive accumulation of collagen that deforms fingers and limits motion. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously to recommend the drug be used as a treatment to fight the hand disorder, bringing it one step closer to FDA approval.

The breakthrough is but one example of how The Stony Brook University Medical Center and the School of Medicine impact its communities in more ways than just training physicians. The Stony Brook University Medical Center stands as Long Island’s foremost health care provider, offering state-of-the-art care in almost all specialties. The School of Medicine remains the only medical school in the region, and empowers its students to become physicians capable of providing high-quality health care to Long Island, the United States, and the entire world.

David Geffen School

The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA has become one of the nation’s elite medicals schools in just over 50 years since its inception, something that many top medical schools cannot boast. With its expertise and impact on the medical community during a period of revolutionary change in biomedical research and patient care, the David Geffen School of Medicine quickly moved to the forefront of academic medicine and discovery. It now ranks among the best with institutions that are known as the best in the world, some of which are twice UCLA’s age.

In 2002, Mr. David Geffen announced a $200 million unrestricted endowment for the school and the school thus was named. With the endowment, the school competes in perpetuity with the finest medical institutions in the world regardless of economic climate, can offer financial support to enroll the finest students regardless of need, and develop new research and clinical programs.

Today, the school boasts over 2,000 faculty members, almost 1,300 residents, more than 750 medical students and almost 400 Ph.D candidates. Approximately half of all the students in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, as well as more than 200 members of its faculty, participate on a personal level in community service. They have been ranked the “Best in the West” by U.S. News and World Report in a survey of the best hospitals in America for twenty consecutive years. Additionally, the medical school is ranked ninth in the country in research funding and third in research dollars from all sources.

As research is one of the most important things to the David Geffen School of Medicine, they focus much of their resources on finding breaking discoveries relevant to the medical community. In recent news, researchers from the UCLA AIDS Institute and colleagues have demonstrated, for the first time, that human blood stem cells can be engineered into cells that can target and kill HIV-infected cells. The research could potentially be used against a range of chronic viral diseases.

The study provides a demonstration of feasibility that human stem cells can be engineered into the equivalent of a genetic vaccine.

“We have demonstrated in this proof-of-principle study that this type of approach can be used to engineer the human immune system, particularly the T-cell response, to specifically target HIV-infected cells,” said lead investigator Scott G. Kitchen, assistant professor of medicine in the division of hematology and oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a member of the UCLA AIDS Institute. “These studies lay the foundation for further therapeutic development that involves restoring damaged or defective immune responses toward a variety of viruses that cause chronic disease, or even different types of tumors.”

The research is but one example of the many medical discoveries and breakthroughs that the UCLA medical research team can boast.

The David Geffen School of Medicine offers fresh perspectives on solutions to complex and pressing challenges, making it one of the best investments in higher education today. With their ground-breaking research, top faculty, great fellowships, and generous scholarships, the school stands proudly among the nations elite medical schools.

Penn State Hershey College

In 1963, The Pennsylvania State University received $50 million from The M.S. Hershey Foundation to create a medical school in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Using the grant and $21.3 million from the U.S. Public Health Service, the University built the Penn State Hershey College of medicine, a teaching hospital, and a research center. With a mission of “enhancing the quality of life through improved health, the professional preparation of those who will serve the health needs of others, and the discovery of knowledge that will benefit all,” the Penn State College of Medicine continues to serve the community through education, research, and patient care. The College of Medicine embraces the follow values in pursuit of their mission:

Individual Dignity
Its central responsibility to its patients is to provide humane, compassionate, and expert care, emphasizing individual dignity.

Knowledge
The creative and energetic pursuit and dissemination of new knowledge to its colleagues, students, and the public at large form the cornerstones of its educational purpose.

Service Orientation
Its employees are the foundation of its orientation to service. The skill, creativity, loyalty, and energy of its employees are the source of our effectiveness.

Excellence
A commitment to excellence in all activities will be the basis for the selection of the most talented and humane scientists, teachers, health-care providers, students, and employees in all fields.

Fiscal Responsibility
Effective and prudent use of financial, human, and physical resources is its moral responsibility and is essential to its viability.

Diversity
It is committed to diversity among the faculty, staff, students, and volunteers and to promoting an environment of mutual support and respect for others. Differences in ethnicity, culture, and socioeconomic status are valued organizational assets. Diversity of individual backgrounds and points of view are affirmed and respected.

Since it first began accepting patients in 1967 to May of 2008, the College of Medicine has graduated 3,619 physicians 598 scientists with PH.D or M.S. degrees and enrolls more than 600 students. Over 21,000 health professionals participate in continuing education at the School of Medicine, including professionals from their affiliate hospital, Penn State Hershey Medical Center.

With degree programs in anatomy, biochemistry and molecular biology, bioengineering, cell and molecular biology, genetics, integrative bio-sciences, microbiology and immunology, neuroscience, pharmacology, and physiology, as well as two postdoctoral programs leading to an M.S. degree in Laboratory Animal Medicine, the only such program in the Commonwealth.

The school works in conjunction with the teaching hospital, Penn State Hershey Medical Center. The hospital has recently completed several carefully planned construction projects to meet patient demand for services and to expand research and teaching programs. Each year, more than 360 residents are trained in different medical specialties at the hospital. The hospital admitted 26,684 patients and provided care to 808,642 outpatient and 50,331 emergency-service visits in 2008. It also houses 8,432 employees and 500 volunteers.

Physicians that graduate from the Penn State College of Medicine must demonstrate altruism, be knowledgeable, be skillful, and demonstrate professionalism. It is this standard that keeps the College of Medicine going strong as a medical institution providing high-quality, versatile education, compassionate patient care, and ground-breaking research. Visit their website here for more information.

Health care Bill Threatens Physician

Physician-owned hospitals and their local economies will suffer if the current health care reform bill is passed. Both the U.S. House bill and the new bill under consideration in the U.S. Senate will restrict every hospital owned by physicians from growing in response to the needs of its local community.

Hospitals that are partly owned and run by doctors are controversial, if only because of the potential conflicts of interests that may endanger patients and threaten the survival of general hospitals. Regardless, there are now more than 100 physician-owned specialty hospitals provide specialized care, albeit at an expensive price.

“This provision would destroy over 200 of America’s best and safest hospitals,” said Molly Sandvig, Executive Director of Physician Hospitals of America (PHA), “resulting in the loss of thousands of health care jobs and more economic hardship in communities across America that are already suffering the effects of the recession.”

Physician-owned hospitals have been known to provide some of the highest-quality of all hospitals in the Unitd States. They are expected to employ over 70,000 Americans by next year, accounting for a $2.4 billion payroll and over $1.9 billion per year on trade payables. The new health reform bills would drop the majority of these jobs and cause states and cities to lose an average of $2,575,000 a year in taxes. Under the new health reform bill, only 2% of non-physician owned hospitals and not one physician-owned hospital would qualify under the criterion for growth.

Physician Hospitals of America, or PHA, is an organization that supports, advocates for, and educates the physician owned hospital industry. Visit their website here for more information.

Saint Louis University School

Saint Louis University School of Medicine has a long tradition of excellence in teaching, research and patient care. Established in 1836, the school has the distinction of awarding the first medical degree west of the Mississippi River. Today, about 550 faculty members, 700 medical students and 550 residents in 48 graduate medical education programs, including residencies, subspecialty residencies and fellowships, call SLU home.

The school is a leading center of research in five key areas: cancer, infectious disease, liver disease, aging and brain disorders, and heart/lung disease.

As one of only eight NIH-funded vaccine research institutions, SLU’s Center for Vaccine Development conducted pivotal research on the H1N1 influenza vaccine. Lead by Robert Belshe, M.D., the Center for Vaccine Development also has conducted extensive research on biodefense, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and tuberculosis vaccines.

The Saint Louis University Liver Center provides national leadership in the field of hepatology, and is staffed by some of the highest-profile doctors and research scientists in the nation, including co-directors Bruce Bacon, M.D., and Adrian Di Bisceglie, M.D. SLU liver specialists see more than 600 patients per month with various types of liver diseases, and have one of the world’s largest hepatitis C practices in the world, treating more than 800 patients annually.

Saint Louis University researchers also are leading the way in aging and brain disorders research. Numerous Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis trials are currently underway at SLU, as well as a groundbreaking study to map the brain injuries of combat veterans and civilians. Funded by a $5.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, the study is using cutting-edge imaging equipment to better understand the nature of brain injuries.

In 2007, Saint Louis University opened the doors to the $82 million Edward A. Doisy Research Center, which is designed to further scientific progress and inspire creativity and collaboration. The 80 research labs on eight floors have a flexible design, with many of them open so researchers from complementary fields can share knowledge as they work on experiments.

The Doisy Research Center does more than simply propel scientific and biomedical progress. By giving researchers laboratory space worthy of the lifesaving discoveries they make, the facility boosts the school’s ability to attract and retain the brightest and most promising faculty.

Saint Louis University School of Medicine also is home to a new Clinical Simulation Center that uses computerized technology and high fidelity patient mannequins to teach medical school students, residents, faculty and health professionals in the community.

According to Philip O. Alderson, M.D., dean of SLU’s School of Medicine, simulation mannequins are the future of medical education. Like flight simulators for student pilots, the mannequins give students the opportunity to practice performing life-saving techniques in addition to reading and hearing lectures, which helps them learn and retain more.

For more information about Saint Louis University School of Medicine, call 1.800.SLU.FOR.U or visit http://medschool.slu.edu/

John Hopkins Medicine

The Johns Hopkins Hospital opened in 1889, leading to the opening of the School of Medicine four years later. Between these four years, the concept of combining, research, teaching and patient care emerged, leading to a national and international reputation for excellence and discovery. Today, many of the largest medical institutions follow the model set by Johns Hopkins Medicine. The $5.38 billion system of physicians and scientists of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the health professionals and facilities remains one of the most respected health systems in the entire nation.

Located in Baltimore, Maryland, Johns Hopkins medicine is a nonprofit, combining its 120-year commitment to community care with groundbreaking research, teaching and medical services to patients worldwide. Its accolades are numerous, the most impressive of which is their 19 consecutive years as the number one ranked hospital in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. There have been 20 Nobel laureates coming from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine scientists, most recently Professor Carol Grieder, who won the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. With four academic community hospitals, four suburban health care and surgery centers, 18 primary health care outpatient sites employing over 3,850 physicians, Johns Hopkins Medicine continues to build and expand their health system — the most recent project being an all-new Johns Hopkins Hospital in East Baltimore.

Johns Hopkins Medicine is perennially at the forefront of medical research and discovery. In recent news, researchers at Johns Hopkins have made a discovery pertaining to blood vessel blockage, a common condition in old age or diabetes. Blood vessel blockage leads to low blood flow and results in low oxygen, which kills healthy cells and tissues. In the past, these blockages often requires amputation. Now, the researchers have developed new therapies that increase blood flow, improve movement and decrease the need for amputation. The new findings hold promise for developing clinical therapies.

Additionally, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center found that infection with the H1N1 virus, or as it is better known as, swine flu, causes more life-threatening complications than the seasonal flu in children with sickle cell disease. The findings, presented December 7 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology offer warning to parents and caregivers that such children may need emergency treatment, often in the intensive-care unit.

The Johns Hopkins Children’s Center offers one of the most extensive and complex pediatric medical programs in the country, and boasts treatment of over 90,000 children every year. As with the other institutions of Johns Hopkins, Hopkins Children’s is consistently ranked among the top in the nation. Johns Hopkins Medicine remains one of the leading health systems not only in the Northeast, but the United States and the world as well.

Forsyth Institute

Very few institutions in the world can claim to have exceeded the
traditional limits of oral medicine. One institution that can is the
Forsyth Institute, located in Boston. Since their inception in 1910,
Forsyth has enjoyed a proud history of meeting the oral health needs
for kids in the Boston area, around the nation, and around the world.
In the mid-1900s, researchers at Forsyth changed the landscape of the
oral health profession with their discovery of the relationship
between dental decay and bacteria. The revelations led to the
development of the Forsyth Institute into an independent research
organization whose mission is dedicated to advancing human health and
well being through scientific discovery and education.

While the Forsyth Institute was created to study oral health, their
focus has grown over time to include the study of areas such as
diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and regenerative medicine. Using
this multidisciplinary research approach to analyze and prevent the
severe systemic ramifications of oral infections. As the most trusted
authority in their field, the Forsyth Institute has steadily redefined
convention in the field. Their work has inspired others in their
profession to re-evaluate the scientific basis for oral disease.

Additionally, Forsyth brings its expertise in oral disease prevention
and treatment to their community through the ForsythKids school-based cavity prevention program. Forsyth Kids is committed to delivering effective oral health care to children at risk, one of the most
pressing oral health challenges of today. Through the program,
Forsyth aims to increase access and improve health, while creating a
model that can be replicated in any community. The children enrolled
in ForsythKids receive a dental exam, tooth cleaning, preventive care
consisting of sealants, fluoride and oral health educations in their
elementary schools, twice a year.

Forsyth focuses its research on several selected areas, including
oral-systemic disease connections, where they unlock the relationship
between the mouth and the body including linkages to heart disease,
stroke and diabetes. They also research minimally invasive
diagnostics and treatments using saliva to diagnose oral cancer,
diabetes, gum disease and more. Their research on regenerative
medicine offers the potential to repair the effects of cancer, birth
defects and injury. Additionally, Forsyth researches skeletal biology
and biomineralization, molecular microbiology, immunology,
patient-oriented research, education and oral health prevention.
Forsyth, as an independent organization, is affiliated with Harvard
University and has collaborations with different universities and
corporations around the world.

With a mission “to lead the discovery, communication and application
of breakthroughs in oral health and disease prevention that will
significantly improve the health and well-being of our nation and the
world,” Forsyth Institute continues their century long commitment to
the community and profession with an expertise and dedicated that is
unmatched in their field.

Saint Louis University

With a mission to educate future professionals from diverse backgrounds to practice and advance knowledge in medicine and the sciences relevant to medicine, it should not come as a surprise that the Saint Louis University School of Medicine is considered one of the best institutions for humanistic medicine. Humanistic medicine, as regarded by the Saint Louis University School of medicine is a constellation of ethical and professional attitudes that reflect the Jesuit spirit and values and which affect the physician’s interactions with patients, colleagues, and society. This unique approach leads the school and its physicians to be concerned for the sanctity of human life, commit to dignity and respect in the provision of medical care, devote themselves to social justice, and maintain mature and well balanced professional behavior that derives from relationships with members of the human family and one’s Creator.

The school embraces integrated activities in basic and clinical research, in provision of patient-centered, compassionate, culturally competent health care, as well as involvement in the community through public service. With these educational experiences, students from the Saint Louis University School of Medicine are prepared for careers and leadership roles in medicine through their training and personal commitment and service to others.

The school is a leading center of research in five key areas: cancer, infectious disease, liver disease, aging and brain disorders, and heart/lung disease. In recent news, Saint Louis University scientists have discovered that low doses of the protein linked to Alzheimer’s Disease actually enhances in healthy individuals. Build up of the amyloid beta protein in the brain is linked to the development of Alzheimer’s disease, but not enough of the protein has been found to cause learning problems and forgetfulness. The findings by the scientists could lead to better medications in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

“This research is very exciting because it causes us to look at amyloid beta protein in a different way,” said John Morley, M.D., director of the division of geriatrics at Saint Louis University and the lead researcher on the study. “After 20 years of research, what we found goes totally against long-standing beliefs about amyloid beta protein. Our results indicate that amyloid beta protein itself isn’t the bad guy. The right amount of amyloid beta protein happens to be very important for memory and learning in those who are healthy.”

The study shows that lowering amyloid beta too much in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease may cause as many problems as if you had an excess of the protein. The revelation that Alzheimer’s disease is, in fact, a case of “too much of a good thing” is groundbreaking to researchers of the disease.

Since 1836, Saint Louis University School of Medicine has had a storied history ranging from the first medical degree awarded west of the Mississippi River to the breakthroughs in cancer research. It continues to educate physicians and biomedical scientists, conduct medical research, and provide quality health care across the entire world.