AthenaForum

Q. How do I subscribe to Athena Forum?

A. Call or email our office. We can register you within 1 business day. Discounts are available for 5 or more registering together. We sell business to business, if that is not an option we can work with you. Athena Forum� is an educational service of Athena Forum, LLC at 51 Monroe St, Suite 602, Rockville, Maryland 20850. TEL 301-279-2160

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How much does it cost to subscribe?

Healthcare organizations pay $175.00 per person, per year for 24/7 access to all courses on Athena Forum. Your subscription entitles you to any new courses that are added as well as online CE Certificates.

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Will I receive confirmation of my subscription?

When an employer joins Athena Forum, the employer sends us a list of employees for access to the web site. The employer sends each employee's business email address, last name and first name. Athena Forum's registrar notifies the employer within 2 business days that the designated employees are enrolled on Athena Forum for one year.

Training of the new subscribers will be set up with the employer.

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Login

Q. How do I obtain a 30 day courtesy password?

A.
Email Robin@AthenaForum.com with your request.

Please include:

Name

Email

State you work in

Name and type of facility you work in

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Q. What should I do if I forget my password?

A. Follow these steps to retrieve your Athena Forum password:

On the "Member Login" page you will see "Forgot Your Password?"
.

Type in your E-mail address and click "Password Request." If we find your e-mail address in our database, we will immediately send you an e-mail with your login password. If you log in with a work email address, you will need to be able to access your email to retrieve your password.
You can also call the Athena Forum Customer Service number at 301-279-2160, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Eastern Time.

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Quick Start Tour

How can I add an Athena Forum icon to my desktop?

Internet Explorer
1. Go to www.AthenaForum.com
2. Click file
3. Click send
4. Click shortcut to desktop

Other Browsers
1. Go to your desktop screen (the one with the icons on it),
2. Right-click in the open space, go to New, and then click Shortcut.

3. Put in www.AthenaForum.com, and then click Next.
4. Type Athena Forum, and then click Finish.

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Q.
How do I use the Bookmark feature?

A. Once you have searched a course and logged out of AthenaForum.com our bookmark feature appears on the Home page of the site.

Log into www.AthenaForum.com or click the Home button located at the top left

Click "Return to my last page of Education" located in the white at the top left of the page



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Q. How to perform Keyword Searching?

A.
Use the keyword search for one word or a phrase. It can be used throughout the day or while taking a test.

Search the entire site on the welcome page.
Example: Look up a drug by name, if you are not sure what the drug is for, search the home page, which searches the entire site.
Exercise:
1. Type in xolair and click Go

            2. Our Search Results window will open

          3, You will see that the drug is only listed in our Asthma course.

          4. Click the result of your choice to learn more about Xolair.

       2. Search within one course.
           Example: if you want to streamline your information, search just within a course,

           Exercise:

Go into the Diabetes course

Type complications in the Search Diabetes Course field and hit Go.
Your search will search in all modules of the course, not just the module you are currently searching.

View the search results and click the one that matches your need

        3. Be specific, choose your keywords wisely. Select descriptive, specific words or phrases.
            Example: FDA, table, update, or phrases.
            Exercise:

Type drug therapy in the search field and hit enter
Notice the amount of returns of information, 494!

Try this again using the phrase feature, type in drug therapy with quotation marks around it – “drug therapy”

Notice the amount of returns of information has dropped to 9! Using the phrase feature streamlines the amount of information.

Remember the phrase feature is looking for the exact phrase between the quotation marks, if you put in "therapy drug" it will not find drug therapy.

     Try your own phrases including those from a test.

             Exercise:
             1. Go into a test and find a question that you want to learn about or double check your knowledge.

             2. Keyword search the question

             3. “most common precipitating factor”

             4. Notice the return of information

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How do I view the logins/courses passed for myself or my staff?

At the top of the page click the "My Account" button

Individuals

All courses you have taken are listed here. You can view, store, email or print the CE certificates.

Site Administrators

Click Build Report
Select either an Activity Report (how many times they have logged into Athena Forum) or CE Report (a list of courses passed)
Select the date range you would like (this feature does not go back beyond 6/1/08)
Place a check mark beside each name that you would like to view, or a check mark at the top of each letter range to view all.
Click design report.

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How do I use the "Open Book" test feature?

After you have learned the information in the module, enter the course and module, click "CE Test/Eval form".

Remember you cannot back up in our tests because the are interactive.

Log into Athena Forum a second time to use the keyword search feature. See instructions per browser.

Internet Explore 6.0:

1. Log into www.AthenaForum.com

2. Click File

2. Click new window

3. Keyword search in one window and take the test in the other.

4. Hold the curser over the window to see which is the test

Internet Explorer 7.0

1. Login into www.AthenaForum.com

2. Click the new tab

3. Log in to www.AthenaForum.com in the new tab.

4. Keyword search in one tab and take the test in the other.

5. To know which tab is the test, hold your curser over the tab as shown below.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Log into www.AthenaForum.com.

2. Type www.AthenaForum.com into the address, hold down the Ctrl key (lower left of your keyboard) and click the green arrow.

3. Log into Athena Forum again.

4. Now you will have two tabs showing, to see which one is the test, hold your curser over the tab.

If you backup in the test by accident, try to continue it may let you, if not you will have to start over. You can fail the test twice in one day, after that you will have to wait 24 hours to retake the test. Feel free to contact us the first time you use this feature, we are happy to help!

Another option

Copy the test questions into a word processor, then keyword search in one window and then take the test online.

1. Highlight the test question

2. Right click and select copy

3. Open a word processor

4. Right click and select paste

5. Go back to the test, select any answer and click Go to next test question

6. Repeat steps 1-5 for all 15 questions.

7. Keyword search the questions that you want to double check your answer

8. Mark the correct answer

9. Log into AthenaForum and take the test

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Can I see the questions that I missed on the test?

Yes!

At the end of the test, a box appears “Show the questions I got wrong”, click the box.

The questions that you missed will be listed on the screen.
Example shown below

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Q. What should I do if I'm unable to finish an online educational module or CE Test in one sitting?

A.
Educational Module

If you are interrupted while taking a course, Athena Forum will automatically save your place. When you come back to Athena Forum. click the bookmark feature located on the Home page and it will take you to your last page of education.

CE Test/Eval Form

Unfortunately you cannot exit the test. If you just need to step away and can leave the browser open, you can come back and complete the test. If your browser closes you will have to start over.

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Q. Can I increase the font size on Athena Forum?

A.
You can increase the font size with your browser for all sites, just follow the steps listed below:.

Internet Explorer 6.0 (this option currently does not work on our site)

Click View

Text Size

Select the size you would like to use for viewing

Internet Explorer 7.0

Click page

Click zoom

Select the size you would like to use for viewing

Firefox

Click View

Click Text size

Click either Increase or Decrease until you get to the disired text size

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Q. How do I contact the staff at AthenaForum.com?

A. Click the "Contact Us" button at the top of the page.

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Courses

Q. How long is each course?

A. Each Course is 140+ pages divided into three or four Modules, an average of 35 pages each. See the Course Map (View CE Credits link), located on the welcome page of each course to view the amount of CE awarded by the various credentialing boards.

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Q.
How often do your courses change?

A.
Our courses are permanent. Remember each course offers approximately 140+ pages of keyword searchable information. Our courses are updated quarterly by our Course Directors.

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Continuing Education

Q.
Can I sit for the CCM credential exam on Athena Forum?

A.
No. Please contact the Certified Case Managers Commission at 847-818-0292.

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Q. Can I earn CE for my ACM re-certification?

A.
Yes. You can use our RN CE, approved by the ANCC, for your ACM re-certification continuing education units.

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Q. Can I earn CE as an RN?

A.
RN ANCC

Athena Forum LLC is approved as a Provider of Continuing Nursing Education (#PA06-18-730-733) by the Maryland Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

RN CA

Athena Forum LLC is a licensed Continuing Education Provider by the Board of Registered Nursing in the State of California. Athena Forum is Provider # CEP 15159. BRN Certificate valid until August 31, 2010.

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Q. Can I earn CE for my CCM certificate renewal?

A.
Yes. We have more than 120 CCM CE online. You can print your certificate at no additional cost and send it to the CCMC.

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Q. Can I earn CE as a Social Worker?

A.
NASW CE
Most of our courses are NASW approved. (NASW requires 5 courses be submitted at a time, please check the welcome page of each course to see if NASW CE has been approved).

Ohio SW CE
We have just received approval for Social Worker CE with the State of Ohio. We will create the ability to print CE certificates by February 2008.

West Virginia SW CE
The state of West Virginia no longer accepts online CE.

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Q. Can I earn CE for my ABOHN certificate renewal?

A.
Yes, Occupational Health Nurses that have passed the Case Management Examination may use the RN CE for Case Management specific courses on Athena Forum. For Example: Asthma: Module D, “The Case Manager’s role”. See the ABOHN Case Managers Handbook for more details www.abohn.org.

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Q. Can I earn CE while using the courtesy password?

A.
No.

Our courtesy password is designed for companies to evaluate AthenaForum.com. To enroll your team, contact Robin@AthenaForum.com.

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Q. Do you offer CPHQ CE?

A.
Not directly. However, you may contact the CPHQ Provider HQCB and inquire if they will accept Athena Forum’s RN CE, approved by the ANCC (American Nurses Credentialing Center). Contact info: Healthcare Quality Certification Board (HQCB) in Lenexa, Kansas at 913-895-4609 or email info@cphq.org

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Q. Can Canadian RNs earn CE?

A.
Canadian Nurses

Canadian nurses are accountable for providing competent nursing care to their clients. The Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) believes that to provide competent nursing care, a registered nurse must maintain and continuously enhance the knowledge, skills, attitude and judgment required to meet client needs in an evolving health care system.

Nurses maintain their competence in a variety of ways and continuing nursing education is one means of maintaining and increasing knowledge and skills. Two provinces have formal continuing competence programs for nurses. In British Columbia and Ontario, nurses assess their practice, determine needs, and follow through to obtain the experiences they require to develop knowledge skills or attitude.

What are the Canadian requirements for continuing nursing education?
Currently, none of the regulatory bodies in Canada have specific continuing education requirements for practising registered nurses. The regulatory bodies do not assess continuing education programs to assign C.E.U.s (continuing education units). Nurses in Canada do keep records of participation in continuing education for purposes of maintaining specialty certification and in British Columbia and Ontario for continuing competence programs. In most provinces and territories, nurses who have not practised for a specified number of hours within a specified time limit must take a refresher course before being given permission to return to work in nursing.

Where can I obtain information about continuing education programs?
There is a wide range of providers working in the field of continuing nursing education programs including, colleges and universities, employers, nursing interest groups, professional associations, and private companies offering seminars and workshops. Many of these groups publish information about continuing education offerings.

Athena Forum.com®

Athena Forum is a Nursing CE Provider on the World Wide Web offering several hundred RN CE from numerous online accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Commission (ANCC). Courses include asthma, behavioral health, COPD, colorectal cancer, CM Excellence, cardiovascular care, diabetes, MS, RA, women’s health menopause. More courses are added quarterly.

Canadian Nurses are welcome on Athena Forum.com! Maryland USA 301-279-2160. www.AthenaForum.com

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