NURS - Nursing

This course introduces concepts essential to the development of the professional nurse. The focus includes exploration of personal and professional identity in preparation for the delivery of patient-centered care as a member of the interdisciplinary healthcare team. There is an emphasis on evidence-based practice and informatics to enhance communication, documentation, and safe patient-centered care.

This course is designed to introduce the student to the nursing process, basic nursing skills, safety, and the role of the nurse as a member of the interdisciplinary healthcare team. Emphasis is placed on physiological and psychosocial factors which contribute to safe patient-centered care. Students develop basic nursing skills through experiential laboratory, simulation and clinical experiences in the healthcare setting. The development of basic nursing skills includes: dosage calculation, proper administration techniques, and accurate documentation for adult and older adult patients.

This course utilizes concepts from the liberal arts and sciences to provide holistic health assessment across the lifespan. Emphasis is placed on the development of leadership skills in clinical judgment, diagnostic reasoning, and critical inquiry for the safe provision of quality care across populations. Didactic, experiential laboratory and simulation activities are utilized throughout the semester.

Program for Academic Success (PASS) Math for Meds Drug Calculation Workshop.  A student receiving a score of less than 85% at the Sophomore 2 level, 90% at the Junior level, or 95% at the Senior level on any semester math competency test is required to enroll in the workshop. This workshop will be offered at the beginning of each semester and is designed to assist students with attaining the mathematical proficiency necessary to safely administer medications in the clinical setting.

This course provides an overview of evidence-based nursing practice. The focus is on the role of the baccalaureate nurse in the application to practice of various levels of evidence, with an emphasis on research evidence. Evidence will be evaluated in the context of professional expertise and client preferences

The professional identity of the individual nurse and the position of the nursing profession in the health care system and society are explored in this course. Emphasis is placed on critical inquiry to evaluate practice and accountability for leadership in the pursuit of safety, quality, and improved outcomes for patients and populations. Concepts relevant to the practice of nursing in a global society, such as professionalism, professional values, the image of nursing, inter-professional communication and collaboration, resource allocation, and practice in a diverse environment are addressed.

This course utilizes concepts from the liberal arts and sciences to provide holistic health assessment across the lifespan. Emphasis is placed on the development of leadership skills in critical thinking, diagnostic reasoning, and critical inquiry for the safe provision of quality care across the populations.

The course focuses on the care of adults, older adults, and their families in acute medical-surgical settings as they adapt to changes in the health/illness spectrum. Students integrate theoretical concepts with the best nursing evidence to foster growth in knowledge and competencies. Professional roles of the nurse, critical thinking, and ethical issues are explored as students provide safe/quality care for adults and older adults experiencing medical-surgical problems.

This course presents basic principles of pharmacology and the therapeutic use of drugs in humans across the lifespan. Pharmacotherapeutic information for prototype drugs from selected drug categories is presented using physiologic and evidence-based approaches.  Emphasis is placed on the knowledge necessary for the nurse to administer medications in a safe, effective, ethical, and legal manner.

Theoretical foundations and current literature related to health promotion and disease prevention are examined for application to practice. Course focus is on holistic assessment, screening, and the application of evidence-based health promotion activities for individuals, families, and populations from diverse communities.

The focus of this course is the application of principles of the research process and evidence-based practice to provide safe quality care. Competency in database search strategies and critical appraisal of evidence for quality care practices are emphasized. Legal, ethical, and regulatory issues related to the research process are identified and analyzed for application to practice. This course meets the University Advanced Writing requirement.

This course applies evidence based concepts essential to the development of the professional nurse to identify healthcare trends and issues and examine healthcare delivery systems. The focus is on the impact of these trends and issues on the healthcare delivery systems and the various roles of the professional nurse working with diverse individuals and populations in a variety of settings.

This course focuses on the application of professional nursing concepts related to children and their families within their communities. Theoretical content specific to children from infancy through adolescence includes physiological, pathophysiological, and psychosocial concepts. Clinical experiences incorporate health promotion and acute and chronic illness management in inpatient, outpatient, and community settings.

This course focuses on the application of professional nursing concepts related to the care of the childbearing family and their neonate. Theoretical content includes physiological, pathophysiological, sociocultural, and ethical concepts.  Student clinical experiences take place in the simulation laboratory, antepartum, intrapartum, postpartum, and neonatal settings.

This course is designed to meet the needs of the registered nurses seeking to strengthen their knowledge of pharmacology and pharmacotherapeutics.  Pharmacologic information is presented using a physiologic and systems approach with an emphasis on evidence based practice.  Selected drug categories are discussed using professional experiences as a framework to promote clinical reasoning and professional judgment.

This course facilitates synthesis of knowledge and competencies essential to the professional nurse's leadership and management responsibilities and roles. Information from previous classes is integrated with leadership theories, principles of change, resource utilization, personnel development, consumer satisfaction and client-centered care, continuous quality improvement, communication skills and conflict management, and team building skills. This course provides the theoretical basis for the student to move into an expanded role in nursing leadership and management.

The focus of this course is the family-centered care of adults and older adults experiencing acute and chronic medical conditions involving multiple body systems. Integration of theoretical concepts and best evidence is used to promote sound clinical reasoning and clinical judgment to inform nursing practice. Clinical experiences take place in acute care settings with the goal of providing safe, quality, and multi-dimensional care for diverse adult and older adult populations.

This course applies evidence-based concepts essential to the leadership development of the professional nurse. The focus is on the application of these concepts to the core health care professional competencies: providing patient-centered care, working in interdisciplinary teams, employing evidence-based practice, applying quality improvement, and utilizing informatics.

This course focuses on the application of psychiatric mental health nursing concepts to care for clients age 18 through older adulthood. Theoretical content includes biopsychosocial theories, interpersonal relationship theory, psychoanalytic and psychodynamic theories, as well as, cognitive, behavioral, and biologic theories. Legal, ethical, and critical thinking concepts specific to psychiatric mental health nursing are covered in depth. Clinical experiences are designed to facilitate the students’ synthesis of classroom material, individualized application of psychiatric concepts, and establishment of therapeutic relationships in a variety of settings.

This course focuses on clinical prevention and promotion of population health through the application of current research evidence for community health nursing practice. It examines the impact of healthcare policy, finance and regulatory environments on community based care.

The focus of this course is the care of high acuity patients and families in crisis situations.  Students will integrate contemporary concepts with the best nursing evidence to foster growth in knowledge, clinical competencies, and the roles of the professional nurse. Students will integrate critical thinking, clinical reasoning, and ethical principles to provide safe-quality care for high acuity patients and families in crisis situations.

Synthesizing knowledge from all prerequisite RN/BSN courses, students design, implement, and evaluate a professional nursing project. Projects are need-based with the purpose of facilitating change to enhance safety and quality in the healthcare arena and improve nursing practice and client outcomes. In conjunction with course faculty, students select a nursing preceptor to support and guide their work. The process of journaling is used throughout the Practicum to facilitate reflective learning.

This course focuses on clinical prevention and health promotion of population health through the application of best evidence for community health nursing practice. The impact of global healthcare trends, political decisions, and financial and regulatory systems on health outcomes is examined. Clinical experiences take place in a variety of community settings.

This practicum provides the opportunity for students to demonstrate competency in the role of provider and manager of care. Students provide safe-quality care for patients across the lifespan in acute care settings. Students collaborate with a preceptor and faculty member to achieve course objectives and individualized learning goals.

This workshop is designed for registered nurses responsible for planning and/or participating in the process of precepting new nursing staff members. The Preceptor Workshop content focuses on building knowledge related to the preceptor role, preceptor qualifications, process of precepting, and characteristics of the adult learner, adult learning principles, teaching strategies, and assessment and evaluation of learning outcomes. Case studies and student’s experiential knowledge will be used to develop the content in an applicable framework for participants.

Program for Academic Success (PASS) workshops are to facilitate the successful progression, graduation, and NCLEX-RN completion for BSN students identified at academic risk.  Each level workshop focuses on critical thinking skills related to specific level content.  Sophomore 2 level PASS workshop focuses on Fundamentals/Health Assessment content.  Junior 1 level PASS workshop focuses on Medical/Surgical Nursing/Pharmacology content.  Junior 2 level PASS workshop focuses on Pediatrics/Obstetrics content.  Senior 1 level PASS workshop focuses on Advance Medical/Surgical content.

This course explores the legal and reimbursement aspects of nursing documentation. The focus is on developing documentation skills that meet reimbursement requirements, promote quality patient care and are defensible in a court of law.

This workshop is designed to allow the health care professional to explore theories and concepts of health promotion and wellness in relation to the provision of holistic care to individuals, families, and communities.

This seminar covers the following topics: the most common myths about domestic abuse and the truth behind those myths; the elements of the victim’s triangle and how that affects the healthcare provider; how to screen patients for domestic violence; the barriers that prevent the nurse from doing universal screening and prevent the patient from disclosing the violence in their life; interventions for the nurse to be able to assist the victim; how to develop a safety plan for the victim; resources that are available for the healthcare provider.

This workshop deals with synthesis of theories, principles, concepts, and processes relating to nurses’ values, attitudes, and beliefs about death and dying as related to culturally diverse individuals, families, groups, and communities.

This workshop is designed for nurses interacting with patients experiencing pain throughout the lifespan. The importance of providing patients excellent pain relief in various environments (i.e., inpatient, outpatient, hospice, long tern care, etc.) is now a directive monitored by regulatory agencies across the country. Content of this workshop focuses on the assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic pain management modalities currently available to diverse patient populations.

This workshop focuses on quality improvement as a strategy to manage costs, boost productivity, and enhance quality outcomes in various healthcare settings. Core content includes an analysis of a conceptual framework for quality improvement, tools and methods in select health care situations, and examination of team concepts in healthcare organizations.