Nursing: BSN Co-op Course Descriptions

NURS 100: NURSING IN SOCIETY
NURS 102: HEALTH PROMOTION, HEALTH TEACHING, & SELF-CARE
NURS 200: PRINCIPLES OF NURSING PRACTICE
NURS 201: HEALTH ASSESSMENT ACROSS THE LIFESPAN
NURS 204: NURSING INFORMATICS
NURS 300: COMPREHENSIVE ADULT NURSING I
NURS 301: PHARMACOLOGY FOR NURSING I
NURS 303: WOMEN’S HEALTH NURSING
NURS 304: NURSING OF CHILDREN
NURS 305: COMPREHENSIVE ADULT NURSING II
NURS 306: PHARMACOLOGY FOR NURSING II
NURS 308: MENTAL HEALTH NURSING
NURS 330: RESEARCH BASIS OF NURSING
NURSING 337: GENETICS IN NURSING & HEALTHCARE
NURS 400: LEADERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN NURSING
NURS 401: COMPREHENSIVE ADULT NURSING III
NURS 403: COMMUNITY PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING
NURS 450: CONTEMPORARY GERONTOLOGICAL NURSING
NURS 492: SENIOR SEMINAR IN NURSING

NURS 102: HEALTH PROMOTION, HEALTH TEACHING, & SELF-CARE
This course will begin with an examination of what self-care behaviors are optimal for health and practice as a professional nurse. The course will then focus on the principles of health promotion and disease prevention and the principles of health teaching. Utilizing the objectives outlined in Healthy People 2000 and 2010, the course will emphasize interventions at the level of individual, family, and small groups from interdisciplinary perspectives and those principles of health teaching that can be used in the promotion of health. A self-programmed module of medical terminology will also be included.

NURS 200: PRINCIPLES OF NURSING PRACTICE
This course will focus on the concepts, skills, and attitudes fundamental to professional nursing practice within a framework of clinical decision-making. The course will emphasize critical thinking, the establishment of the therapeutic nurse-patient relationship, and the beginning development of the student to view the patient’s adaptive responses to health and illness from a holistic perspective. Students will have lab experiences in the Clinical Learning Resource Center (CLRC) and clinical agencies where fundamental nursing skills can be practiced.

NURS 201: HEALTH ASSESSMENT ACROSS THE LIFESPAN
This course focuses on health assessment across the lifespan. The focus is on the development of interviewing skills, assessment of health status, and physical examination skills for the beginning nursing student. Patterns of healthy individuals will be examined and used as a reference point for assessment and health maintenance. The importance of therapeutic communication skills when performing health assessment and the assessment of cultural and socio-economic aspects of health will also be emphasized. Students will have lab experiences in the Nursing Learning Resource Center (NLRC) where health assessments can be practiced.

NURS 300: COMPREHENSIVE ADULT NURSING I
This course will focus on the development of selected competencies for nursing care assessment and management of adults with predictable human responses to specific system alterations. Risk reduction, recovery, and rehabilitation of patients with selected disease processes and common clinical problems are addressed. Didactic medical-surgical content will focus on basic concepts foundational to biophysical and psychosocial adult health practice, pain management, fluids and electrolytes, endocrine, perioperative, respiratory, cardiovascular, peripheral vascular, oncologic, and hematologic systems. Selected general medical-surgical settings will be utilized for clinical practice.

NURS 301: PHARMACOLOGY FOR NURSING I
Introduces professional nursing students to the principles of pharmacology and drug therapies, pharmacologic-therapeutic classes of drugs, and important drug information resources. This course will focus on pharmacology basics, drugs affecting the central nervous system, autonomic nervous system, and endocrine system. Legal, ethical, and cultural considerations in pharmacology and consideration of lifespan perspectives on medication administration will also be discussed.

NURS 303: WOMEN’S HEALTH NURSING
This course will focus on the development of competencies for the nursing care management of childbearing families and health problems and concerns that affect women. The course will emphasize the nurse’s role in health assessment, health promotion, and promotion of adaptive processes for the maternity patient and the promotion of women’s health in general. Sociocultural, economic, political, and ethical factors that impact on health promotion, disease prevention, and risk reduction for the childbearing family and women in general are examined. Selected women’s health clinical settings will be utilized for clinical practice.

NURS 304: NURSING OF CHILDREN
This course will focus on the development of competencies for the nursing care management of children experiencing potential and actual alterations in health. An emphasis will be placed on the nurse’s role in health assessment, health promotion, and promotion of adaptive processes for the child within the context of the family. Selected pediatric clinical agencies will be utilized for clinical practice.

NURS 305: COMPREHENSIVE ADULT NURSING II
This course is a continuation of NURS 300. This course will focus on the development of selected competencies for nursing care assessment and management of adults with predictable human responses to specific system alterations. Risk reduction, recovery, and rehabilitation of patients with selected disease processes and common clinical problems are addressed. Didactic medical-surgical content will focus on the gastrointestinal, renal, immunologic, integumentary, sensorineural, neurologic, musculoskeletal, male reproductive, and infectious disease systems. Home care principles and health policy for adults with common acute and chronic illnesses and diseases will also be explored. Selected general medical-surgical settings and home-care agencies will be utilized for clinical practice

NURS 306: PHARMACOLOGY FOR NURSING II
This course is a continuation of NURS 301. The course will begin with a review of drug and dosage calculations. This course will focus on drugs affecting the cardiovascular and renal systems, respiratory system, anti-infective and anti-inflammatory agents, immune and biologic modifiers and chemotherapeutic agents, gastrointestinal system and nutrition, and miscellaneous therapeutics including hematologic, dermatologic, ophthalmic, and otic agents. Strategies to prevent medication errors in health care agencies will be discussed.

NURS 308: MENTAL HEALTH NURSING
This course will focus on the development of competencies necessary for the practice of mental health nursing with emphasis on the use of self in relationships with patients and health team members. An understanding of the brain-behavior connection and the importance of the therapeutic nurse-patient relationship will provide the framework for exploring the factors, which contribute, to stress, maladaptive behavior, and mental illness. Cross-cultural aspects of mental health and appropriate culturally relevant interventions will also be emphasized. Selected inpatient and outpatient mental health settings and agencies will be utilized for clinical practice.

NURS 330: RESEARCH BASIS OF NURSING
This course will introduce the student to the theoretical and research bases on which practice is built. Students will examine the knowledge that guides nursing interventions and critique published research reports. The importance of reviewing the nursing literature in order to maintain currency in practice will be addressed. Ethical issues as they relate to research, theory and practice will be discussed.

NURSING 337: GENETICS IN NURSING & HEALTHCARE
This course will explore genetic concepts and principles as they pertain to human variation in health and disease. Theoretical research and literature on selected disorders including immunity and cancer will be reviewed and discussed with emphasis on clinical application. Multidisciplinary approaches to intervention will be discussed from a nursing perspective. Political, social and ethical issues raised by recent advances such as genetic engineering, gene therapy, reproductive technology and the Human Genome Project will be analyzed. Clinical application of moral, ethical and legal issues will be integrated throughout the course.

NURS 400: LEADERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN NURSING
This course will focus on the professional nurse's role in applying the principles of leadership and management in health care organizations across the continuum of care. The emerging role of the nurse entrepreneur and alternative roles for future professional practitioners will also be explored. The course will also emphasize the role of the professional nurse in efficient patient care management in complex health care settings.

NURS 401: COMPREHENSIVE ADULT NURSING III
This course will focus on the development of selected competencies for nursing care assessment and management of adults with unpredictable and complex human responses to specific system alterations. The course will emphasize the assessment of functioning, adaptation, and recovery for patients with high acuity illnesses and clinical problems. Selected high acuity acute care settings will be utilized for clinical practice.

NURS 403: COMMUNITY PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING
The focus of this course is the professional nurse’s role in working with aggregates in the community. The student will first reexamine the principles of health promotion as they form the bases for effective community health nursing practice. The student will then explore the role of the community health nurse working collaboratively with the community as part of an interdisciplinary team. Grounded in systems theory and informed by the concepts and principles of community health nursing, public health nursing, wellness, health promotion, and national goals, the student works with aggregates in the community setting. An introduction to conceptual frameworks that guide community-based, population-focused practice and research is included in both the classroom and clinical portions of the course. The student uses skills in community assessment; program planning and practice interventions in helping identified populations within the community maintain their optimum level of health. Selected measures for evaluating outcomes of community health nursing programs are discussed. Contemporary public health problems encountered in community health nursing practice are explored. Selected community health and public health clinical agencies will be selected for clinical practice.

NURS 204: NURSING INFORMATICS
This course is designed to examine computer technology and tools of the Internet and World Wide Web with a focus on the use of cyber technology and selected computer applications. The automation of data management through information systems, expert systems, and telecommunication, and the impact of these technologies on nursing administration, education, practice and research are addressed in the context of nursing informatics. Actual problem-solving and mini-design projects on how computerization and automation can improve the efficiency of nursing care delivery will be emphasized.

NURS 450: CONTEMPORARY GERONTOLOGICAL NURSING
This course will focus on the nursing management of older adults. Contemporary theories of gerontology, theories of aging, physiological/psychological functioning, impact of developmental changes, illness, and dysfunction will be emphasized. The geriatric patient will be examined at various levels – healthy older adult, older adult at risk, and the older adult experiencing acute and chronic illness. Students’ clinical experiences will be in home health agencies, transitional, and long-term facilities.

NURS 492: SENIOR SEMINAR IN NURSING
This course will serve as a review of important concepts from the nursing curriculum. Students will focus on those concepts that they need to improve for the successful practice of professional nursing. Students will utilize the Nursing Technology Lab to review procedures practiced throughout the nursing curriculum and will use computerized testing to gauge their mastery of professional nursing content.