Course Descriptions

Core Courses

• N407: Foundations of Professional Nursing Practice (3 credits)

  Philosophical perspectives, theories, and standards are applied to the practice of professional nursing. Factors influencing nursing/health care delivery are analyzed. Professional communication skills are enhanced. This is a writing emphasis course.

  Semesters offered: Fall  Spring  Summer  

• N441: Chronic Care Management (3 credits)

  Exploration of interaction of biological, psychological, social, and environmental factors important to understanding management of chronic conditions at the individual, family, community, and societal levels.

  Semesters offered: Fall  Spring  Summer  

• N446: Research and Evidence-Based Practice (3 credits)

  This course introduces the importance of research to improve clinical practice, strategies to evaluate the quality of research and evidence, and increase integration of research into practice.

  Semesters offered: Fall  Spring  Summer  

• N447: Leadership and Management (3 credits)

  Examines nursing leadership and management using relevant theories and concepts. Analyze decision-making in relation to communication, delegation, supervision and group process.

  Semesters offered: Fall  Spring  Summer  

• N453: Information Management and Healthcare Technology (3 credits)

  Utilize computer and information/decision science to support quality and safety in health care. Explore informatics issues and examine nursing’s role in healthcare technology. Opportunities to use and master various healthcare technologies and healthcare data will be given.

  Semesters offered: Fall  Spring  Summer  

• N454: Community Health Nursing (3 credits)

  Nursing care of populations and communities to facilitate optimal health outcomes.

  Semesters offered: Fall  Spring  Summer  

Elective Courses

• Aging and Health (3 credits)

  Explore normal aging and lifestyle factors that promote optimal aging or lead to health alterations. Examine coping and facilitation of elders’ achievement of health goals.

  Semester offered: Spring  

• Clinical Pharmacology (3 credits)

  Focus is on the principles of pharmacology and administration, legislative controls, mechanisms of drug actions, contra-indications, adverse and toxic effects, and lifespan consideration.

  Semesters offered: Spring  Summer (Even years)  

• Cross Cultural Health (3 credits)

  This course provides the students with the opportunity to further enhance their insight into Black, Hispanic, Hmong, and Native American cultures. This course examines how culture impacts health and illness with reference to these four cultures. Opportunity will be provided for each student to examine health beliefs and practices from the perspective of one of these four cultural groups. Class meets diversity or ethnic studies requirement and has limited enrollment.

  Semesters offered: Fall  Summer  

• Global Health: Ethics and Human Rights (3 credits)

  An overview of the broad field of global health, using the U.N. Millennium Development Goals as a guiding framework. The course will explore the ethics and human rights issues related to disparities in financial, educational, technological, environmental, and political resources available to support healthy populations across the globe.

  Semesters offered: Spring  Summer  

• Health Assessment (3 credits)

  This course emphasizes essential nursing skills in the assessment process, introducing health history and physical examination techniques across the lifespan. Students conduct a health appraisal and collect, record, and analyze data. Current models of health, including cultural and developmental variations are examined. This course has no on-campus hands-on lab. To substitute for the lab, you will be expected to view short videos of the assessment skill to be practiced. These short videos are embedded in the online course.

  Semester offered: Fall (Even years)  

• Interdisciplinary Care of Children with Special Healthcare Needs (3 credits)

  Interdisciplinary team care of children with special healthcare needs across the trajectory of illness presented within the context of family, culture, social determinants of health, community, and healthcare policy. Students introduced to interdisciplinary, collaborative, family-centered team care.

  Semesters offered: Fall  Spring  

• Mental Health Nursing Across the Care Continuum (3 credits)

  This course is designed to expand the knowledge and skills necessary for providing professional nursing care to individuals, groups and families affected by mental illness in any setting. Particular attention is focused on complex health conditions and development of clinical reasoning to support competent nursing practice.

  Semester offered: Fall (Odd years)  

• Nursing Care at the End of Life (3 credits)

  Nurses spend more time with patients who are facing end-of-life than any other member of the health care team. Yet studies have shown that many nurses feel inadequately prepared to provide the comprehensive care so important at the end of life. This course focuses on the nurse’s role in end-of-life care, pain management, symptom management, ethical/legal issues, and more.

  Semester offered: Spring  

• Pathophysiology (3 credits)

  This course focuses on mechanisms, manifestations, diagnosis, and treatment of selected disease states. Content includes cellular and immunologic aspects of disease, fluid and electrolyte disorders, and disorder of the cardiorespiratory, gastrointestinal, nervous, and endocrine systems.

   

  Semesters offered: Fall  Summer (Odd years)  

• School Nursing in the Context of Community Health (3 credits)

  Introduces students to the specialty of School Nursing. The course provides the theoretical and practical foundations for establishing and maintaining school health nursing services, defines the context of nursing practice within the educational environment, and includes discussion of policy and administrative issues, as well as clinical nursing services.

  Semester offered: Spring