Registered Nursing

The student will acquire knowledge fundamental to the development of basic skills and attitudes necessary to meet the nursing needs common to man. Students will identify and analyze nursing principles derived from scientific concepts of client care. Concurrent with this theoretical framework, clinical experience which will allow the student to identify and practice safe individualized care is obtained in community facilities. Each student in this course must have a physical exam, criminal background check without any disqualifying convictions and a negative drug screen.

The student will study nursing care problems of clients of all ages based on normal needs of people and on deviations which affect these needs in times of illness, injury, or surgical intervention. Concurrent clinical experience provides the opportunity for the student to develop appropriate skills in assessing, planning, implementing, and evaluating care of clients in medical/surgical settings.

The student will acquire knowledge fundamental to the development of basic skills and attitudes necessary to meet the nursing needs common to man. Students will identify and analyze nursing principles derived from scientific concepts of client care.

This course is taken second semester of the program. It provides an introduction to historical development in nursing, the conceptual framework and philosophy of the nursing program. It is designed to present an understanding of nursing in the community and develop a recognition of the needs and methods available for health care.

This course is designed to present theories and concepts which deal with clients presenting problems relating to psychosocial adjustments, emotional stress, and behavioral dysfunction. Concurrent clinical experience provides the opportunity for the student to utilize the nursing process with increasing independence.

The student will continue to study nursing care problems of clients of all ages based on normal needs of people and on deviations which affect these needs in times of illness, injury, or surgical intervention. The student also will learn nursing care concepts and principles of client care focusing on the maternity cycle and care of the newborn or care of the pediatric client. Concurrent clinical experience provides the opportunity for the student to continue to develop appropriate skills in assessing, planning, implementing, and evaluating care of clients in medical/surgical and maternal/child settings.

Advanced medical-surgical concepts are explored in the classroom setting. Concurrent clinical experiences focus on enabling the beginning graduate nurse to utilize the nursing process in managing and administering safe, individualized nursing care in an advanced medical-surgical setting.

Utilizing a nursing process approach, the student will identify fundamental pharmacological principles and develop a theoretical base for the skills involved in administration of medications. Fundamentals of pharmacology, including history of drug administration, legal controls, how medications work in the human body, and principles of drug interactions will be identified. Classifications of drugs will be studied to give the student knowledge of actions, interactions, adverse effects, contraindications, dosages, routes, and nursing implications. The steps of the nursing process are utilized in safe medication administration.

This course is taken during the fourth semester of the program. It provides an introduction to legal aspects of nursing and ethical issues involved in nursing. It also focuses on issues and responsibilities in nursing, implications of the Nurse Practice Act, nursing organizations, and the transition from nursing student to practicing registered nurse.