RN-to-BSN (NURS)

(8 weeks)

Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method research serve to compare and evaluate evidence-based practice and healthcare in clinical practice. This course will demonstrate appropriate utilization of research findings to monitor patient-centered care, quality improvement, safety, and leadership outcomes. Critical appraisal skills that assist nurses as competent research consumers will be identified.

In this course, students explore pathophysiological conditions present in selected disease processes in order to implement evidence-based nursing assessment and intervention strategies.

This course will prepare the student to understand the steps of the evidenced-based practice process (EBP) and identify various EBP models to translate evidence into practice. The topics of articulating the clinical questions, using electronic databases to locate evidence, evaluating levels of evidence, and critically appraising the evidence to translate into the best evidence will be explored. Ethical issues in research and evidence-based practice will be discussed. The course focuses on enhancing the student’s ability to read, comprehend, critically appraise, and apply the best evidence to the professional practice of nursing.

This course focuses on the baccalaureate-prepared nursing role with emphasis on the following concepts: Clinical judgment, communication, health information technology, health promotion, patient education, professionalism, and teamwork and collaboration, safety, and ethical and legal practice. Competencies required for baccalaureate-prepared nursing practice, including the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) competencies, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice, and the Texas Board of Nursing Differentiated Essential Competencies are explored.

This combined theory and clinical course emphasizes leadership and management theories in communication and conflict resolution, budgeting, human resource management, quality improvement, risk management, change, delegation, decision making, and management ethics. Clinical experiences focus on management of issues and interactive observation of leaders and managers in a variety of settings.

Increased autonomy in the nursing profession comes with increased responsibility, particularly ethical responsibility. This course provides both the student and practicing nurse with a foundational knowledge of ethics, ethical reasoning, and decision-making strategies to navigate the difficult ethical situations encountered on a daily basis. Decision-making models, rationales for decisions, and various topics about ethical patient care are provided in this course, satisfying the competencies needed for successful professional practice.

This course explores U.S. health care delivery organizations and payment systems. Perspectives of providers, institutions, insurers, and health care workers are described. The role of information in the continuity of care among institutions and inter - disciplinary care teams is articulated. The electronic information infrastructure is examined with implications for nursing practice.

This combination theory and laboratory course will be an in depth coverage of the comprehensive health assessment with an introduction to the concept of health promotion and how this concept is applied within nursing practice.

This combined theory and clinical course will explore the role of the community/public health nurse caring for individuals, families, communities, and populations through designing, implementing, and evaluating population-based interventions that promote the health of a community and its members. Emphasis is given to health promotion and disease/injury prevention within vulnerable and at-risk populations and minimizing health consequences of emergency and disaster situations. Entry-level competencies for public health nurses are developed through diverse clinical experiences in virtual and real-world settings