This course, based on the Nurse of the Future competencies, focuses on critical care and advanced medical-surgical nursing. Students will utilize the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to provide high-quality, evidence-based care to patients with complex and acute health conditions. The course emphasizes advanced clinical judgment, critical thinking, and the integration of holistic care principles, including physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects, to meet the diverse needs of critically ill patients. This course provides students with preparation to transition into the nursing profession.
Course Requirements:
1. Clinical hours are mandatory.
2. Students must keep clinical requirements such as background checks, certifications, immunizations/exemptions, current throughout the program. A list of requirements can be found in the Nursing Student Handbook.
3. Students enrolled in the course must also register for the associated NUR 240L course.
Course Fees: Nonrefundable fees are required for each Nursing course. See the fee schedule in the catalog and Nursing handbook for details.
Prerequisites
NUR 230 with a “B” or higher, HCE 241 and ENG 102 with a “C” or higher.
Corequisites
BIO 205.
1. Patient-Centered Care: The student will utilize the components of the nursing process and clinical judgment in the care of medical-surgical patients with complex needs and critical care populations. The student will integrate the ability to meet the needs of the individual, patient, family, and community in the decision-making process.
2. Communication: The student will integrate therapeutic communication strategies in providing nursing care for patients with complex needs, applying concepts of health literacy to enhance the response to patient education and improve patient outcomes.
3. Professionalism: The student will practice professional comportment and legal and ethical principles in medical-surgical patients with complex needs and the critical care population as the student transitions to the professional nursing practice.
4. Teamwork and Collaboration: The student will utilize system factors that facilitate effective team functioning and use communication styles that contribute to effective team functioning.
5. Safety: The student will apply established safety protocols in medical-surgical patients with complex needs and the critical care population, identify strategies to minimize potential safety concerns, and follow protocols to ensure a safe clinical environment.
6. Quality Improvement: The student will integrate and promote quality improvement principles to evaluate the medical-surgical patient with complex needs and the critical care population, initiating the quality improvement models and tools in areas of concern in the healthcare setting.
7. Evidence-Based Practice: The student will integrate evidence-based practice guidelines in the plan of care for medical-surgical patients with complex needs and the critical care population, applying data collection, research and current evidence to clinical reasoning and judgment to improve clinical expertise and patient outcomes.
8. Informatics: The student will utilize health informatics and technology to apply decision making in management of medical-surgical patients with complex needs and the critical care population, utilizing the electronic health record to compose a plan of care to support the clinical decision and coordination by the healthcare team.