I. General Information

1. Course Title:
Professional Nursing Role Transition

2. Course Prefix & Number:
NURS 1547

3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:

Credits: 4

Lecture Hours: 4

Lab Hours: 0

4. Course Description:

This course is designed to build on concepts, clinical reasoning and skills attained in a Practical Nursing Program. Content includes scope of practice, nursing process, assessment, communications skills, critical thinking and nursing judgment, and the educator role. Selected nursing psychomotor skills will be reviewed with an emphasis on the application of the nursing process and use of evidenced-based practices that promote patient safety and quality in the performance of psychomotor skills. Content will also include gerontology, pediatrics, surgical nursing, and musculoskeletal system. This course focuses on application of clinical reasoning and psychomotor skills through quizzes, worksheets, exams, videos, and audio presentations.

5. Placement Tests Required:

Accuplacer (specify test):

No placement tests required

Score:

6. Prerequisite Courses:

There are no prerequisites for this course.

7. Other Prerequisites
Acceptance into Advanced Standing Nursing Program

9. Co-requisite Courses:

There are no corequisites for this course.

II. Transfer and Articulation

III. Course Purpose

1. Program-Applicable Courses – This course is required for the following program(s):

Nursing - Associate in Science Degree

IV. Learning Outcomes

1. College-Wide Outcomes

College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies	Students will be able to:
Analyze and follow a sequence of operations	Apply a beginning level of nursing process to accurately assess, plan, implement, and evaluate holistic, patient-centered care as it relates to the diagnosis and treatment of actual or potential nursing problems of clients and families across the lifespan.
Work as a team member to achieve shared goals	Demonstrate a comprehensive head to toe assessment and recognize abnormal assessment data
Discuss/compare characteristics of diverse cultures and environments	Discuss the concepts of lifespan (pediatrics and geriatrics) as they relate to the diagnosis and treatment of actual or potential health problems with clients and families.

2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of the course:

• Explain the scope of practice for the professional nurse and transition process from the LPN role to the RN role;
• Apply a beginning level of the nursing process to accurately assess, plan, implement, and evaluate holistic, patient-centered care as it relates to the diagnosis and treatment of actual or potential nursing problems of clients and families across the lifespan;
• Describe the teaching and learning process including how to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and attitudes promoting a change in behavior;
• Discuss the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses Project (QSEN) as well as the knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAS) that are expected to be met by the end of the program;
• Relate theory and research-based evidence to develop a foundational knowledge of the art and science of nursing, including concepts related to pathophysiological processes and caring behaviors utilized in the care of patients and families;
• Demonstrate the basic components of therapeutic and non-therapeutic communication;
• Demonstrate a comprehensive head to toe assessment and recognize abnormal assessment data;
• Assess personal psychomotor skills and remediate as needed to assure safe patient care;
• Calculate medication orders to ensure safeadministration of medication and the prevention of errors and sentinel events;
• Describe risk factors and practices that contribute to medication errors, and evaluate one’s own techniques for best practice and quality improvement;
• Demonstrate accurate principles of documentation;
• Discuss the concepts of lifespan (pediatrics and geriatrics) as it relates to the diagnosis and treatment of actual or potential health problems of clients and families;
• Discuss concepts of Surgical Nursing and: Musculoskeletal System as it relates to the diagnosis and treatment of actual or potential health problems of clients and families across the lifespan; and
• Describe the care competencies, attributes and roles of the professional nurse including communication, collaboration, safety, technology and informatics, evidence, healthcare quality, professionalism, and clinical judgment.

V. Topical Outline

Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.

1. Lecture Sessions

1. Scope of Practice
• Scope of Practice for RN (nurse practice act)
2. Role Transition
• Compare LPN role vs RN role and new responsibilities
3. Nursing Process
• Assessment
• Diagnosis
• Planning
• Implementation
• Evaluation
• Prioritization of nursing care
• Documentation
4. Teaching/Learning
• Characteristics of adult learners
• Domains of learning
• Barriers to learning
• Teaching learning process
• Three levels of prevention
• Community resources
• Learning styles
5. Quality, Safety, Education in Nursing
• Institute of Medicine and Quality Safety Education in Nursing project
• Core competencies: patient centered care, teamwork and collaboration, quality improvement, safety, evidence based practice, and informatics
• Knowledge, skills, and attitude required for success in nursing program
6. Therapeutic Communication
• Collaborative professional communication
• Techniques that enhance vs hinder communication
• Various communication techniques in multiple situations
7. Head-to-Toe Assessment
• Preparation for a head to toe assessment/interview
• Skills used in head to toe assessment/interview
• Adaptations required for clients with various ages or conditions
• Components of a general survey
• Follow up questions to clarify information
8. Skills Review
• All basic nursing skills including personal care of the client, assisting with mobility, toileting, bathing, dressing, feeding, taking vital signs, wound care and assessment, infection control and PPE, gavage feedings, urinary elimination, suctioning and medication administration via various routes.
9. Dosage Calculations
• Safe medication administration and prevention of errors
• Add, subtract, multiply and divide whole numbers, fractions and decimals
• Reduce a fraction to its lowest terms, round decimals and solve simple math problems using dimensional analysis.
• Convert between fractions and decimals
• Parenteral doses of medications
• Calculate dosages based on drug strength after reconstitution, body weight, and body surface area.  
• Calculate body surface area using household and metric methods.  
• Calculate mL/hr flow rates for continuous and intermittent IV fluids, infusion and completion times for IV fluids, gtt/min flow rates for IV fluids, infusion and completion times for IV fluids
• Calculate calorie and protein needs for patients as well as flow rates and dilutions for enteral feedings
• Calculate subcutaneous doses of heparin and low molecular weight heparin, intermittent bolus dose of heparin, units/hr and mL/hr flow rate for a continuous infusion heparin, new flow rates in units/hr and mL/hr for a prescribed change in the dosage of a continuous heparin infusion
10. Medication Administration Concepts
• Nursing judgment, critical thinking skills and problem-solving skills concerning medication administration
• Six rights of safe medication administration
• Abnormal findings and required nursing interventions
11. Documentation
• Purposes of documentation
• Charting formats and their purposes
• Documentation guidelines
12. Gerontology
• Erickson’s Psychosocial Development Theory Stage 8
• Common age changes and common conditions
• Dementia, delirium, organic brain disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, depression
• Roles and relationships, stress
• Safety
• Medication usage
• Payment sources
• Legal issues
• Advance directives, living will, POLST
• Grieving process
• End of life
• Abuse
13. Pediatrics
• Traditional and nontraditional families
• Healthy vs dysfunctional families
• Religious and cultural beliefs
• Parenting styles
• Communicating with children and families
• Communicating with special needs children
• Growth and development
• Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development, Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development, Erickson’s Psychosocial Theory and Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
• Denver Developmental Screening Test
• Role of play
• Immunizations
• Primary, secondary, tertiary measure of prevention
• Community resources
• Growth and development in the infant, toddler, preschooler, school age, and adolescent child
• Health promotion specific to infants including immunizations, feeding, food allergies, teething, and lead exposure
• Health promotion specific to toddlers and preschoolers including toilet training, temper tantrums, sibling rivalry, stuttering, daycare/preschool and preparing for school
• Health promotion specific to the school-age child including: (a) adjustment to school, (b) self-care and (c) obesity, exercise and activity.
• Psychosexual growth and development and exercise/activity in the adolescent.
• Emergency care for children
• Nurse’s role in CPR, shock, trauma, ingestions and poisonings, environmental emergencies, submersion injuries, heat related injuries and dental emergencies.
• Settings of care for the ill child
• Stressors, fear of the unknown, and regression associated with hospitalization and illness,
• Effects of chronic illness on child and family
• Holistic care involved for a child with a chronic illness including caring for the parents, education, communication, grief and support, cultural and religious beliefs, referrals, schooling, the nurse as liaison and caring for the siblings
• Infectious disease: modes of transmission, pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, complications, and nursing management
• Etiology, incidence, manifestations, diagnostic evaluation, and   management of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
• Etiology, manifestations and therapeutic management of substance abuse
• Etiology, incidence, manifestations of child abuse and shaken infant syndrome, Munchausen Syndrome by proxy and mandated reporting
• Diagnostic tests for intellectual and developmental disorders
• Pathophysiology, etiology, clinical manifestation, nursing interventions and medical management of children with intellectual and developmental disorders, including Down’s Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and Autism
14. Surgical Nursing
• Comprehensive preoperative assessment
• Effects of acute and chronic illness in perioperative period
• Legal and ethical considerations for informed consent
• Preoperative roles in preparation for surgery
• Surgical asepsis
• Effects and adverse effects of surgery and anesthesia
• Role of the RN during intraoperative phase
• Function of steroids and the stress response
• Responsibilities and priority assessments in the post anesthesia care unit
• Common postoperative complications
• Wound healing and potential complications
• Nursing interventions related respiratory care, activity, vital signs, genitourinary tract and wound care
15. Musculoskeletal System
• Age related changes
• Effects of immobility
• Normal vs abnormal assessment findings
• Diagnostic tests including imaging procedures, bone densitometry, bone scan, arthroscopy, arthrocentesis, electromyography, biopsy, and various laboratory studies
• Phases of bone healing
• Body mechanics
• Fractures: etiology, risk factors, pathophysiological changes, clinical manifestations, nursing interventions, and medical management
• Use of assistive devices/crutch walking/casts including individualized teaching plans
• Types of traction and nursing care
• Fracture complications: infection, compartment syndrome, venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, fat embolism, and avascular necrosis. 
• Osteoarthritis: etiology, risk factors, pathophysiological changes, clinical manifestations, nursing interventions, and medical management including total knee and total hip surgical intervention.
• Osteomyelitis: etiology, risk factors, pathophysiological changes, clinical manifestations, nursing interventions, and medical management
• Amputation: preoperative and postoperative care
• Osteoporosis: etiology, risk factors, pathophysiological changes, clinical manifestations, nursing interventions, and medical management
• Dietary teaching for bone health
• Medications related to the musculoskeletal system