BSN Program Curriculum

This course is designed to introduce skills required for successful student life and the professional roles in nursing. Students develop knowledge about available resources and technology to meet academic and personal needs. Behaviors, teamwork and communication techniques are developed to facilitate professional health care relationships.

This course is an overview designed to begin socialization of novice students into the nursing profession. Beginning with the historical, social, political, and educational events that impacted the evolution of nursing, students gains an appreciation of the basic patterns of knowing in nursing.

This natural science general education course provides students with the opportunity to experience the ways scientific principles and knowledge can be applied to the evaluation of mind-body modalities. Students critically examine scientific supporting integrative medicine techniques and evaluate ways scientific knowledge interacts with societal impressions of the safety and efficacy of these modalities. Students apply principles, concepts and models from natural science to increase their understanding of the fundamentals of mind/body science.

This classroom and practicum learning experience introduces students to concepts, behaviors, principles and theories that provide the foundation for nursing practice. This course focuses on developing basic assessment, psychomotor, critical thinking and communication skills that are essential for nursing care throughout the lifespan. Faculty assist students in recognizing normal and abnormal health patterns.

This classroom and practicum learning experience builds on the concepts, behaviors, principles and theories that were introduced in Fundamentals of Patient-Centered Care. This course focuses on developing advanced skills essential for nursing care. Students learn to develop effective nurse-patient relationships and collaborate with other health care disciplines. Faculty assist students in applying theoretical knowledge to the role of the nurse as practitioner, caring for adults with health alterations.

This course examines physiological variations in health and pharmacological therapies used to prevent and treat illness across the lifespan. Basic principles of pathophysiology and pharmacology are introduced, including inflammation, stress, disease, fluids and electrolytes. These principles are then applied to selected systems, including the respiratory, cardiovascular, integumentary and renal/urinary systems. Homeostasis of the human body, etiology of alterations in human biological processes, pharmacological treatments and the resulting human responses are studied. A conceptual approach is used to integrate knowledge from the natural sciences.

This course examines physiological variations in health and pharmacological therapies used to prevent and treat illness across the lifespan, focusing on the neurological, musculoskeletal, endocrine, gastrointestinal and hematologic systems. This course also introduces concepts of health and illness related to multi-system disease and the impact of multi-pharmacological intervention. The dynamic equilibrium of the human body, etiology of alterations in human biological processes, pharmacological treatments and the resulting human responses are studied. A conceptual approach is used to integrate knowledge from the natural sciences.

This comprehensive nutrition course introduces students to nutrition and its role in health promotion and disease treatment, as well as the role of nurses in patient-centered nutrition care. The course addresses the relationship among nutrient requirements, physiological needs and nutritional concerns across the lifespan. Individuals or populations at risk for dietary imbalances as a result of physiological, genetic, environmental, social or cultural influences are identified. Nutrition principles are applied to the assessment and management of diverse patients' nutritional needs related to specific medical conditions.

The classroom and clinical experience continues to build on concepts, behaviors and principles developed in Advanced Fundamentals for Patient Care. Emphasis is on the establishment of patient relationships and interprofessional collaboration, as well as promoting and restoring health of adults with common health concerns and related physiologic and psychologic responses. This course includes information on genetics, cultural diversity, ethics, legal principles and life span issues specifically related to adults. Scholarly inquiry is used to evaluate nursing interventions in a variety of environmental and bio-psychosocial contexts. Learning experiences facilitate the knowledge required for the development of clinical reasoning skills.

This course focuses on the nurse’s role in identifying appropriate sources of evidence to guide practice and improve health outcomes. This course addresses the role of scientific evidence, information science, and technology to inform practice. Focusing on how evidence is generated and how to analyze evidence for its appropriateness to guide practice. Ethical, legal, and financial issues surrounding sources of evidence are also discussed.

This course provides an overview of the genetics/genomics concepts and applications to inderdisciplinary nursing practice in the care of patients and families. Financial, ethical, legal, cultural and social implications of genetic testing and evidence-based genetics are included.

This course focuses on the role of the nurse in the implementation of best practices in the care of older adults within the context of their environment.

This course introduces students to the research process and establishes a foundation for understanding the scientific basis for practice. Course content and learning activities facilitate the ability to analytically read research reports, access credible sources in response to identified clinical questions and understand the integration of evidence into practice using evidence-based practice models.

This course and practicum experience focuses on biological, psychosocial and developmental concepts applicable to the nursing care of children and families throughout the continuum of care. Emphasis is placed on the nursing process and the role of the professional nurse in providing family-centered nursing care to the pediatric patient from newborn through adolescence. The concepts of health, including promotion, maintenance, restoration/rehabilitation and palliation, are incorporated with attention to age-appropriate concerns, genetics, cultural diversity, legal/ethical and end-of-life issues and family processes.

This course and practicum experience focuses on biological, psychosocial, developmental and cultural concepts applicable to the nursing care of women, newborns and families during the childbearing process. Emphasis is placed on the nursing process and the role of the professional nurse in providing patient-centered nursing care to parents and neonates responding to the changes inherent in childbirth.

This course and practicum experience focuses on the development of nurses who will be able to provide psychiatric/mental health nursing care safely in behavioral and general health care settings to individuals and their families. Content includes concepts of health promotion, health maintenance, rehabilitation, restoration, information on age-appropriate life span concerns, which include genetics, cultural humanity, legal and ethical issues and related end-of-life issues.

This classroom and clinical experience establishes the foundation for understanding and applying the concepts of population-focused, public health and community nursing practice across the life span. Critical attributes and characteristics of communities are examined. Selected models and theories are used for identifying health patterns of culturally diverse client systems and in the design and delivery of evidence-based interventions to promote community health. Health policy, finances and research are emphasized as the context for community health advocacy and the roles of a professional public health nurse.

This course focuses on the knowledge and skills essential for effective nursing leadership within varied nursing practice settings. Managerial concepts and leadership skills required to promote high quality, outcome-based nursing care delivery are examined. Emphasis is placed on professional nurses' role in quality improvement and the use of information technologies to improve patient and system outcomes.

This classroom and clinical experience focuses on the synthesis of health patterns of client systems in acute care environments. The nursing process is utilized within the realms of illness, rehabilitation and health restoration for culturally diverse patients experiencing complex and multi-system health pattern variations across the life span. Emphasis is placed on providing evidence-based, holistic, patient-centered care.

This course emphasizes reflection, integration and synthesis of concepts from all course work in the program. Students' unique experiences form the context for the development of their capstone project. The purpose of the capstone project is to enhance practice and enrich professional development. This course in the BSN program is designed as a culmination of educational activities, during which the student demonstrates an ability to synthesize knowledge gained throughout the program.

1. Apply relevant theories from nursing and related natural and behavioral sciences as a foundation for health promotion, disease prevention and the education and planning of culturally responsive, patient centered holistic care for patients, including individuals, families, groups, communities, and populations across the lifespan.
2. Function effectively within nursing and inter-professional teams, fostering open communication, mutual respect, and shared decision-making to achieve high-quality, safe patient care outcomes.
3. Use information and technology to communicate, manage knowledge, mitigate error, and support decision making for the delivery of quality patient care.
4. Demonstrate organizational and systems leadership to effectively monitor the outcomes and processes to guide improvement methods that promote diverse, culturally responsive, care across the health care continuum through quality promotion and disease prevention initiatives to minimize risk of harm. 
5. Utilize scholarly inquiry to integrate best current evidence with clinical expertise and patient/family preferences and values for the provision of evidence-based, comprehensive patient-centered nursing care.
6. Utilize scholarly inquiry to integrate best current evidence with clinical expertise and patient/family preferences and values for the provision of evidence-based, comprehensive patient-centered nursing care.