Course Syllabus NURS 4975: Professional Practicum: Community-Focused Nursing Connie Diaz-Swearingen MS, RN, PHCNS-BC connieds@uwyo.edu Office: HSC 437 Phone: 307 760-0428 Course The RN/BSN capstone course provides opportunity for students to Description synthesize concepts of professional nursing. Students select relevant experiences to analyze elements of the public health care delivery system and access to care. Students apply nursing knowledge to address a health need in their community through a service learning project. Prerequisites All required courses in the nursing major component of the program; NURS 4150, 4250, 4440 or concurrent enrollment; current RN license Textbook(s) The student is expected to utilize all previous nursing texts specific to the RN/BSN program courses. The student will also validate knowledge with current literature and research supporting nursing practice. In particular the textbooks required for Family and Health Promotion courses will be helpful. Recommended Resources: American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. (5th Ed.). Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association. Course By the end of this course, students will be able to: Objectives 1. Demonstrate synthesis of public health competencies and professional nursing knowledge 2. Demonstrate professional self-development. 3. Demonstrate critical thinking in application of ethics to public health and social justice issues. 4. Analyze factors related to rural nursing and vulnerable populations. 5. Demonstrate leadership in managing care of families.
6. Use the public health model to assess the health of a population in a geographical area. 7. Evaluate research findings to modify public health practice or improve care for specific populations 8. Recommend change strategies likely to improve the health of the public Teaching and Clinical practice of 180 hours in a fifteen-week period in selected Learning public health/community health nursing sites. The students are Strategies expected to attend 120 hours (8 hrs/week) on-site in the agency or in the community, and 60 coursework hours (4 hrs/week) in off-site coursework such as post clinical online discussions, research, etc. Participants agree to complete suggested activities within the time frame provided to allow for meaningful group discussion and feedback. Participants will prepare short assignments to be posted to the website in which they review and/or demonstrate current knowledge, skills and experience in the unit learning areas. Participants are asked to participate in weekly asynchronous group discussions in which they share current experiences in applying unit concepts to assessment in their own communities. In completing the course, each participant will plan, implement, and conduct a focused assessment of their defined community, and will suggest interventions for community implementation. A powerpoint presentation to summarize the service learning project will be prepared and shared with other group members, allowing for feedback from others and opportunities for group learning. Each participant agrees to present a summary of their service learning project to a stakeholder group for review. Suggested review groups include: key informants who participated in the assessment process or otherwise have a vested interest in the results; groups (potential clients) who might benefit from an intervention, staff members from the local health agency who will benefit from information included in the project summary; representatives from other course participants; governing boards, commissioners, manager/supervisor, or others.
Evaluation This course is graded S/U (Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory). Methods Learning activities are designed to facilitate completion of course objectives. A grade of Satisfactory will be earned following satisfactory completion of all of the following: 1. Threaded discussions and timely posting of course assignments Participation in all threaded discussions is required for satisfactory completion of the course. Online, each student will post responses to other students assignments and discussion contributions. Students are not required to respond to every posting, but comments are to be meaningful and substantial. Interaction is facilitated by asking a question or offering an opinion just as in classroom discussion. Each student must post a minimum of two substantial responses to other students during each thread. Posting earlier in the unit gives other students more time to provide thoughtful feedback to your posting. Instructor feedback concerning the level and quality of your online discussion will be provided throughout the course. I suggest posting your assignment early in the week, and checking back later in the week to respond to others. Discussion assignments will end at 11:59 pm on Sunday the week they are due. At that time, the discussion will be closed, but you will still be responsible for completing all other assignments for the unit. Sharing assignments in the online portion of the course provides a safe environment for getting student and instructor feedback on your developing work. Posting assignments near or at the due date means your work can t benefit from instructor and student colleague feedback prior to being finalized. 2. Agency/clinical participation Students will adhere to the standards for clinical courses as addressed (below) and in the student handbook. Students are responsible for completing a mid-term clinical conference with their preceptors and faxing or emailing the conference form to the instructor. A final agency evaluation will be completed in the final month of the course. Whenever possible, the instructor, mentor, and student will meet face to face or via teleconference to complete the final student/preceptor conference. 3. Participation in professional evaluation During the final three weeks of the course, participants will review the Course Objectives and evaluate their level of proficiency in the Public Health Nursing competencies. The professional evaluation contributes to demonstration of overall course objectives.
4. Completion of Service Learning Project Students will undertake a community service learning project as demonstrated by completion of a timely and relevant community profile, issue-specific needs assessment, review of evidence-based literature related to the proposed intervention, proposal for feasible community-based intervention, and presentation of project. General Course I. LATE ASSIGNMENT POLICY Policies In order to benefit from feedback on assignments and be an active participant in peer discussions, students need to complete unit assignments by the posted deadlines. Failure to post assignments by the due dates may affect the student s ability to earn a satisfactory grade. A request for due date extension must be negotiated prior to the stated due date. II. ACADEMIC DISHONESTY Academic dishonesty, such as cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated by the School of Nursing. See UW Regulation 6-802: http://www.uwyo.edu/generalcounselsupport/clean%20uw %20regulations/UW%20Reg%206-802.pdf Academic honesty develops trust and respect between faculty and students, ensures fair and effective grading, creates an environment which values learning, and hopefully carries on into professional life. The University regulations discuss academic honesty in detail (see Unireg 802 noted above). Students and teachers have the responsibility to be honest and the right to expect honesty from others. Dishonesty is morally and legally wrong; it can result in expulsion from the University. The work that students do in their courses should be their own work. If students are unsure about cooperative work on assignments they should inquire of the teacher. If students are not sure about whether educational aides, such as calculators, classnotes, or textbooks, can be used, they should either assume that they are not permitted or inquire of the teacher. Students must not cheat on tests, papers, exams, or other assignments; they should not fabricate, falsify, or misrepresent data on lab reports or research projects; they should not plagiarize other people s work. Whenever relevant, they should give credit through proper documentation. If a student is unclear on proper documentation procedures, he or she should consult the teacher. Students should report suspected violations of standards of academic honesty to the teacher, department head, or dean.
III. AGENCY REQUIREMENTS Students have the responsibility to meet the agency employee health requirements. Compliance with the agency/health requirements such as safety procedures, standard precautions, immunization, CPR, and PPD is the student s responsibility. Students are asked to seek guidance from an appropriate resource if they have any doubts, questions, or concerns regarding the correct requirements. OSHA Statement for Clinical Courses In addition to the orientation to clinical facilities, universal precautions and procedures for safe practice are covered at the beginning of each clinical course by the clinical instructor. These practice procedures are reinforced throughout the duration of the course. If there is an exposure to blood or other body fluids, please do first aid immediately and notify clinical instructor. It is the student's responsibility to seek guidance from an appropriate resource if they have any doubts, questions, or concerns regarding correct procedure Student All students must be able to perform the essential functions of a Disability student nurse. Reasonable accommodations will be afforded to Statement student nurses with disabilities as required under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Faculty and staff from the School of Nursing will work with staff from the University Disability Support Services to determine what constitute reasonable accommodations School of Refer to School of Nursing RN/BSN Handbook for other policies. Nursing Policies The RN/BSN Student Handbook can be found on the School of Nursing website at: http://www.uwyo.edu/nursingsupport/forms_handbooks/handbooks /2009-10_Handbook_RNBSN_Final%209%2029%2009.pdf Communication with Instructor and Other Students The quickest and easiest way to reach me with individual concerns is through email. I do check and respond to email daily. If you wish to speak with me directly, please call during the listed office hours first. You can use the toll free UW phone number, 800 / 448-7801, and ask to be transferred to 766-6560. Outside of office hours, I will check office phone messages but it may take up to 2 business days to return your call. If you need to speak with me promptly, and can t call during office hours, you are welcome to contact me by cell phone (before 8 pm please!) at 307 / 760-0428 Communication is the most important aspect of a distance education
program. Please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns. As the instructor of the course, I plan on interacting and facilitating the discussions on week days. I usually check "My Office" daily for student questions. Students benefit from each other s questions so unless it is a confidential question or personal situation, please share with everyone by posting in the "My Office" discussion tab. It is very important to check in on the home page to read announcements every time that you enter the course. I will post any course or assignment changes under Announcements. This is a place where I can leave special instructions and/or information that will benefit the students in the course. On-line course content is continually growing and changing with new websites and information for the students. Please feel free to use the webliography, threads, and emails to add information to the course for other students to share. Also, please feel free to let me know if there is any way that I can better facilitate the course. This is not a static course; it is dynamic and can be changed as we all agree. Roles of Role of Students Student/Faculty /Preceptor The student evaluates his/her learning process through reflection in Threaded Discussions and Journaling. Students need to understand the syllabus, learning activities, objectives and policies. If the student has a question, he/she will be responsible for contacting the instructor for clarification. The RN/BSN student accepts the role of an adult independent learner. In order to receive helpful feedback and have an optimal learning experience, students need to complete coursework in a timely manner. Failure to submit assignments by the stated due dates may affect the student s ability to earn a satisfactory grade. A request for a due date extension must be made prior to the stated due date by contacting the faculty. Assignments must be e-mailed and/or posted in the course by the due date. Role of Faculty The faculty evaluates the student s written work and on-line written entries/responses. The learning activities in this course have been designed with due dates that facilitate (1) timely feedback so students can make corrections for their final projects and, (2) completion of all the coursework by the end of the course. Faculty members are primarily responsible for assigning grades for the course with input from the preceptor.
Role of Preceptors The primary role of the preceptor is mentoring the student as they expand their professional role. The preceptor maintains overall responsibility for patient safety and adherence to agency policies. Preceptors also contribute to the overall student evaluation as a performance observer. Preceptors are not responsible for assigning final grades. Preceptors are asked to review the objectives with the students and guide them into learning activities that will help them meet the objectives. Technical Students have 24 hour technical support through the ecollege. Help Support Desk link available on your ecollege homepage. They ask for approximately a 4 hour turnaround time for requests. The email address, if you are having trouble accessing the course, is helpdesk@ecampus.uwyo.edu A second alternative is a toll free number to call the help desk 1-800-448-7801. After regular business hours, follow the voice prompts to be connected to the Student Help Desk. For general problems with registration, payment, textbook orders, and course management problems contact the Outreach School at 1-800-778-4801. If you do not receive timely assistance, please let me know and I will follow up on it.