Course Description
This course builds on the concepts examined in the previous leadership course with a focus on promoting health from a Canadian primary healthcare perspective. In this course, students are introduced to a community nursing context. Emphasis is placed on nurses’ working in partnership with individuals, families, groups and communities in promoting and supporting mutually identified health goals. In addition, topics in global health including epidemiology, community and global disasters, and the effect of these on the health of Canadians are discussed.
Course Content
In this course the nurse as partner in health promotion is emphasized. Concepts and essential content that will be addressed relative to this topic are listed below. In addition, the core curriculum concepts are integrated throughout this course.
Primary health care and population health
Prevention
- With individuals, families, groups, and communities
- Primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention
Partnerships
- Individuals, families, groups, and communities
- Capacity building, identifying strengths
Community
- Community as context and culture
- Community as resource
- Healthy communities
Socio-environmental approach to health promotion
- Directed toward action on the determinants of health
- Diverse, complementary approaches
- Facilitating effective community participation
Chronicity
- Trends and issues
- Lived experience
- Self care
- Supportive care
Client-centered health education
- Individuals, families, groups, and communities
- Theoretical perspectives on teaching and learning
- Principles of teaching and learning
- Teaching processes with a focus on prevention (e.g. solution focused counseling).
- Teaching across the lifespan, with diverse client populations and in a variety of contexts
- Health literacy
Epidemiology
- Epidemiological models and sources of data
- Vulnerable populations
- Role of epidemiology in nursing research and practice
Emergency preparedness
- Public safety and emergency preparedness in Canada
- Roles and responsibilities of government agencies in emergency preparedness
- The role of nurses in community disasters
Global Health
- Health for all movement and globalization
- International initiatives
- Effect on Canadians
Health Informatics
- Digital health and nursing informatics
- Information and knowledge management
- Professional accountability
- Information and communications
- Digital literacy
- Use of data standards in health improvement
Learning Activities
It is the intent of faculty to facilitate student learning, and promote critical inquiry, reflection and analytical reasoning through a variety of learning processes including lecture, large and small group discussion, and nursing practice-based scenarios.
Means of Assessment
The course evaluation is consistent with Douglas College Evaluation Policy. A course evaluation schedule and other course evaluation information are provided on the Instructor’s Course Outline which is available to students at the beginning of each semester. This is a graded course.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this course the successful student will be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of a population health approach to nursing practice with individuals, families, groups, and communities.
- Demonstrate an ability to apply strategies for promoting population health including inter-professional and intersectoral collaboration.
- Demonstrate the application of client-centered health education across the life span and with diverse individuals, families, groups and communities.
- Demonstrate an understanding of community as context and community as resource.
- Critically reflect on issues associated with social determinants of health, health inequity and access to services for vulnerable groups and communities and consider implications for nursing practice.
- Critically reflect on issues and trends associated with chronicity and the implications for nursing practice.
- Using a relational perspective, examine people’s experiences with chronicity and supportive care.
- Demonstrate an understanding of epidemiology in health promotion.
- Demonstrate an understanding of community disaster planning and the nurse’s role in responding to community disasters.
- Critically reflect on global health issues, the effect of global health on the health of Canadians, and the role of nurses in contributing to global health.
Textbook Materials
Textbooks and Materials to be Purchased by Students:
A list of recommended textbooks and materials is provided on the Instructor’s Course Outline which is available to students at the beginning of each semester.