Nursing

Nursing Art and Science: Professional Foundations

This is the first in a Nursing Art and Science course series. Students will explore the three interrelated concepts: professional nursing practice, health, and nursing practice with older adults. Students are introduced to the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM) Standards and Competencies. Emphasis is placed on the nurse's role in the healthcare system, promoting health and wellness, and the relationship between nursing theory, research, and practice. Students will be introduced to tools to aid in developing critical reflection, clinical reasoning, and judgment in their nursing practice.

Health Assessment: Adults and Older Adults

In this course, students learn the basic holistic assessment of adults and older adults with a focus on physical assessment. The distinction between comprehensive and focused assessment is addressed. In addition, students learn a variety of basic psychomotor skills commonly used in nursing practice with adults and older adults. Knowledge development occurs through participation in a variety of experiential learning activities.

Nursing Practice: Beginning Client Care

This clinical course emphasizes nursing practice with adults and older adults experiencing health challenges in various settings. Students will apply the core curriculum concepts and content from the semester’s theory and health assessment courses. Students will expand and deepen their understanding of health promotion and relational practice and develop their nursing identity.

Pharmacology: Introduction for Nurses

In this course, pharmacological principles and foundational concepts for safe medication administration are introduced. An overview of medication classifications and calculations for medication administration are emphasized. In addition, gerontological considerations in the administration of medication are addressed. Using client care scenarios, students are guided to apply pharmacology knowledge in nursing practice decisions.

Relational Practice: Introduction

In this course, students develop the knowledge, attitudes and skills for respectful, compassionate and ethical relational nursing practice, the foundation for health promotion. Emphasis is placed on the relationship between health as a socio-environmental construct and the importance of nurses being responsive to the uniqueness of people and their contexts. In addition, students develop the knowledge, attitudes and skills required for effective participation in learning groups.

Nursing Art and Science: Acute Health Challenges

In this course, students are introduced to the nurse’s role in caring for adults with common and predictable acute health challenges, focusing on perioperative experiences. Students build on previously learned knowledge and integrate new knowledge. Students will explore the theory necessary to develop the skills, attitudes, and abilities required to provide safe, ethical, competent, compassionate, and evidence-informed adult nursing care.

Health Assessment: Acute Health Challenges

This course builds on the knowledge and skills learned in semester one courses. In this course, students learn holistic nursing assessments of adults experiencing acute health challenges with a focus on the assessments of clients preparing for, undergoing, or recovering from surgery. In addition, students learn a variety of psychomotor skills commonly used in nursing practice with adults in surgical nursing practice settings. Knowledge development occurs through active engagement in a variety of simulated nursing practice experiences.

Nursing Practice: Acute Health Challenges

This clinical course emphasizes nursing practice with adults experiencing common and predictable acute health challenges, transitions, and surgical intervention. Practice experiences take place in surgical settings. Students develop the ability to provide safe, competent, ethical, compassionate, and evidence-informed client-centred nursing care. Students expand and deepen their understanding of interprofessional collaboration and their application of multiple ways of knowing.

Leadership: Interprofessional Collaboration

In this course, students are introduced to the role and responsibilities of nurses and other health professionals working together as members of an interprofessional collaborative team. Development of the competencies and commitment required for interprofessional collaborative practice and comprehensive client-centered care is emphasized. Major course concepts include team building, shared leadership, and interprofessional interaction.

Nursing Inquiry: Evidence-Informed Practice

In this course students are introduced to the nature of nursing knowledge and evidence-informed practice. Students will examine the role of research in a practice profession, the philosophical and historical foundations of knowledge creation, and are introduced to the relationships among research, theory, education and practice. In addition, students are introduced to their role as research consumers. Students will demonstrate their understanding of evidence-informed practice by critically appraising nursing research and determining its applicability to nursing practice.

Nursing Elective: Service Learning Experience

This course is designed for students who are interested in engaging in service learning. This could take place at the local, national, or international level, and within rural or urban environments. Students may travel to low, middle, or high income countries. Students will have the opportunity to observe and practice alongside health care professionals and explore population health from a global perspective. This experience can be applied toward the Global Competency Certificate, in addition to the required 12 credits of GCC-eligible coursework.

Nursing Art and Science:Family-Centered Care

In this course, students explore the nurse’s role as a member of an interprofessional team caring for childbearing and child-rearing families, infants, children, and adolescents. Students build on previous learning, integrating the core curriculum concepts and content from the semester's theory and health assessment courses. This course provides the theory required to provide safe, ethical, competent, compassionate, and evidence-informed care for clients experiencing developmental transitions or health challenges in a maternity and pediatric context. A family-centred perspective and the integration of teaching and learning principles for health promotion and illness/injury prevention are emphasized. Students complete one half of the semester in maternity and the other half in pediatrics.

Health Assessment: Maternal and Child Care

In this course, students learn the holistic assessment of pregnant and post-partum people, infants, children, and adolescents. Students practice psychomotor skills used in maternity and pediatric nursing practice. Knowledge development occurs through active participation and experiential learning. Students complete one half of the course in maternity and the other half in pediatrics.

Nursing Practice: Family-Centred Care

This clinical course emphasizes nursing practice with pregnant people, infants, children, and adolescents experiencing health challenges. Practice experiences occur in various maternity and pediatric settings. Students complete one half of the semester in maternity and the other half in pediatrics. Students engage in family-centred care and integrate teaching and learning principles for health promotion and illness or injury prevention.

Leadership: Partners in Health Promotion

Students explore the community nursing context based on the concepts examined in the previous leadership course, focusing on promoting health from a Canadian primary healthcare perspective. This course emphasizes nurses’ partnerships with individuals, families, groups, and communities to promote mutually identified health goals. Students explore topics in global health, including epidemiology, community and international disasters, and the effects of these on the health of Canadians.

Relational Practice: Engaging with Families

This course builds on knowledge and processes for relational nursing practice introduced in the previous Relational Practice course. Students integrate and apply relational practices and knowledge of family theory to facilitate health promoting partnerships with families. Using a relational perspective and an ethic of caring, students participate in interactive classroom activities, reflexive exercises, and examine theories, methods, and research relevant to the topics.

Nursing Elective: Global Health

This course provides students with an opportunity to explore global health at the local, national, or international level. Students will gain cultural awareness and knowledge in the pursuit of becoming global citizens. Students will explore current and emerging issues in global and population health and expand their world views through engagement in critical inquiry and reflection.

This course is Global Learning Global Citizenship (GLGC) equivalent and can be used toward the requirements of the Global Competency Certificate. This course is open to students outside of the nursing program and is not specific to students studying in health care disciplines.

Nursing Art & Science: Community & Mental Health

In this course, a population health approach is used to address the nursing care of individuals with acute and persistent mental health issues and substance use disorders. In addition, clients in these settings may experience acute or chronic medical comorbidities. Students build on previous learning, integrating the core curriculum concepts and content from the semester's theory and health assessment courses. This course provides the theory required to provide safe, competent, ethical, compassionate, and evidence-informed care for clients in mental health and community settings. Students complete one half of the semester in mental health and the other half in community health.

Health Assessment: Community & Mental Health

In this course, students learn the holistic assessment of adults with mental health challenges and/or substance use disorders. Additionally, students in community settings view the community as their client and care for individuals, families, and groups. Students explore the role of the nurse in various community and mental health practice contexts. Students complete one-half of the course in community health and the other half in mental health.

Nursing Practice: Community Health & Mental Health

This clinical course emphasizes nursing practice from a population health approach for individuals, families, groups, and communities, including people who have been economically or socially marginalized. Practice experiences occur in various mental health settings, with clients experiencing acute and persistent health challenges, substance use disorders, concurrent disorders, and comorbidities, including acuity, persistence, and chronicity associated with those health challenges. Practice placements also include various public health and community settings. Students complete one half of the semester in community and the other half in mental health. Students expand and deepen their understanding and ability to integrate trauma-informed practices, harm reduction principles, and teaching and learning approaches for health promotion and illness or injury prevention.

Applied Nursing Ethics, Leadership and Moral Courage

This course focuses on applied nursing ethics with an emphasis on the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses. Applied nursing ethics is a sub-category of ethics, and it involves translating ethical principles into professional nursing practice. This course builds on prior leadership courses, viewing leadership from the perspective of individual and collective influence. Students develop the knowledge, attitudes, skills, and abilities to act as leaders in the professional nursing field, explicitly emphasizing acts of moral courage.

Nursing Inquiry: Research in Nursing

Building on the content from the first Nursing Inquiry course, this course will further enhance students’ ability to locate and critically appraise nursing research and determine its applicability to nursing practice. Students critically examine the link between nursing research, theory, and practice. Students will develop an understanding of the underlying paradigms and activities within quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research and explore the study design process.

Nursing Elective: Planetary Health

In this course, students explore planetary health and develop an awareness of the complex relationships between human health and the environment, focusing on the interconnectedness of ecological, social, political, and economic factors. Students will examine the impacts of environmental degradation, climate change, biodiversity loss, and other global challenges on planetary health and well-being. Students will review current and emerging issues in planetary health and expand their worldviews by engaging in critical inquiry and reflection. This course is delivered online, asynchronously.

This course is eligible for credit toward the Global Competency Certificate (GCC). This course is open to students outside of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program and is not specific to students studying in healthcare disciplines.

Nursing Art and Science: Acuity & Complexity

In this course, students continue to build and refine the core competencies required to care for a diverse population of clients with a range of complex health challenges in various contexts. Clients may experience co-morbidities and acute, chronic, deteriorating, and unpredictable health conditions. Students integrate and apply relevant theories and concepts, including the core curriculum concepts and themes. Students will examine regional, national, and global trends and issues, using an epidemiological lens. Students develop advanced level theory in preparation for the BCCNM entry-level competencies and their final preceptorship.

Health Assessment: Complex Health Challenges

In this course, students learn the holistic assessment of adults and older adults with complex health challenges and/or unstable health status. In addition, students learn a variety of increasingly complex psychomotor skills commonly used in nursing practice with adults in acute medical and surgical nursing practice settings. Knowledge development occurs through active participation in a variety of experiential learning strategies.

Nursing Practice: Complex Health Challenges

This clinical course emphasizes nursing practice with adult clients experiencing acute and complex health challenges in various medical and surgical settings. In this course, students gain increasing autonomy in preparation for the final preceptorship. Students expand and deepen their integration of leadership theory, advocacy, ethics, and collaborative practice.

Leadership: Influencing Health Care Reform

In this course, students synthesize concepts from previous leadership courses. Using primary healthcare as a foundation, students refine their critical inquiry skills by examining emerging healthcare issues and trends. Emphasis is on the nurse's role as an innovative leader in influencing change and participating in Canadian healthcare system reform.

Nursing Art and Science: Professional Transition

In this course, students consolidate knowledge from previous theory classes and focus on issues arising in a professional nursing practice setting as they transition to being a new graduate. This course uses a praxis approach, examining the dynamic interplay between knowledge and practice.

Nursing Practice: Professional Transition

This clinical course emphasizes the transition to professional practice. While working with clients with complex health challenges under the supervision of experienced practitioners (preceptors), students demonstrate increasing autonomy and ability to manage a reasonable client workload similar to that of a new graduate RN. Student placements are primarily in medical-surgical settings and occasionally specialty areas.

Nursing Practice: Pathways

This clinical course emphasizes the transition to professional practice in a specialty area. This is an intensive preceptorship experience which enables students to gain work-ready skills. Under the supervision of experienced practitioners (preceptors), students demonstrate increasing autonomy and the ability to manage a reasonable client workload similar to that of a new graduate RN. Working in collaborative partnerships with the Health Authorities, this may be an extended preceptorship experience. Students must undergo a selection process and receive approval to take this course.