Fundamentals Of Nursing

Catalog description

Introduces students to basic nursing principles, including concepts that form the theoretical basis for their roles as Registered Professional Nurses. Students develop nursing skills to meet the BIHN-psychosocial needs of a selected population, e.g. the elderly. The steps of the nursing process are introduced as the framework for nursing care and practice. The didactic (classroom) portion of this course includes the theoretical principles of: therapeutic communication, vital signs, infection control practices, body mechanics and safety, hygiene, comfort measures, skin integrity and wound care, nutrition, elimination, oxygenation, fluid and electrolytes, pain assessment, medication administration, care of the dying, introduction to the health care system and health care team, and legal and ethical issues that affect professional nursing practice. Students learn to initiate nursing actions in response to identification of self-care deficits, utilizing Orem's Self-Care Deficit model. In the Nursing Skills Laboratory component of this course, students practice basic psychomotor skills related to theoretical topics introduced in the classroom. They then move on to the clinical component, applying these skills utilizing the nursing process within the framework of Orem's Theory, with patients in the traditional setting of medical-surgical hospital units.