School of Nursing

Course Descriptions

Nursing (NURS)

To view the complete schedule of courses for
each semester, go to Cardinal Station.

NURS 150: Introduction to Professional Nursing

2.00 Credits

This course is designed to help freshmen students begin to establish their identity in the nursing profession and learn selected basic skills that will help them function as a nurse. The course uses a lecture and discussion format, with supplemental web-based learning activities. This course includes content on (a) professional nursing practice and its relationship to health care delivery, (b) nursing roles, associated educational preparation, the relationship of historical events to current nursing practice, basic medical and nursing terminology and an introduction to basic medication administration and dosage.

NURS 240: Foundation of Professional Nursing Practice

3.00 Credits

This course is an introduction to the professional and scientific foundations of nursing practice. Course content includes the historical foundations of nursing and its development as a profession; the scientific processes and frameworks underlying nursing theory and practice; health care delivery systems, and the various roles of the nurse in the community. Students will be introduced to the nursing process and select teaching learning theories.

NURS 241: Principles and Applications of Nursing

3.00 Credits

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to foundational knowledge, roles, and core competencies in order to apply these concepts to appropriate technology and professional nursing care across the life span. For second degree students only.

NURS 254A: Health and Wellness Across the Life Span

4.00 Credits

Focuses on health promotion, health protection, disease prevention and communication strategies throughout the lifespan.

NURS 257: Nutrition and Health

2.00 Credits

Focuses on the physiological, social, economic, and life style factors that influence nutritional status, food choices, and specific life stage concerns. The purpose of this course is to provide the foundation for an understanding of the relationship of diet to physiological and pathophysiological functions. It examines problems generated in nursing practice related to the clinical application of nutrition through health promotion, protection and restoration. Requires two clock hours of class per week. Offered both semesters. Enrollment is not limited to Nursing Majors

NURS 258: Health Assessment

4.00 Credits

This course introduces students to professional nursing skills used in basic health assessment of an adult client and across the life span. Content will address developmental, psychosocial, environmental, and health promotion factors in nursing care. Requires three clock hours of class and three hours of lab per week.

NURS 260: Health Assessment Second Degree

4.00 Credits

This course introduces undergraduate accelerated degree BSN program students to professional nursing skills used in basic health assessment of the healthy client across the life span. Content will address the client's developmental, psychosocial, environmental, and health promotion factors in nursing care.

NURS 272: Nursing Applications

4.00 Credits

This course focuses on developing the ability to apply foundational and theoretical knowledge, appropriate technology, and professional nursing care in health maintenance and restoration across the life span. Ethical issues, cultural, and spiritual concerns related to health, are also explored. Requires three clock hours of class per week. Prerequisite or concurrent courses: All 200-level nursing courses and 371.

NURS 275C: Adults in Health and Illness - Clinical I

2.00 Credits

This performance course introduces the student to professional nursing skills utilized in patient care procedures performed in a variety of health care settings. Each course unit will address client-related developmental, psycho-social, environmental, and health promotional factors, which individualize nursing care. This course will teach the student practical experiences with professional nursing skills where the emphasis is on basic applications of nursing care. The students will be instructed on some specific technology that is applied to the assessment, support, and restoration of adult clients in the sub-acute and acute care settings.

NURS 275D: Adults in Health and Illness - Lecture

3.00 Credits

In this course basic Medical-Surgical concepts for the care of the patient with sub-acute and acute illnesses are introduced. The course is based on the nursing process and evidence-based practice guidelines.

NURS 276: Nursing Care of Adults

3.00 Credits

The purpose of this course is to provide the theoretical and foundational knowledge that will prepare students for the application of core competencies in diverse clinical settings. Offered to Second degree students only.

NURS 310: Pharmacology

3.00 Credits

This course focuses on the pharmacologic treatment of diseases covered in pathophysiology. Both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatment modalities will be discussed. Pharmacology is designed to bridge the gap between the basic sciences and the clinical practice of nursing. The course expands beyond knowledge and comprehension of concepts studied in chemistry, microbiology, and human anatomy and physiology to emphasize analysis and application of that knowledge to the study of disease processes and their pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic management for individuals across the lifespan.

NURS 370: Community and Environmental Nursing

2.00 Credits

Uses a multisectoral approach to study contemporary environmental forces that impact health promotion, protection, and restoration of communities. Introduces epidemiological and economic concepts and models. Attention to the involvement of the professional nurse in ethical issues and health policy focusing on vulnerable populations.

NURS 371: Pathophysiology

4.00 Credits

Pathophysiology introduces the pre-clinical nursing student to human disease states and their clinical management. It is designed to assist students in applying knowledge from human anatomy and physiology to the study of adaptive and maladaptive responses to alterations in health. Requires four clock hours of class per week, plus one hour of peer-led discussion. Offered first semester. Open to students in other schools with permission of instructor.

NURS 372: Community and Environmental Nursing: Clinical Applications

1.00 Credits

Provides undergraduate nursing students an opportunity to apply concepts in clinical prevention and population health to a community health problem. Students will be required to implement a community health project and evaluate the results of the project during the semester. The course is a combined seminar/clinical project activity.

NURS 375: Mental Health Nursing Lecture

3.00 Credits

The focus of this course is on the biological, psychological, and social/learned basis of psychiatric disorders. This course builds on the concepts from basic psychology and physiology to the study of pathology of mental illness. The course explores nursing interventions including the use of the Nurse-Patient Relationship, the use of medications and managing the patient's environment and social milieu. Recovery concepts are incorporated as are the issues of stigma. Legal and ethical issues frequently encountered in the area of psych/mental health nursing are addressed. Self- awareness, personal growth, socio-cultural sensitivity, and professional development are vital components of the course. Contemporary mental health issues and their sequela are addressed.

NURS 376C: Adults in Health and Illness II Clinical

2.00 Credits

This clinical course provides opportunities for the implementation of professional nursing care to facilitate health protection and restoration of adolescents and adult clients in sub acute and acute settings.

NURS 376D: Adults in Health and Illness II Lecture

3.00 Credits

This is a continuation course of Nurs 275D or 276 with an emphasis on basic Medical-Surgical concepts. The focus of the course will be the care of patients with sub-acute and acute illnesses. The framework for the course is based on the nursing process and evidence based practice guidelines

NURS 377: Mental Health/Psych Clinical

2.00 Credits

Builds on Nursing Performance II and the Psychiatric Nursing Theory course 375. Provides the opportunity to implement professional nursing care to facilitate the prevention of metal illness and the restoration and promotion of good mental health.

NURS 378: Evidence-Based Care - Health Informatics

1.00 Credits

This online course introduces the student to the essential concepts of evidence-based practice and the field of informatics as they relate to nursing practice. This will include an overview of computer hardware and software basics, communication and networking technologies, health information systems and their applications that support nursing practice. Data management concepts and issues of security, confidentiality and privacy associated with healthcare and technology are also introduced.

NURS 380: Growth and Development

3.00 Credits

This course focuses on professional nursing principles for the promotion, maintenance, and restoration of developing persons from adolescence to late maturity. Contemporary health issues and primary health concepts of these age groups will be studied with an emphasis on health promotion trends, models, and strategies for developing persons. Social, cultural, environmental and spiritual influences will be considered.

NURS 403: Introduction to Nursing Research

3.00 Credits

The focus of this course is on the basic elements of the research process and the application of evidence to clinical practice. Emphasis is placed on each step of the research process, the characteristics of ethical scientific research and critical examination of research. Attention is given to the process of retrieval, appraisal, and synthesis of evidence in collaboration with other members of the healthcare team to improve patient outcomes as well as the subsequent integration of evidence, clinical judgment, interprofessional perspectives, and patient preferences in planning, implementing, and evaluating outcomes of care.

NURS 420: Child and Adolescent Health and Illness Lecture

3.00 Credits

This course focuses on applying nursing principles in promotion, maintenance and restoration of health for infants, children and their families. Health issues and nursing concerns of children will be studied with emphasis on developmental stages, family processes, health promotion practices, and social, cultural and spiritual influences.

NURS 421: Child and Adolescent Health and Illness: Clinical applications

2.00 Credits

This course focuses on applying nursing principles in promotion, maintenance and restoration of health for infants, children and their families. Health issues and nursing concerns of children will be studied with emphasis on developmental stages, family processes, health promotion practices, and social, cultural and spiritual influences.

NURS 423: Women in Health and Illness Lecture

3.00 Credits

This course focuses on the promotion, maintenance, and restoration of health for women during the childbearing years, their newborns, and their families. Through the use of a multisectoral approach, and with an emphasis on equitable distribution and appropriate technology, it relates physiological, environmental, cultural, and behavioral factors and issues that impact on the reproductive woman and childbearing.

NURS 424: Management of Health Care Delivery

2.00 Credits

Focuses on concepts and skills that are needed to manage and coordinate health care through the use of appropriate technology, both human and material.

NURS 426: Medical Surgical Leadership

2.00 Credits

This course provides opportunities for a comprehensive clinical experience and classroom seminar in promoting, maintaining, and restoring health of individuals, families, groups and communities. There is a strong emphasis on strengthening collaboration between theory and practice, to enhance professional competence. Students have the opportunity to assume responsibility for their own personal and professional growth.

NURS 427: Transition into Professional Nursing

2.00 Credits

This course emphasizes concepts that will be utilized for a student nurse to progress into the role of a professional licensed registered nurse. The course examines professional practice criteria and requirements. This includes examination of the professional role of nursing, with an emphasis on multiple strategies for success in taking professional examinations, such as NCLEX-RN.

NURS 428: Women in Health and Illness: Clinical Applications

2.00 Credits

This clinical course provides opportunities for the implementation of professional nursing care to facilitate health promotion, protection, and restoration of individuals, groups, families and communities.

NURS 448: Guided Study in Nursing

1.00 Credits

Provides opportunity for a student to explore in depth a selected nursing problem. Learning experiences may include practice, depending on the nature of the problem to be explored. One credit hour - Pass/Fail. Offered both semesters and summer sessions.

NURS 449: Guided Study in Nursing

2.00 Credits

Provides opportunity for a student to explore in depth a selected nursing problem. Learning experiences may include practice, depending on the nature of the problem to be explored. Two credit hours - graded. Offered both semesters and summer sessions.

NURS 450A: Guided Study in Nursing

3.00 Credits

Provides opportunity for a student to explore in depth a selected nursing problem. Learning experiences may include practice, depending on the nature of the problem to be explored. Three credit hours - graded. Offered both semesters and summer sessions.

NURS 452: Guided Study in Nursing

3.00 Credits

Provides opportunity for a student to explore in depth a selected nursing problem. Learning experiences may include practice, depending on the nature of the problem to be explored. Three credit hours - Pass/Fail. Offered both semesters and summer sessions.

NURS 465: Statistics for Health Science

3.00 Credits

This course is designed for students in the social sciences, to introduce them to basic concepts and techniques of elementary statistics, both descriptive and inferential statistics. Topics include: the nature of data, uses and abuses of statistics, methods of sampling, summarizing data, pictures of data, counting techniques, measures of central tendency, measures of variation, measures of position, understanding probability, binomial and normal distributions, central limit theorem, confidence intervals, fundamentals of hypothesis testing for both one and two samples, ANOVA, linear regression, and a brief introduction to nonparametric statistics.

NURS 479: Adults and Health and Illness

3.00 Credits

This course provides opportunities to manage health care of individuals, families, groups and communities requiring health promotion, protection and restoration.

NURS 480: Strategies for Professional Practice

3.00 Credits

This course will serve as the secondary sequence to Nur 427. The focus will be on complex learning strategies including critical thinking, problem solving, decision making and simulation learning necessary for success in taking professional exams.

NURS 481A: Nursing Practicum

2.00 Credits

This course gives the student an opportunity to provide complex, collaborative nursing care to the populations including those who are culturally diverse and vulnerable. The student, working with a clinical preceptor, selects a clinical area of practice, in collaboration with a faculty member, for an in-depth clinical experience (2cr=90 hours). The student will be immersed in the current literature of that clinical practice specialty to demonstrate competent and safe nursing practices.

NURS 481B: Nursing Practicum

3.00 Credits

This course gives the student an opportunity to provide complex, collaborative nursing care to the populations including those who are culturally diverse and vulnerable. The student, working with a clinical preceptor, selects a clinical area of practice, in collaboration with a faculty member, for an in-depth clinical experience (3cr=145 hours). The student will be immersed in the current literature of that clinical practice specialty to demonstrate competent and safe nursing practices.

NURS 493D: Guided Study in Nursing

4.00 Credits

Provides opportunity for a student to explore in depth a selected nursing problem. Learning experiences may include practice, depending on the nature of the problem to be explored. Four credit hours - Pass/Fail. Offered both semesters and summer sessions.

NURS 501: Nursing Applications in Clinical Ethics

3.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 527: Providing Healthy Environments in Rural Developing Countries

3.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 528: Global Health Summer Clinical

2.00 Credits

The purpose of this abroad course is to offer students a global exposure to international health care in clinical experiences. The course will use an immersion approach to provide undergraduate students with an understanding about the non U.S. health and nursing delivery systems. It also exposes students to the health education provided to individuals, families and communities in global settings.

NURS 561: Aging: Holistic Perspectives on Health

3.00 Credits

Lecture. Utilizes a holistic approach to the study of the elderly person's health experience. Examines development in later years with major emphasis on health maintenance, physical changes, and common health problems. Open to non-concentrators. Department consent required.

NURS 567: Relationship Centered Caring

3.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 569: Spirituality and Care of the Sick

3.00 Credits

The purpose of this course is to explore the interface between spirituality and the practice of nursing. Although spirituality will be examined broadly, according to a variety of theologies, the primary orientation of the course content is derived from the Judaeo-Christian tradition. The course incorporates an historical perspective on spirituality and the healing arts, as well as contemporary theological and spiritual approaches to assessment and intervention in relation to the spiritual needs of those experiencing health deficits. The newly emerging subfield of parish nursing is also addressed. Finally, the spiritual needs of professional caregivers are identified and explored and potential spiritual support mechanisms are discussed. Enrollment for nursing students only.

NURS 570: Substance Abuse and Health

3.00 Credits

Lecture. Focuses on the identification and management of the substance abusing and/or addicted client in the primary health care system. Examines core knowledge in substance abuse that has historically been and continues to be multidisciplinary in nature. Explores consumer and professional perceptions of current day practice. Open to nonconcentrators. Department consent required. Offered second semester.

NURS 571: Pallitive Care

3.00 Credits

Palliative care addresses the needs of people living with serious illness and their families. In this course, the evolving definitions of palliative care will be explored. Students will learn about the symptoms and symptom management most commonly addressed in palliative care, as well as about disease trajectories that affect how people live with disease. Factors affecting decision making by health care providers, patients, and families will be explored. End of life dimensions will be examined.

NURS 602: Graduate Nursing Healthcare Ethics

3.00 Credits

This course assists graduate nursing students to apply evidence-based critical thinking to ethical issues within the scope of advanced practice nursing. The course presents moral theory, Catholic social teaching, and professional nursing ethics as the foundation for ethical decision-making within clinical practice, policy development, and nursing leadership within health and community systems.

NURS 603: Interprofessional Considerations in Geriatric Care

3.00 Credits

Using an interprofessional team approach (nursing, social work and psychology and others), this course explores case-based geriatric care issues and examines the evidence that supports the link between the use of such team approaches and markers of safe, high quality care and patient outcomes in the older adult population.

NURS 604: Geriatric Considerations in Pharmacology

1.00 Credits

Using an applied pharmacology approach, students will study principles of basic geriatric pharmacology and general prescribing issues specific to older adults.

NURS 605: Non-Pharmacologic Approaches to Geriatric Behavior Concerns

2.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 608: Psychopharmacology

1.00 Credits

The focus of this seminar for the advanced practice nurse is the exploration of issues involved in prescribing medications and providing comprehensive mental health care. Topics that highlight the role of psychopharmacology with the present day primary care and community mental health delivery systems will be covered. Department consent required.

NURS 610: Pharmacology for Advanced Nursing Practice

3.00 Credits

Examines advanced concepts in pharmacology for nurses preparing to be nurse practitioners/clinical specialists. Emphasis on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of selected drug agents commonly used in ambulatory and tertiary care settings. Presents selection, dosing, and monitoring of these drugs as well as the nursing implications and prescribing responsibilities. Department consent required.

NURS 627: Health Care Policy Practicum

2.00 Credits

This course places students in governmental and non-governmental organizations that address policy issues that affect disadvantaged persons, especially immigrants and refugees. The Ten Essentials of Public Health: policy development/implementation and assurance are major foci of this practicum assessment. Approximately twelve practica hours per week; 180 for the semester.

NURS 657: Advanced Health Assessment

3.00 Credits

Lecture/Laboratory: Focuses on advanced health assessment. Students guided in the acquisition and refinement of required knowledge, technical, and interpersonal skills required for advanced health assessment, including interviewing techniques, history taking, physical assessment, and diagnosis. Emphasizes physiological, psychological, sociological, and spiritual dimensions in assessment. Students focus on selected developmental groups: pediatrics, adult and geriatrics. Department consent required.

NURS 657AD: Advanced Diagnostics for Nurse Practitioners

2.00 Credits

This course will focus on the indications, performance, interpretation, and evaluation of diagnostic tests and procedures in the acutely and chronically ill pediatric patient. Procedural requirements, contraindications and complications will be addressed. The role of the acute care PNP in diagnostic test consultation will be discussed.

NURS 658: Complex, Acute, and Critical Problems in Pediatrics

3.00 Credits

This course will provide students with advanced understanding of the pathophysiological basis and management of acute, critical and chronic illness within the pediatric population. Critical assessment strategies and management principles will be addressed. This is a required course for the acute care PNP option. It is open to other students who meet the prerequisites as an elective

NURS 661: Theoretical Foundations of Advanced Practice Nursing

2.00 Credits

Lecture (2 clock hours per week) Focus: The focus of this course is on acquisition of knowledge and skills necessary to utilize models and theories in advanced practice nursing. Emphasis is given to analytic processes basic to determining the adequacy of selected models/ theories from nursing and related disciplines for application to advanced practice. Department consent required.

NURS 661D: Theoretical Foundations of Advanced Practice Nursing

2.00 Credits

Lecture (2 clock hours per week) Focus: The focus of this course is on acquisition of knowledge and skills necessary to utilize models and theories in advanced practice nursing. Emphasis is given to analytic processes basic to determining the adequacy of selected models/ theories from nursing and related disciplines for application to advanced practice. Department consent required.

NURS 663: Health Care Policy, Organization, and Financing

3.00 Credits

Lecture (3 clock hours per week) This course focuses on an evidence-based critical examination of the policies that shape the delivery and financing of health care, from international, national, and state perspectives. Emphasis is on the role of key stakeholders who influence health care policy including government, consumers, providers and payers. Department consent required.

NURS 664: Epidemiology

3.00 Credits

This introductory course focuses on understanding and applying basic epidemiological principles and methods to issues related to the health of populations. Topics include measures and comparisons of disease occurrences in populations; epidemiologic study designs (cross-sectional, cohort, clinical trial, and case-control); concepts of bias, confounding and error; causal inference; and principles of screening. Application will stress public health practice and critical appraisal of relevant literature.

NURS 665: Biostatistics

3.00 Credits

This course is designed for students in the social sciences, to introduce them to basic concepts and techniques of elementary statistics, both descriptive and inferential statistics. Topics include: the nature of data, uses and abuses of statistics, methods of sampling, summarizing data, pictures of data, counting techniques, measures of central tendency, measures of variation, measures of position, understanding probability, binomial and normal distributions, central limit theorem, confidence intervals, fundamentals of hypothesis testing for both one and two samples, ANOVA, linear regression, and a brief introduction to nonparametric statistics.

NURS 667: Blended Practicum 1: The Family in a Community

1.00 Credits

Practicum. (90 clock hours/semester) The Family in a Community is the first blended role clinical course for the program. This course engages students in population-based health care planning, implementation and evaluation of vulnerable families. Interdisciplinary collaboration and advocacy are role behaviors important in this blended sphere of influence. Student practica are in partner agencies with interdisciplinary teams that provide primary care for vulnerable families, e.g. Bread for the City, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Columbia Road Health Services. Department consent required.

NURS 668: Blended Practicum II: Empowering Women in Families/Communities

1.00 Credits

Practicum (1) (90 clock hors/semester) Empowering Women in Families/Communities, the second of three blended clinical practicum courses, focuses on the role of women in achieving family health status and the enhancement of the primary care seeking and health-promoting behaviors of vulnerable families. This practicum guides students in the planning and implementation of individual/population-based care and primary care programmatic strategies to enhance the health status of women and families. The development of linkages with family support agencies is an important activity in this sphere of influence. Student practica are in partner agencies that serve and provide linkages for vulnerable women/families, eg. Providence Hospital ' Center for Life, N Street Village, Mary's Center for Maternal and Child Care. Department consent required.

NURS 669: Blended Practicum III: Network, Organizations & Systems

2.00 Credits

Practicum. (90 clock hours/semester) Networks, Organizations and Systems, the third blended role clinical course for the program, addresses complex clinical decision-making, collaboration, negotiation, conflict resolution and policy and advanced practice role development on behalf of vulnerable families who seek primary care in agencies in underserved communities in the District of Columbia. Student practica are in networks, organizations and systems designed to serve vulnerable families in the District of Columbia. e.g. Washington Hospital Center, Whitman Walker, Upper Cordozo Clinic - Unity Health Care. Deparmtnet consent required.

NURS 671: Healthcare Biostatistics

3.00 Credits

This on-line graduate level statistics course utilizes Blackboard as an interface. It will provide students with skills in quantitative reasoning through the use of healthcare biostatistics. Students will use and apply descriptive and inferential statistical techniques to answer research questions in nursing and health sciences. The course will familiarize the student with basic concepts in biostatistics as well as the fundamentals of data management and analysis using advanced statistical software. This course meets the requirements for the prerequisite graduate level statistics course required for entry to the MSN/DNP/PhD programs in the School of Nursing. Course Objectives: 1. Discuss the relationship of data to evidence/information in nursing and health sciences. 2. Classify data according to its level of measurement. 3. Discuss the principles of statistical inference. 4. Analyze and interpret descriptive and inferential statistics, including measures of central tendency and dispersion, differences in proportions, difference in means testing and regression techniques.

NURS 671D: Healthcare Biostatistics

3.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 672: C/PH CNS Practicum

2.00 Credits

Clinical (180 clinical hours/semester) A precepted practicum experience in public health agencies, community health clinics, AIDS and infectious disease clinics, and other non-profit clinics that provide population-oriented preventive, therapeutic, and rehabilitative care to underserved people. The clinical conference explores the role of the Community/Public Health Clinical Nurse Specialist in community-based clinical practice serving vulnerable adults, children, and families. Department consent required.

NURS 674: Population-Based Health Care Management

2.00 Credits

Lecture (1 hour) Expands individual focus (Nurs 657) into population based management and introduces population-oriented preventive, therapeutic and rehabilitative models of care with high-risk, underserved people. Department consent required.

NURS 675: Population-Based Health Care Management Practicum

1.00 Credits

Practitum (Clinical 90 clock hours / semester) Clinical work, precepted by mentors in community settings, addresses population-based program development around the priorities of Healthy People, 2010. Department consent required.

NURS 676: Vulnerable Women/ Families in Communities

3.00 Credits

Planning, implementation and evaluation of cummunity/public health programs for high-risk, vulnerable people including mothers, children, and women provided under public and private/non-for-profit auspices. Department consent required.

NURS 677: Vulnerable Women/Families in Communities Practicum

2.00 Credits

Practicum (Clinical 180 clock hours /semester) Clinical work is in public health agencies, community health clinics, AIDS and infectious disease clinics, and other non-profit clinics that work to improve the health status of mothers, children and women. Department consent required.

NURS 678: Health Care Management: Addressing Disparities

3.00 Credits

Examines the management of contemporary community-based health care services within the context of eliminating health disparities. It addresses the knowledge, cultural sensitivity and management skill required to provide health services to underserved populations, especially children, the elderly, the chronically ill and disabled individuals and families.

NURS 679: Health Care Management: Addressing Dusparities Practicum

2.00 Credits

Practicum (Clinical 180 clock hours/semester) This practicum is carried out with preceptors in clinical partner agencies who have experience and expertise in managing services to under served persons and families. As part of their clinical experience, students implement the multi-faceted role of community/public health nurse specialist in community settings. Department consent required.

NURS 681: Principles of Advanced Public Health Nursing

3.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 683: Educator: Community/Public Health Educator Practicum

1.00 Credits

Practicum (Clinical 90 clock hours / semester) This course places students with experienced teacher in AD/BSN program, staff development programs or community centers that provide health education/disease prevention to underserved people. Departmental consent required.

NURS 684: Global, Immigrant and Refuge Health

3.00 Credits

This course focuses on an examination of the contemporary challenges in immigrant, refugee and global health framed in the context of human rights and social justice; and an exploration of the role of the advanced practice nurse in the advancement of the global health goal of 'health and social justice for all'.

NURS 685: Global, Immigrant, and Refuge Health Practicum

2.00 Credits

Practicum (2 credits-180 clock hours/semester). This course focuses on clinical work in public health agencies, community health clinics, AIDS and infectious disease clinics, and other non-profit clinics that work to improve the health status of vulnerable immigrant and refugee women, children, and families. Department consent required.

NURS 686: Health Care Finance

3.00 Credits

This course will focus on the principles of public and private financing as they apply to the health care system. Case discussions will emphasize three basic financing models: private, public, and blended pubic/private mix. Case discussions will include problem-oriented discussions on subsidization for the poor and other vulnerable groups, global issues in health system financing, World Bank HIPC policies and the pro-poor agenda, and the impact of global health system shocks such as HIV/AIDS, global pandemics, and terrorism, on health financing systems. Optional content also will be included on managerial financing strategies.

NURS 687: Managing Health Information

1.00 Credits

This course focuses on the organization, analysis, utilization and evaluation of public health information systems and technologies with a particular emphasis on the core principles of public health informatics, related competencies and applications that prevent illness and promote and improve the health of vulnerable populations.

NURS 698: Pathophysiology

3.00 Credits

Lecture (3 clock hours per week) Focuses on basic biological processes which can be altered by human disease. Emphasis on physiological alterations associated with pathological conditions and the clinical manifestations of the process. Offered first semester only. Department consent required.

NURS 701: Health Promotion Across the Life Span

2.00 Credits

Lecture (2 clock hours per week) Examines data, studies, and models which present and interpret health behavior and the disparities of health status. Reviews health promotion activities in managed care environments, workplaces and schools and discusses knowledge, values and decision which affect health-seeking behavior. Department consent required.

NURS 708: Research in Nursing: Methods and Outcomes

3.00 Credits

The focus of this course is the scientific method of problem-solving and decision making in clinical nursing practice. Students are guided in using research knowledge and methods to identify appropriate solutions/ outcomes for clinical conditions. The course provides content foundational to the measurement of outcomes, and the relationship of outcome measurement to quality improvement.

NURS 729: Emerging Issues in Health

3.00 Credits

This course provides an examination across the lifespan of emerging areas of opportunity and challenge shaping population health, clinical prevention, and the practice and delivery of health care, including clinical genetics, environmental health, and end-of-life care.

NURS 729D: Emerging Issues in Health

3.00 Credits

This course provides an examination across the lifespan of emerging areas of opportunity and challenge shaping population health, clinical prevention, and the practice and delivery of health care, including clinical genetics, environmental health, and end-of-life care.

NURS 730: Evidence-Based Practices I

3.00 Credits

This course focuses upon the synthesis, critique, and application of evidence to support quality in clinical practice. Students will identify a clinical practice problem and articulate their ideas and plan for transforming a practice problem into answerable clinical research questions. Students will review, analyze, and synthesize clinical evidence using basic epidemiological, biostatistical, and scientific principles in support of the identified problem. Students will explore EBP models in order to integrate best evidence with patients' values and preferences and organizational culture. Students will be expected to have completed a systematic review of a body of research in support of the identified clinical problem by the end of the semester

NURS 731: Evidence-based Practices II

3.00 Credits

This course focuses upon extending the work in the EBP I course. Students further refine their proposed clinical practice project developing the project implementation and evaluation plan. Seminar discussion will focus upon EBP strategies and evaluation methods and analysis. Students will be expected to have completed the EBP proposal by the end of the semester.

NURS 731D: Evidence-based Practices II

3.00 Credits

This course focuses upon extending the work in the EBP I course. Students further refine their proposed clinical practice project developing the project implementation and evaluation plan. Seminar discussion will focus upon EBP strategies and evaluation methods and analysis. Students will be expected to have completed the EBP proposal by the end of the semester.

NURS 732: Applied Epidemiology

1.00 Credits

This course complements the N664 Epidemiology course and focuses on the application of basic epidemiological principles for designing health survey research, conducting computer based data analyses, presenting epidemiologic data and examining public health problems.

NURS 733: The Well Child

1.00 Credits

This seminar course examines what it means for a child "to be healthy" today with focus on health indicators, newer morbidities, and evidence supporting current delivery methods. Concepts and content of contextual well-child care are explored for specific age groups. Traditional and innovative frameworks for delivery of care are included. This is a required course in preparation of the student as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner for Family Nurse Practitioner.

NURS 734: Leadership in Complex Health Care Systems

3.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 734D: Leadership in Complex Health Care Systems

3.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 735: Perinatal Health

1.00 Credits

Lecture (1 clock hour per week) This course provides the didactic content for primary care of pregnant and postpartum women. Emphasis is on diagnosis and management of those alterations in health commonly encountered in the family practice setting.

NURS 736: Research on Family Health

3.00 Credits

Lecture (3 clock hours per week) Focuses on discussion and analysis of family health research. Addresses research exploring various family subgroups and family units. Discussion and analysis includes comparison of methodologic issues and relationship of study findings to sociocultural and political issues of family health and health care delivery to families. Department consent required.

NURS 737: Advanced practice-based Residency

1.00-4.00 Credits

This practicum course allows the student necessary time in the required practice settings to meet clinical objectives relevant to their selected advanced practice role and population or specialty focus. Practice settings and mentor/preceptors will be assigned by faculty in consultation with the student. Students may choose with faculty permission to enroll in from 1-4 credits of residency within a semester. The total number of clinical hours to be completed are 360.

NURS 737D: Advance Practice-Based Residency

1.00-4.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 739: Doctor of Nursing Practice Project Guidance

1.00-3.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 741: Bio-Behavioral Psychiatric Nursing

3.00 Credits

Lecture (Seminar, 4 clock hours; clinical, 6 clock hours per week) Focuses on assessment, intervention, and prevention strategies for the major mental illnesses utilizing the DSM IV (APA, 1994) for diagnostic categories. Identifies psychobiological as well as behavioral theories. Required: a clinical practicum at NIMH. Department consent required.

NURS 742: Mental Health of the Individual

3.00 Credits

Lecture (Seminar, 2 hours; supervision, 2 hours; clinical, 6 hours) Focuses on prevention and in-depth intervention strategies for the individual client in the community. Explores, utilizes, and evaluates short-term dynamic, cognitive behavioral, and psychoeducational models. Clients are selected from a variety of settings, especially the underserved for clinical experience. Weekly supervision provided by faculty. Department consent required.

NURS 743: Mental Health of the Family

3.00 Credits

Lecture (Seminar, 2 hours; supervision, 2 hours; clinical, 6 hours) Focuses on prevention and intervention strategies for the family in the community. Explores short-term psychotherapy and psychoeducational models for families who are at risk for or who are experiencing dysfunction in the area of mental health. Alternative as well as traditional families selected from underserved populations. Weekly supervision provided by faculty. Department consent required.

NURS 746: Practicum in Community Mental Health I

1.00 Credits

Practicum (6 clock hours per week). The focus of this clinical course is experience in the various advanced practice psychiatric-mental health nursing roles. Students are also expected to case manage a variety of patients in a community mental health setting or with those reentering the community with a nursing preceptor. NURS 744. Department consent required.

NURS 747: Practicum in Community Mental Health II

2.00 Credits

Practicum. (12 clock hers per week) The focus of this clinical course is experience in those activities that insure delivery of services to the mentally ill. These include programming, budget and quality assurance. 120 clinical hours of supervised practicum with diagnosing and prescribing for the population is included. Department consent required.

NURS 750A: Advanced Public Health Clinical I

2.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 750B: Advanced Public Health Clinical II

2.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 750C: Advanced Public Health Clinical III

2.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 756: Mental Health of the Group

3.00 Credits

(Seminar - 2 hrs, supervision- 2 hrs, clinical - 6 hoursThis course focuses on select prevention and intervention strategies for mental illness. It explores a variety of traditional and short term psychotherapy and psychoeducational models for working with groups. Students are placed in a variety of clinical setting with preceptors to work with therapeutic groups. Department consent required.

NURS 762: Therapeutic Modalities in Child & Adolescent Health

2.00 Credits

The course presents behavioral health therapeutic modalities designed to prepare the school nurse practitioner, the family nurse practitioner, and/or the pediatric nurse practitioner to provide assessment, short-term intervention, evaluation, and referral in primary care settings. The emphasis will be on assessment of behavioral problems of children and adolescents, and their families. Selection of appropriate interventions to provide in primary care settings will be discussed. Methods of short-term therapies, e.g., solution-focused, problem solving, and crisis intervention, will be presented. Psychopharmacology issues of treating children and adolescents with behavioral disorders will be reviewed. Students will be instructed in the application of therapeutic intervention techniques in order to provide immediate behavioral care to children and adolescents in primary care settings. Culturally competent assessment and intervention skills and current biological aspects of behavioral problems will be emphasized. Department consent required.

NURS 766: Family & Culture

2.00 Credits

In this course, theories and concepts in health and illness within families are explored with a cross-cultural context. In addition, major issues impacting families and their health are examined from a cultural perspective. These theories and issues are analyzed in relationship to advanced practice nursing roles. Department consent required.

NURS 779: Children and Adolescents with Special Needs

1.00 Credits

Seminar - (15 hours/semester; Clinical - 45 hours/semester) This is a required clinical course for students enrolled in the pediatric/school nurse practitioner programs. It is open to other interested advanced practice nursing students with permission of the faculty. This course will focus on the assessment and management of complex and chronic health problems of children and adolescents with special needs. Cultural issues affecting chronic illness are examined and a family and community framework is utilized. The roles of advanced practice nurses working with this population are explored. Department consent required.

NURS 780: Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Seminar and Practicum I (Young Child)

4.00 Credits

Seminar (Seminar - 5 hours/week; clinical - 135/semester) This is the first clinical course offered to prepare the student for advanced practice as a pediatric, shool, or family nurse practitioner. The course focuses on comprehensive assessment, diagnosis, and management of health and common health problems of children in a primary care setting. Concepts and content of well-child maintenance will be explored for specific age groups as well as select common acute illnesses and developmental/behavioral problems presenting in childhood. The client system addressed is the newborn through school age child within a family and community framework. NURS 659. Department consent required.

NURS 781: Primary Care of Adolescent Seminar

1.00 Credits

Seminar (Seminar 2 hours/week; clinical - 90 hours/semester) This is a required clinical course for students preparing for advanced nursing practice as pediatric or school nurse practitioners; it is also offered as a clinical elective course for students in family or adult nurse practitioner programs. This course will focus on the comprehensive assessment, diagnosis, and management of health and health problems of adolescents in a primary care setting. A family and community framework is utilized and cultural issues affecting adolescents in society today are examined. NURS 780 and NURS 784. Department consent required.

NURS 781A: Adolescent Practicum

1.00 Credits

This is a 90 hour supervised clinical practicum that focuses on providing nurse practitioner students with clinical experience in an adolescent setting.

NURS 782: Management of Health Problems I

4.00 Credits

Seminar/Practicum (Seminar 3 clock hours; clinical practicum 9 clock hours per week/135 per semester) This is the first of two seminar and practicum courses which address advanced nursing practice and the management of clients with health problems commonly encountered in the delivery of primary care. Didactic content focuses on physical, psychological, socio-cultural and spiritual dimensions of human needs. Practicum activities emphasize refinement of advanced nursing practice skills. Developmental and pharmacological content is integrated throughout the course. The client system of the course is the adolescent, adult, or geriatric individual as a member of the family. NURS 657 (or coreq) and NURS 661 (or coreq)and NURS 698 (or coreq) Department consent required.

NURS 783: Management of Health Problems II

3.00 Credits

This is the second of two didactic/clinical courses to prepare the student for advanced practice as a Family, Adult, Geriatric or Adult Educator CNS Practitioner. The course focuses on comprehensive assessment, diagnosis, and management of acute and chronic illness states which affect the physical, psychological, socio-cultural and spiritual dimensions of clients who present to a primary care setting. Pharmacological, Pathophysiological and Advanced Health Assessment content is integrated throughout the course. The client system of the course is primarily directed at the adolescent, adult, or geriatric individuals as a member of a family. NURS 780 (or coreq) or NURS 782 (or coreq). Department consent required.

NURS 784: Nurse Practitioner Practicum I

1.00 Credits

Practicum (Clinical 6 clock hours per week/90 hours per semester) This precepted practicum experience is taken concurrent with or subsequent to NURS 780, NURS 781, NURS 782 or NURS 783. It provides the necessary clinical time for development and refinement of the Nurse Practitioner role begun in the Seminar and Practicum courses. Department consent required.

NURS 785: Nurse Practitioner Practicum II

1.00 Credits

Practicum (Clinical 6 clock hours per week/90 hours per semester) This precepted practicum experience is taken concurrent with or subsequent to NURS 780, NURS 781, NURS 782 or NURS 783. It provides the necessary clinical time for development and refinement of the Nurse Practitioner role begun in the Seminar and Practicum courses. Department consent required.

NURS 786: Nurse Practitioner Practicum III

1.00 Credits

Practicum (Clinical 6 clock hours per week) This precepted practicum experience is taken concurrent with or subsequent to NURS 780, NURS 781, NURS 782 or NURS 783. It provides the necessary clinical time for development and refinement of the Nurse Practitioner role begun in the Seminar and Practicum courses. Department consent required.

NURS 787: Primary Care of the Newborn

1.00 Credits

(Clinical, 90 clinical hours) A clinical course designed to supplement 780 and to further develop the clinical skills necessary to provide primary care to the newborn and family. Focuses on initial assessment and management of the full-term neonate. Students can develop skills in physical, behavioral, and psychosocial assessment of newborns in a family framework and increase their knowledge and skills in the evaluation and management of health issues and problems encountered in the newborn period. Department consent required.

NURS 788: Nurse Practitioner Clinical

1.00 Credits

(Clinical, 4 clock hours per week) A preceptored clinical experience, taken in conjunction with or subsequent to the Adult or Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Seminar and Practicum I or II. Provides the clinical time needed to continue development and refinement of the practitioner role and/or may be used to augment experiences related to the student's long-term career goals. Prerequisite or concurrent: 780, 781, 782, or 783.

NURS 789: Advanced Practice Role Seminar

1.00 Credits

.This Advanced Practice Nurse core course is a two hour weekly course that examines the multiple roles of the advanced practice nurse and analyzes the relationships of role theory and integration within organizations, the health care arena, and various social contexts. The professional, political, and cultural components of role are presented, as well as the legal and ethical issues inherent in advanced practice nursing. Principles of leadership, collaboration, consultation, management, and research are woven into the conceptualization of role development for advanced practice.

NURS 789D: Advanced Practice Role Seminar

1.00 Credits

.This Advanced Practice Nurse core course is a two hour weekly course that examines the multiple roles of the advanced practice nurse and analyzes the relationships of role theory and integration within organizations, the health care arena, and various social contexts. The professional, political, and cultural components of role are presented, as well as the legal and ethical issues inherent in advanced practice nursing. Principles of leadership, collaboration, consultation, management, and research are woven into the conceptualization of role development for advanced practice.

NURS 790: Guided Study in Nursing

1.00 Credits

Directed Study. Provides opportunity to explore in depth a selected nursing problem. Learning experiences may include supervised clinical nursing practice, depending on the nature of the problem to be explored. Department consent required.

NURS 792: Guided Study in Nursing

2.00 Credits

Directed Study. Provides opportunity to explore in depth a selected nursing problem. Learning experiences may include supervised clinical nursing practice, depending on the nature of the problem to be explored. Department consent required

NURS 794: Guided Study in Nursing

3.00 Credits

Directed Study. Provides opportunity to explore in depth a selected nursing problem. Learning experiences may include supervised clinical nursing practice, depending on the nature of the problem to be explored. Department consent required.

NURS 796: Guided Study in Nursing

4.00 Credits

Directed Study. Provides opportunity to explore in depth a selected nursing problem. Learning experiences may include supervised clinical nursing practice, depending on the nature of the problem to be explored. Department consent required.

NURS 797: Clinical Nurse Specialist Practicum I

1.00 Credits

Practicum (Practicum, 6 clock hours per week/90 hours per semester) This precepted practicum experience is taken concurrent with or subsequent to NURS 782 or NURS 783. It provides the necessary clinical time for development and refinement of the advanced practice role of clinical nurse specialist role begun in the clinical courses. Department consent required.

NURS 798: Clinical Nurse Specialist II

1.00 Credits

Practicum (Practicum, 6 clock hours per week/90 hours per semester.) This second precepted practicum experience is taken concurrent with or subsequent to NURS 782 or NURS 783. It provides the necessary clinical time for development and refinement of the advanced practice role of clinical nurse specialist role begun in the clinical courses. Department consent required.

NURS 802: Graduate Nursing Healthcare Ethics

3.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 805: Advanced Statistics and Research Methods in Healthcare

3.00 Credits

The emphasis in this course is on the acquisition of methods and techniques for extending the scientific base of knowledge for nursing practice. Research studies that address questions of importance to nursing will serve as the focus for discussion. Experimental and quasi-experimental designs and related statistical procedures will be examined in terms of their appropriateness for addressing various nursing problems.

NURS 806: Multivariate Statistics in Healthcare Research

3.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 809: Readings in Gerontological Research

3.00 Credits

(3 clock hours) Review of current research in selected topics in gerontology. Discussion of methodological considerations. Emphasizes the application of findings in the advanced practice role of the nurse. Development of a research program in a selected area of gerontological research.

NURS 810: Outcomes Research and Management

3.00 Credits

Lecture (3 clock hours per week) Examines structure and process issues related to the effectiveness of intervention; measurement of patient outcomes (e.g. performance indicators, classifications of indicators, principles of data collection, data integrity); and the relationship of outcomes measurement to quality improvement. Department consent required.

NURS 835: Program Development and Evaluation

3.00 Credits

This course is designed to support the ongoing development of the role of nurse as educator. The development, implementation, and evaluation of educational programs are analyzed. Standards for nursing education provide the context for analysis. Characteristics of the reflective teacher and the reflective learner are examined. While emphasis is placed on the role of the nurse faculty member in an educational institution, the role of the nurse as patient and staff educator also is explored. Pre or co-requisites include NURS 708 Research in Nursing: Methods and Outcomes, NURS 661 Theoretical Foundations of Advanced Practice Nursing, and at least one clinical course. Permission of the instructor required

NURS 836: Education Seminar and Practicum

3.00 Credits

This course provides theoretical and field experiences for future nurse educators. Theoretical content focuses on exploring aspects of the faculty role, skills for the neophyte teacher, as well as issues that affect implementation of the faculty role. Exact seminar topics will be refined during the first few class sessions and will depend on the interests, experience, and background of the students as well as concurrent practicum experiences. Practicum experiences focus on implementing and evaluating the teaching-learning process. Students practica may be in an academic or clinical agency setting. A minimum of approximately 9 hours a week or 135 hours for the semester will be related to practicum activities. The didactic portion of the course will be provided using a mixture of online learning activities and virtual classroom sessions (time and date depending on student and faculty schedules).

NURS 843: Management Seminar and Practicum

3.00 Credits

Seminar and Practicum (Seminar,1.5 clock hours; practicum 90 clock hours per semester) Focuses on concepts and theories related to nursing management such as human resources, leadership, financial issues, strategic planning. Includes analysis of selected case studies and nursing management research. Students apply concepts and theories in the development of a business plan. Practicum experiences provide the student with an opportunity to apply theory and research in a variety of health care agencies. Department consent required.

NURS 895: Capstone Research Project

3.00 Credits

(3 clock hours per week) Provides the opportunity for students to develop and implement a research project reflecting analysis, synthesis, and integration of knowledge for advanced practice. Not required for students completing a thesis; taken during the final semester of study. Department consent required.

NURS 900: Research Overview

1.00 Credits

On-campus and On-line Interactive Course with Supervised Project) Focuses on the research process and provides a basis for continuing study in research and theory development and testing. Prerequisite: Completion of master's level research and statistics courses. Department consent required.

NURS 903: Philosophy of Science in Healthcare

3.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 907: Seminar: Theory Development in Nursing

3.00 Credits

Seminar (3 clock hours) Focuses on the process of the development of theory in general and theory in nursing. Critique/evaluation of theories; explores the relationship of theory to practice and research. Department consent required.

NURS 908: Qualitative Research in Nursing

3.00 Credits

Research (3 clock hours per week) Focuses on qualitative methods for nursing research. Examines major methods employed in qualitative research and the application of these methods to problems/phenomena in nursing. Evaluation and critique of research studies utilizing qualitative methods. Ethical issues and the advantages and limitations of qualitative methods. Department consent required.

NURS 909: Quantitative Research in Nursing

3.00 Credits

Seminar (3 clock hours per week) Study of nursing research methods that generate primarily quantitative data. Critical analysis incorporates the theoretical model, design, and methodology (including sampling, measurement, and data analysis) of quantitative studies. Prerequisite or concurrent: Advanced statistics.

NURS 910: Advanced quantitative methods for health care providers

3.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 911: Qualitative Research Methods

3.00 Credits

Seminar (3 clock hours per week) Focuses on the methods employed to conduct a qualitative research project. Builds on 908, Qualitative Research in Nursing. Exploration and application of topics such as sampling, interviewing and observation techniques, and data collection methods appropriate to specific, student-selected designs. Application of coding methods and data analysis methods such as thematic abstraction, clustering, categorization, and theory writing. Prerequisite: 908. Department consent required.

NURS 916: Seminar in Nursing Scholarship

1.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 916D: Seminar in Nursing Scholarship

1.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 922: Research Seminar and Practicum

3.00 Credits

This course provides the doctoral student with a chance to experience the research process on a day-to-day basis and helps students to integrate practical and theoretical knowledge. Students will work with a CUA faculty or community research mentor an estimated 6-9 hours/week and focus on some aspect of the research process. Examples could include: literature review and synthesis, research design, sampling, data collection, or methods. Placements will be arranged by the course coordinator. The experience will be tailored to the individual student's needs relative to developing doctoral level research skills. Students will be encouraged to pursue practicum experiences that will enhance and strengthen developing their research. The practicum course will also contain seminar component and online components to facilitate learning.

NURS 923: Clinical Problems: Theoretical Considerations

3.00 Credits

Seminar (3 clock hours per week) Fosters the theory-practice-research linkage that contributes to an understanding of the nature of nursing science. Students are guided in clinical problem identification and the investigation of theories relevant to their selected clinical problems from a research and practice perspective. A seminar design incorporating scholarly inquiry facilitates achievement of essential behaviors. Students are encouraged to develop a proposal to submit for pre-doctoral funding from appropriate agencies. NURS 907 (or coreq) and NURS 908 (or coreq). Department consent required

NURS 924: Clinical Problems: Design Considerations

3.00 Credits

Seminar (3 clock hours per week) Builds upon the work done in NURS 923 through which students were guided in their exploration of the identification and defense of a clinically relevant problem and the theory-practice-research linkage as it relates to the problem. The seminar design facilitates scholarly inquiry through the incorporation of peer review/critiques. NURS 923. Department consent required.

NURS 926: Seminar in Health Policy Formulation and Analysis

3.00 Credits

Lecture (2 clock hours) Examines major health issues to determine their relationship to and impact upon public policy. A major focus is the identification, formulation, and legitimation of health policy in the United States. Departmnet consent required.

NURS 930: Seminar on Research Proposals

3.00 Credits

Research (3 clock hours per week) Focuses on the nature and characteristics of a research proposal. Students are expected to develop a research proposal reflecting preliminary work on the first three chapters of the dissertation. Prerequisite: Completion of 923 and 924 and a major portion of doctoral program requirements. This course is taken during the final semester of course work. Department consent required

NURS 993: DNP Project Guidance

3.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 993A: DNP Project Guidance - Continued

0.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 995: Master's Thesis Guidance

0.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 996: Master's Thesis Guidance

0.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 997: Doctoral Dissertation Guidance

3.00 Credits

no description available

NURS 998: Doctoral Dissertation Guidance

0.00 Credits

no description available