Graduate Course Descriptions:

NR609 Management of Common Conditions. Three credits. This course focuses on the management of common conditions encountered by the advanced practice nurse in primary care. Emphasis will be placed on developing diagnostic reasoning skills and utilizing a holistic evidenced approach to clinical care. Prerequisite: NR 615.  Offered spring semester.

NR611 Theoretical Components of Nursing. Three credits. The purpose of this course is to explore, discuss, and formulate concepts of individuals, environment, health, and nursing as they relate to nursing theories. Philosophical inquiry and historical trends, as a basis for theory development, are examined. Students examine knowledge from the sciences, humanities, and nursing and how it can be applied to nursing in education, administration, and advanced practice. Offered fall semester.

NR615 Advanced Pathophysiology. Three credits.  This course focuses on the pathogenesis of common conditions affecting individuals and families as a basis for nursing primary care management. Offered fall semester.

NR616 Advanced Health Assessment. Four credits. Students develop sophistication in the ability to assess and evaluate subtle diagnostic cues in client populations across the life span. Emphasis is placed on enhancing students’ clinical judgment. Offered spring semester.

NR617 The Advanced Practice Nurse. Three credits. This course focuses on exploring issues relating to graduate nursing education and the advanced practice role. Contemporary concerns such as the politics of health care reform, the advanced practice nurse’s usefulness and marketability, and the legal responsibility and accountability of the professional nurse in advanced practice are analyzed. Offered spring semester.

NR618 Philosophy of Education. Three credits. This course is designed to explore different philosophies of education. It offers a philosophical foundation for students to develop evaluative approaches, justification for teaching approaches, and commentaries on teaching practices. Offered spring semester.

NR621 Dynamics of Family Health Nursing. Three credits. This course focuses on the primary care dynamics and needs of families. Psycho-socio-cultural, economic, spiritual, community, and educational paradigms are explored. Risk assessment and interventions are investigated and analyzed to promote the stability of a family’s health status. Offered fall semester.

NR622 Health Care Policy, Organization, and Finance. Three credits. This course presents an overview of health care policy formulation, health care organization and financing. Nurses as health care providers, coordinators, and advocates will study the theories and competencies needed to function in a new and complex health care environment. Offered spring semester.

NR623 Advanced Pharmacodynamics for Primary Care. Three credits. Course content will focus on the pharmacological management of self-limiting episodic complaints and stable chronic disease states commonly managed by advanced practice nurses. Offered fall semester.

NR624 Advanced Research. Three credits. The components of research design, methodology, and statistical analysis are presented. The students develop the needed knowledge base to prepare them to conduct research studies. Prerequisite: NR 611. Offered spring semester.

NR631 Evaluation and Instrumentation in Nursing. Three credits. This course offers students the knowledge and skills needed to collect, critically appraise, integrate, generate, and evaluate evidence for nursing practice. Prerequisite: NR 624. Offered fall semester.

NR635 Curriculum Development. Three credits. Issues and trends, which influence curricular decisions and development, are examined. Students acquire the knowledge and skills to design, develop, and evaluate a curriculum. Prerequisite: NR 611. Prerequisite or Corequisite NR 618 Offered spring semester.

NR641 Family Health Nursing I. Two credits. This course is the first course in the supervised clinical experience for the family nurse practitioner role. The emphasis is on developing clinical judgment in the primary care setting through critical analysis of subjective and objective client data. The clinical experience consists of 200 hours plus a weekly seminar. Prerequisites: NR 611, 615, 616, 617, 623, Prerequisite or Corequisite  NR 609 and NR 621. In addition all students are required to show evidence of a current RN license, malpractice insurance, recent physical examination with titers, and proof of current health insurance. Students must see the professor prior to registration to arrange clinical experiences. Offered fall and spring semesters.

NR643 Family Health Nursing II. Three credits. This clinical course is a continuation of Family Health Nursing I. Students is afforded the opportunity to enhance clinical skills and judgments developed in the previous course. Supervised clinical practices in primary care settings with preceptors are maintained. The clinical experience consists of 200 hours plus a weekly seminar. Prerequisite NR 641. In addition all students are required to show evidence of a current RN license, malpractice insurance, recent physical examination with titers, and proof of current health insurance. Students must see the professor prior to registration to arrange clinical experiences. Offered fall and spring semesters.

NR645 Family Health Nursing III. Three credits. This clinical course is a continuation of Family Health Nursing II. Students are afforded the opportunity to continue to enhance clinical skills and judgments developed in the previous courses. This is the last clinical course for the family nurse practitioner. At the end of this course students are expected to demonstrate competency in this role. Supervised clinical practice takes place in a variety of primary care settings with preceptors. The clinical experience consists of 200 hours plus a weekly seminar. Prerequisite: NR 643. In addition all students are required to show evidence of a current RN license, malpractice insurance, recent physical examination with titers, and proof of current health insurance. Students must see the professor prior to registration to arrange clinical experiences Offered fall and spring semesters.

NR653 Practicum in Teaching. Four credits. Students are provided opportunities for individualized teaching experiences in nursing education settings. Nurse educators precept students into the roles and responsibilities of their positions. The teaching practicum includes 90 hours of experience plus a weekly seminar. Prerequisites: NR 615,616, 618, 621, 623, 631, 635. Offered fall semester.

NR655 Advanced Community Health Nursing 3 credits. This course focuses on advanced nursing practice with vulnerable individuals, families and populations within the community. Emphasis is placed on interventions appropriate for health promotion, maintenance and restoration utilizing national objectives for healthy populations. Students are provided with the opportunity to enhance their clinical skills and judgments within a population based context. This course includes a weekly seminar and 60 hours of clinical practice. Prerequisites. NR 611, 615, 616, 621, 623. In addition all students are required to show evidence of a current RN license, malpractice insurance, recent physical examination with titers and proof of current health insurance. Students should see the professor prior to registration to arrange clinical experiences.

NR691 Special Topics in Nursing. Three credits. Content varies to meet the special interests of graduate students and faculty. Offered periodically.

NR693 Independent Study. One to four credits. Course designed for independent advanced level study on a topic of the student’s own choosing after advisement by sponsoring departmental faculty. Students may use this course to engage in collaborative research with faculty. Prerequisite: permission of advisor and of director of graduate nursing. Offered fall and spring semesters.

NR793 Professional Project Seminar. Three credits. This course uses the parameters of the scientific process to investigate a special, health-related problem as currently seen in society. Students are expected to design and implement a health related project. This course is taken in the last academic year before graduation. NR631 Prerequisite or Co-requisite. Offered fall and spring semesters.

NR699 Summer Practicum Supervision, 0 credits. This practicum affords the nurse practitioner student an opportunity to complete up to 75 hours of clinical precepted practice under the guidance of faculty.  The hours may be applied towards the required clinical hours for NR643 or NR645.  Students must have completed NR641 in order to participate in this practicum. (Fee applies)