Course of Study

Senior Level:

• Nurs40005 Professional Nursing Development

Competencies: Create cover letter and resume, professional nursing meeting participation, facilitated in professional nursing seminar, facilitated and participated in group discussions of nursing trends in chemically impaired nursing, preventing back injuries, nurse burnout, nurse's role in disaster planning, and nursing violence.

Professional Teaching:  Two of my peers and I created a narrated powerpoint on cultural competence, which may be accessed below.

Reflection: I really appreiated having the opportunity to create a professional cover letter and resume. I enjoyed having thr opportunity to attend a professional nursing meeting, and finding out new online webinars that can count as CE credits.

• Nurs40010 Nursing of the Critical Ill

Competencies: Hemodynamic assessment and monitoring in relation to the cardiopulmonary system, ECG interpretation, atrial and ventricular dysrhythmias, alterations in tissue perfusion, pulmonary, fluid volume and electrolyte imbalances, neurological, and gastrointestinal systems.

Patient Teaching: Management of diabetes mellitus, ventilators, foley catheter procedure, medication side effects and uses, ICP management

Evidence-Based Practice: Process paper, which included medication and laboratory analysis, ECG interpretation, and pathophysiology of disease. May be accessed by clicking on the name.

Reflection: This was my last clinical course that I have taken. When reflecting back to the beginning of my nursing education, I am proud what I have accomplished. I have come so far in the past four years in developing not only my critical thinking and nursing skills, but also my own self-awareness. Looking back to the beginning of my critical care course, I no longer wondered if I had the ability to be a successful nurse in this area; instead I knew I was prepared for what layed ahead of me.

• Nurs40020 Community Health Nursing

Competencies: Community as a client, Cultural diversity and values, Organizational of U.S. health/Welfare resources and services, Public Health Policy, Epidemiology, Community health education, Communicable disease control in the community, community health nurse's role in health planning process and economics, environmental health and bioterrorism, Ethics, health promotion frameworks, health promotion of infants, children, adolescents, and adults, underserved populations,

Community Teaching: Bed bugs, bat bugs, and ticks, importance of carrying a list of medications, Rural health disparities.

Evidence-Based Practice: City of Massillon community assessment, Community population teaching group  on Bed bug prevention and treatment

Reflection: At the beginning of this course, I did not believe that community nursing was for me. This was my mind set for a few weeks, until I realized how widespread community nursing is, and everywhere it occurs. Before this course I believed it consisted of the health department, home health, and school nursing; however it encompasses so much more. As I journeyed through the clinical section of this course, I had the fortune of seeing community nursing in the county jail, Statcare facilities, wound care, home health, health department, and others. It really is amazing! 

•  Nurs40030 Psychiatric Nursing and Mental Health Nursing Care

Competencies: Therapeutic communication, applying nursing process to psychiatric disorders, psychiatric medications.

Patient Teaching: Medication side effects and uses, stressors, psychiatric illness

Evidence-Based Practice: Psychoeducational group teaching, Interactional Process Recording, Biopsychosocial Assessment Care Plan

Reflection: Through this class I had become more self-aware of myself. This allowed me to provide a higher degree of care to my patients than what I was able to achieve before. I learned a lot about myself, and about patients with mental illness.

•  Nurs40045 Integration of Leadership and Managment in Nursing

Competencies: Leadership and management attributes, nursing legal issues, patient advocate, delegation, principles of time management and prioritization, evidence based practice, team building, staffing, budgets, conflict management, quality improvement.

Patient Teaching: Medication uses and side effects, how to administer Heparin injections, proper use of equipment (E.g. incentive spirometer, nasal cannula, walker), deep breathing exercises, intravenous therapy

Evidence-Based Practice: Incentive spirometry, sterile wet to dry dressings, early ambulation, medication education, heparin injection education, abdominal splinting

Reflection: I successfully completed the 120 hour preceptorship hours on a post-operative unit. This experience has provided me with the opportunity to hone my nursing skills. I was able to provide safe and effective care and experienced new nursing care, such as communicating with physicians, pharmacy, and other units within the facility. With a full nursing load, I was able to sharpen my time management and prioritization skills.

•  Nurs40872 Introduction to Nursing Research

Competencies: Quantitative and qualitative reasearch, data collection, results, conclusions, and critique, evidence base practice evaluation, participated in group discussions,

Professional Teaching: Two of my peers and I created a narrated evidence based practice powerpoint using a question designed in PICO format.

Evidence-Based Practice: Nursing research article summary and critique

Reflection: This class focused on nursing research using quantitative and qualitative research methods. This allowed me to gain the knowledge of the different methods and what type of research design was appropriate for them.

• Nurs41095 Special Topic: Advanced Medical

Competencies: Enhance decision making ability, effectively work as a team with other members of the health-care team, effective communication with patient and families during simulation scenarios,  nursing management for pre- and post- operative clients,  promote appropriate action based on evidence-based practice, critical thinking, and prioritization in patient scenarios,  

Reflection: This was a new class offered to senior students of the BSN program at Kent State University-Stark campus. My decision to take this class mostly comprised of the desire to further my nursing skills and judgment when a client takes a turn for the worse. I am very pleased that I took this course. I feel that the benefits of simulated scenarios had enhanced my ability to prioritize physician orders and to answer client and family questions while things were not going as I had hoped.

Junior Level: 

• Nurs30010 Parent and Newborn Nursing

 Competencies: The process of fertilization, reproductive anatomy and hormones involved, fetal and placental development, changes within an expectant mother, labor stages, antepartal assessment and well-being of fetus, identify fetal monitoring baseline data and variations, breast feeding vs. bottle feeding comparisons, high risk pregnancy issues, newborn at risk and factors contributing to it, infertility issues and treatments, and I used and applied nursing theory, process, and communication while working with patients and their families.

 

 Patient Teaching: Cord care, swaddling, infection control, and lochia.

 

 Evidence-Based Practice: Case Study, which included medication, laboratory, and disease analysis. May be accessed by clicking on the name.

 

 Reflection: I am pleased to say that I was not necessarily looking forward to this clinical; however I have found an area of interest in which I may want to work in the future. I don't believe that I will ever forget the mother who I witnessed giving birth to her. She was so tired after enduring the labor, but when she got to see her new baby, her face just lit up. I may have found a passion right at that particular moment. I have learned so much that any video or book cannot teach me.

• Nurs30020 Health Care of Children

Competencies: Family centered care, hospitalization effects on children, coping strategies, developmental stage appropriate communication, chronic illnesses/disorders and their impact on the family, identify normal vital signs for children, appropriate interventions for children with electrolyte imbalances, identify how children react to pain, nutrition, anatomical differences in children of different ages, signs of respiratory distress, identify behavioral and developmental issues, social and environmental factors, hematologic issues, cardiovascular defects and treatments, identify communicable diseases and their treatments, life-threatening illnesses and bereavement in children. I also used and applied nursing theory, process, and communication while working with patients and their families.

 

Patient Teaching: Infection control, UTI prevention, and discharge teaching.

 

Evidence-Based Practice: Process Paper, which included disease, medication, and laboratory analysis. May be accessed by clicking on the name.

 

Reflection: I feel so much more comfortable around children and their families. At the beginning of the semester I felt so intimidated by the parents being in the room. I thought that they would be criticizing me, while I cared for their child. I am pleased to find out that they trusted the care that I provided their family through the hospital stay. I feel that I expanded my medical knowledge in a way that is not only relevant to pediatrics, but is also applied to adult patients.

• Nurs30030 Nursing of Adults

Competencies: Normal aging, pathophysiological processes of diseases, medication administration, intravenous therapy, anatomy and physiology of respiratory, cardiovascular, renal, endocrine, and cellular systems, Identify disorders and alterations with pathological changes of the respiratory, cardiovascular, endocrine, renal, and cellular systems. Examine most common causes of morbidity and mortality, identify the three levels of prevention, identify cultural and spiritual diversity and how it may affect health care provided.

 

Patient Teaching: IV equipment, medications

 

Evidence-Based Practice: Process paper, which included disease pathophysiology, medications, and laboratory analysis, also included in depth concept care map with connections and reasons. May be accessed by clicking on the name.

 

Reflection: I am pleased to announce that concept care maps are now easier for me to create, and to link all the information together. When first told about having more than one patient during clinical at the beginning of the semester, I was a little nervous. I didn't know how I would get my full assessments done, administer medications to more than one patient, make sure they had a bath, and give them time to eat breakfast. Somehow, we all came together to help each other out when they needed it, and we did it all within the little time we had on the unit. I felt like I was under stress at times during clinical, particularly when I had two patients, but now I am more confident and organized with the care and activities that need to be completed in a short amount of time. During clinical I was able to have practice with IV pumps and injections. I am really pleased with my progression in personal fulfillment and in my nursing abilities.

• Nurs30040 Nursing of Adults with Rehab Needs and/or Gerontologic Changes

Competencies: Psychophysiological changes in older adults and those with rehabilitation needs. Identify changes, consequences, and nursing care related to aging and rehabilitation. Ability to apply nursing process when caring for adults and their families who have been affected by major chronic diseases. Intravenous initiation and maintenance, suctioning, and medication administration. Identify demographic and sociocultural characteristics associated with aging and chronic diseases. Identify neurological, cognitive dysfunctions, musculoskeletal disorders, gastrointestinal dysfunctions, nutritional patterns, and sexuality in the older adult.

 

Patient Teaching: Guillain-Barre syndrome. Foley catheter placement, IV equipment and placement.

 

Evidence-Based Practice: Process paper, which included disease pathophysiology, medications, laboratory analysis, and Gordon's functional health pattern. May be accessed by clicking on the name.

 

Reflection: I was able to perform skills for the first time, such as performing a straight cath on a male client. I was also able to give my first insulin via a pen, which is something that I am very happy to have done while in school, because it is so different than using a insulin needle. I feel that my charting has improved greatly since having three clinicals in total at a single facility. This allowed me to be familiar with the system, and to improve on consistency and speed since I did not need to learn a whole new charting system. I found this clinical to be more relaxing, which I believe showed in my performance and confidence throughout the semester.  

• Nurs30050 Nursing Informatics

Competencies: Understanding of terminology, technology, and future of nursing informatics, including the roles, competencies, and  skills that all nurses need to share, use resources to provided and improve safe, effective and quality care. Quality evidence-base practice resources.

Patient Teaching: My partner and I created an educational brochere on asthma.

Evidence-Based Practice: Concept care map, Educational Brochere on Asthma. Both may be accessed by clicking on their names..

Reflection: I was quite surprised by how much I have learned about nursing informatics. The creativity during this class was amazing. I was able to create my own concept care map using the ontological approach. I learned how to think like a client who needs extra information on a disease and to make an educational pamphlet that the client can easily follow. Most of all I was shown a whole new area of nursing that I never known existed.

 Sophomore Level:

• NURS20010 Interpersonal and Communication Skills for Health Care Professionals

Competencies: APA writing, Group dynamics, Communication with diverse others, Assertive Communications in nursing, Interdisciplinary communication, Generational diversity, Healthcare roles, Leading healthcare teams, Creating teamwork, and study skills for nursing students.

• NURS20020 Foundations of Assessment and Communication in Nursing

Competencies: Hand washing, Vital signs, HEENT, Neurological, Skin, Musculoskeletal, Respiratory, Gastrointestinal assessments. Head-to-Toe-Assessment

Evidence Based Practice: Concept care maps and IPR

Personal Reflection: I feel that I have learned information that has provided me with an important foundation for my nursing career. I now know how to utilize therapeutic communication and what constitutes non-therapeutic communication, and how to avoid it.

• NURS20030 Foundations of Nursing Interventions

Competencies:  Bed making, Transferring a client, Using a bedpan, Bed making, Applying and removing sterile gloves, Maintaining a sterile field, Applying a saline- moistened dressing, Oral medication administration, Subcutaneous medication administration, Intramuscular medication administration, changing a dirty linen cart, charting vitals, assessment, and dressing changes, where to find pertinent client information in the records.

Patient Teaching: Deep breathing exercises to help alleviate pain until patient was able to recieve more medication. I measured the effectiveness of the breathing exercises by asking the patient if they felt better.

Evidence-Based Practice: Concept care maps, IPR, Diagnostic sheets, Medication sheets, Functional Health Patterns

Personal Reflection: I have experienced many new things during this course with a lecture, lab, and clinical.  It was amazing to take everything that I have learned in class and in lab from all my nursing classes and how I applied those theories in the clinical setting. When reflecting on my first clinical day and how nervous I was to enter the client's room and to see how I have gained the confidence in my abilities and in myself throughout my clinical time is amazing. I am excited about my next semester of clinicals, to see what knowledge I will gain and to see how much more I will grow as a nurse.

• NURS30060 Basic Pharmacology for Nursing Practice

Competencies: Medications and their classification, action, use, dosage, antidote, side effects/adverse effects, interactions, and nursing interventions.

Personal Reflection: I was excited to be able to take what I learned in Pharmacolgy and to be able to apply it during my clinical time. I found it helpful to have knowledge about different medications and their action, side effects, and contraindications, and to be able to relate that information to my patient.