Overview

Nursing 520 Foundations of Advanced Nursing Practice is the first course in a program of study leading to the Advanced Graduate Diploma: Advanced Nursing Practice or the Master of Health Studies degree.

Nursing 520 Foundations of Advanced Nursing Practice introduces concepts and principles on which advanced nursing practice is founded. These include competencies of advanced nursing practice, principles of primary health care and community development, determinants of health, and evidence-based practice.    

Athabasca University’s Advanced Nursing Practice program incorporates two interrelated components.  The first component is community health development.  Nursing 520 introduces students to practice frameworks for community health development that will be applied with communities throughout the program.  The provision of extended health services is the second component of advanced nursing practice.  Nursing 520 introduces practice frameworks that students will use in later courses to diagnose and treat common health concerns of individual clients of all ages.

Students identify an individual (family physician or masters-prepared health professional) who will serve as their preceptor in the extended health practicum of later courses.  Nursing 520 includes 60 hours of practicum time during which students complete an orientation with their preceptors and begin collection of data about a geopolitical community.

Goals

After completing this course, students should be able to:

1. discuss the characteristics and competencies of advanced nursing practice;
2. discuss the regulation of advanced nursing practice within their provincial/territorial/state jurisdiction;

3. analyse the significance of the following concepts and principles that form the foundation of advanced nursing practice:

1. primary health care (accessibility, participation, collaboration, health promotion, appropriate technology)

2.  community development (connective processes, collaboration, empowerment, advocacy, organizational actions)

3. determinants of health of individuals and populations, with particular attention to vulnerable clients

4. critical social theory

5. group dynamics and conflict resolution;

4. relate the above concepts and principles to the extended health and community health development components of advanced nursing practice;  

5. discuss the application of practice frameworks in the provision of extended health services to individual clients, including frameworks for health assessment, nursing diagnosis and intervention, clinical decision making, ordering and interpretation of diagnostic tests, and prescription of medications;
6. discuss the application of practice frameworks in the provision of community health development services, including frameworks for assessment of community needs and strengths, diagnosis of priority community health concerns, and promotion of community health;
7. apply practice frameworks within extended health services and community health development practicum settings;
8. identify sources of evidence that can inform advanced nursing practice, including health indicators, research, and clinical guidelines;
9. consider the significance of environmental scanning of trends to develop a personal futures scenario of advanced nursing practice.

Outline

• Unit 1 Introduction to Advanced Nursing Practice: Theory and Practicum
• Unit 2 Frameworks for Advanced Nursing Practice: Extended Health Services
• Unit 3 Frameworks for Advanced Nursing Practice: Community Health Development
• Unit 4 Principles for Advanced Nursing Practice: Primary Health Care and Community Development
• Unit 5 Determinants of Health of Populations and Individuals in your Community
• Unit 6 Evidence-Based Advanced Nursing Practice
• Unit 7 The Future of Advanced Nursing Practice

Evaluation

To receive credit for Nursing 520, students must achieve a course composite grade of at least 60 per cent and a grade of at least 60 per cent on the three assignments. The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:

Conference	Assignment 1	Assignment 2	Assignment 3	Total
20%	20%	30%	30%	100%

In addition to these assignments, students must achieve satisfactory performance in their practicum experiences.

Course Materials

Nursing 520 is comprised of both Online and Print-based course materials.

Online Materials

• Introduction: Provides essential information about the course materials, the design of the course, and the procedures you should follow to complete the course successfully.
• Schedule: Outlines the timing of course activities
• Units: Contains the seven units that comprise the course
• Assessment: Outlines the three assignments/evaluation procedure required in this course.
• Reference: Listing of required readings, web sites, and citations included in the units
• Comprehensive Practicum Guide: Explains how to complete the practicum requirements of the course.

Print Materials

• Reading File: A collection of articles, excerpts, and other sources of information that you will be directed to read in this course.
• Textbooks: The textbooks listed below are used in this course.

   Anderson, E., & McFarlane, J. (2000). Community as partner (3rd ed.). Philadelphia:
Lippincott. 

   Canadian Nurses Association. (1996). Commitment required: Making the right
changes to improve the health of Canadians. Ottawa: CNA 

   Canadian Nurses Association. (2000). Advanced nursing practice: A national
framework. Ottawa: CNA. 

   Dewar, T. (1997). A guide to evaluating asset-based community development:
Lessons, challenges, and opportunities. Chicago: ACTA Publications. 

   Fischbach, F. (2000). A manual of laboratory and diagnostic tests (6th ed.). 
Philadelphia: Lippincott. 

   Gordon, M. (2000). Manual of nursing diagnosis (9th ed.). St. Louis: Mosby 

   Kretzmann, J., & McKnight, J. (1993). Building communities from the inside out: A
path toward finding and mobilizing a communities assets. Chicago: ACTA
Publications. 

   Levine, M., Lexchin, J., & Pellizzari, R. (1998). Drugs of choice: A formulary for
general practice. Ottawa: Canadian Medical Association. 

   Olson, J. (1998). Clinical pharmacology made ridiculously simple. Miami:
MedMaster, Inc. 

   Robinson, D., & McKenzie, C. (1999). Procedures for primary care providers.
Philadelphia: Lippincott. 

   Robinson, D. (1998). Clinical decision making for nurse practitioners. Philadelphia:
Lippincott. 

   Stewart, M. (2000). Community nursing: Promoting Canadians’ health. Toronto: W B
Saunders. 

Special Course Features

The course includes Internet access to health-related Web sites around the world, participation in electronic mail, and computer conferencing with students from across the country. Students are expected to connect to an Internet Service Provider at their own expense.