Nursing (NURS) 524

Overview

NURS 524 is an asynchronous, paced online course. Students will complete two assignments and take two multiple choice exams. Students will participate in problem-based learning exercises at regular intervals throughout the course, as well as engage in at least 3 scheduled synchronous online videoconferences.

In NURS 524, you will study the primary health care principles of participation and collaboration and the community development principle of empowerment.

You will learn to provide primary health care to children, from infancy through adolescence. The knowledge you gain will include wellness counselling of healthy children, management of acute and chronic conditions of children, and referral of conditions requiring management by other health professionals. You will also consider the community health implications of healthy children, as well as the areas of immunizations, accidental injuries, child maltreatment, and child poverty. You will examine quality improvement and study ethical practice as it relates to children and their families.

Outline

NURS 524 consists of the following 13 units:

Unit 1: Public participation and collaboration, and empowerment
In Unit 1, students will expand on their previous exploration of community health development principle of empowerment and the primary health care principles of public participation and collaboration.

Unit 2: Assessment, Immunizations and Pediatric Prescribing
In this unit students will explore advanced pediatric assessment strategies, normal and common variations of normal. Assessment tools used in pediatrics are reviewed. The topic of immunizations will include provincial and pan-Canadian recommendations as well as a discussion of vaccine hesitancy. Attention will be given to expanding previous discussions around prescribing to include specific pediatric issues.

Unit 3: Patient and Family Education, Functional health patterns and Anticipatory Guidance
In Unit 3, students will apply educational theory and principles to the education of pediatric client and their family. Discussion of functional health patterns will assist students in understanding developmental changes across the pediatric age range and provides the basis for providing anticipatory guidance for parents.

Unit 4: Central Nervous and Cardiovascular Systems
In Unit 4, students will study common pediatric health conditions seen in primary care. CNS conditions include headache, seizures, encephalitis, plagiocephaly, cerebral palsy and pain. Cardiovascular conditions covered include chest pain, arrhythmias, syncope congenital heart disease, hypertension Kawasaki disease and Rheumatic fever.

Unit 5: Head, Ears, Eyes Nose and Throat Conditions
In Unit 5, students will explore common conditions related to the HEENT systems. Diagnosis, treatment and management of these conditions are covered using a family-centered approach. Strategies for collaborative care planning are discussed.

Unit 6: Respiratory System
Respiratory issues including cough, asthma, pneumonia and other infections are very common in the pediatric population and will be addressed in Unit 6. Other conditions such as foreign body aspiration, pneumothorax and cystic fibrosis are less frequently seen by remain important for the primary care provider to recognize.

Unit 7: Gastrointestinal and Genitourinary Systems
In Unit 7 we explore pediatric primary care conditions related to the gastrointestinal and genitourinary systems. Congenital abnormalities, conditions causing abdominal pain are topics such as lactose intolerance and celiac disease are reviewed.

Unit 8: Endocrine and Hematologic systems
In Unit 8 a discussion of common endocrine and hematologic conditions is presented. Disorders covered include diabetes, thyroid disease, obesity and puberty onset problems. Hematologic conditions include anemias, hemophilia, jaundice and leukemia.

Unit 9: Dermatologic System
Skin conditions are very common in the pediatric population. Unit 13 will examine some of the more common issues including birth marks, infections, acne, dermatitis, and psoriasis. The unit will also include information on common infestations and insect bites.

Unit 10: Musculoskeletal System (MSK) and Genetics
Pediatric musculoskeletal issues range from congenital abnormalities, developmental concerns to injuries and infections. Unit 10 will review conditions commonly seen in pediatric primary care and will include a discussion of opportunities to partner with other health care professionals in providing care to children with MSK issues.

The genetics portion of this unit will focus on providing a brief review of inheritance patterns followed by a discussion of Down Syndrome and Turner Syndrome.

Unit 11: Gynecologic System and Special Issues
Discussion of gynecologic issues including menstrual abnormalities, and sexual health will be covered in this unit. The remainder of content related to men’s and women’s health will be covered in NURS 522. The other content in Unit 11 focuses on a collections of special issues related to pediatric health care including: prenatal substance exposures, failure to thrive, child abuse and neglect, LGBTQ2 issues and care of the premature and late preterm infant.

Unit 12: Pediatric Emergencies
Unit 12 examines the prevention, recognition and initial management of emergent conditions including: anaphylaxis/allergies, concussion, burns, poisoning, sepsis and meningitis.

Unit 13: Quality Improvement and Ethical Practice
Quality improvement is an important part of all NP practice. This unit examines opportunities for QI within pediatric settings, reviews common QI tools and discusses the application of QI principles in practice. Ethical issues are discussed from the perspective of the child, the family and the Nurse Practitioner.

Learning outcomes

NURS 524 is intended to provide a basis for providing primary care across the pediatric age spectrum (newborn to adolescence). Knowledge will be applied during five synchronous videoconferencing sessions.

Objectives

After completing this course, students should be able to:

1. critically analyze the primary health care principles of participation and collaboration, the community development principle of empowerment, and the NP competency of ethical practice;
2. implement strategies to foster participation and interprofessional collaboration in the care of children and their families;
3. identify and utilize current recommendations for assessment, health promotion and preventative screening in children;
4. provide evidence-based care for children at a level appropriate to a beginning practitioner, including:
   1. health history and physical examination
   2. clinical decision-making
   3. ordering of laboratory and diagnostic tests
   4. prescription of medications
   5. administering treatments or procedures
   6. therapeutic communication and education
   7. collaborative relationships
   8. documentation of clinical data, diagnoses, collaborations, communications and treatments, monitoring and follow-up.
5. recognize emergency and urgent presentations in children in the primary care setting and initiate appropriate interventions;
6. develop an appropriate plan of follow-up care including re-evaluating the plan of treatment in consultation with the patient and family;
7. collaborate with other health-care professionals including referring children with health concerns that exceed the scope of practice of a beginning practitioner;
8. review ethical and legal considerations when treating children and infants, including the capacity to give consent, and rights of the child, and rights of the parents;
9. utilize clinical practice guidelines and review Internet-based sources of information about evidence-based health care for children;
10. using appropriate educational theory, provide health education to children and their families;
11. explore opportunities for quality improvement in the provision of health care to children and their families;
12. examine the influence of child’s developmental stages on illness, injury, health promotion, anticipatory guidance needs, and provision of health care.

Evaluation

The assessment structure for NURS 524 is based on the following course activities, with the percentage weighting of each activity as indicated. The final grade for the course is a composite mark based on performance on these course activities.

Activity	Weight
Problem-based learning activities	15%
Assignment 1: Case Study 1	25%
CLASS presentation	15%
Exam 1	25%
Exam 2	25%
Total	100%

Both exams in this course are invigilated through ProctorU.

Problem Based Learning Activities (15%)

Problem-based postings will be required in each unit except Unit 8. Feedback will focus on the student's ability to provide organized and original contributions that reflect analysis and synthesis of the material presented.

CLASS Presentation and Participation (10%)

5 synchronous TEAMS sessions will be held over the course of the term. Participation in 4 out of 5 of the Clinical forums contributes to the conference participation mark. Each student will present a 15 minute case presentation during one of the TEAMS sessions.

Assignment 1: Case Study 1 (25%)

In the case study assignment you will demonstrate your knowledge of health promotion, illness prevention, and clinical care for a variety of presentations that you might see in the primary care setting. You will also apply your knowledge of appropriate use of diagnostic tests, pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical treatments, follow up priorities, and patient education.

 

Exam 1 (25%)

The examination consists of multiple choice questions covering the content in Units 2 through 6.

Exam 2 (25%)

The final examination consists of multiple choice questions and tests content in Units 7–12.

Materials

eText

Registration in this course includes an electronic textbook. For more information on electronic textbooks, please refer to our eText Initiative site.

Other Materials

Textbooks and readings from other Nurse Practitioner courses will be used as appropriate.

Technical Requirements

Computer System

In order to successfully complete this course, the student must own or have ready access to certain computer hardware and software programs. For complete and up-to-date information on the minimum computer requirements required to complete the graduate nursing courses, visit the Centre for Nursing and Health Studies technical site.

Students are expected to connect to an Internet Service Provider at their own expense and to secure audio speaker or headphones for the required Clinical Forum events in the course.

Important links

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