Undergraduate Course Catalog 2012-2013

College of Health and Human Services

» http://www.chhs.unh.edu/

Nursing (NURS)

Chairperson: Gene E. Harkless
Professor: Susan J. Fetzer
Associate Professor: Pamela P. DiNapoli, Joan E. Hahn, Gene E. Harkless, Carol L. Williams-Barnard
Assistant Professor: Joanne G. Samuels, Carolyn L. Tobin, Gerard A. Tobin
Clinical Associate Professor: Donna Marie Pelletier
Clinical Assistant Professor: Elizabeth J. Evans, Kimberly Gibbons, Deborah Leveille, Patricia Puccilli, Megan E. Seawards
Lecturer: Karen S. Niland

The nursing program is nationally accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, One Dupont Circle NW, Suite 530, Washington, DC 20036-1120. It reflects the mission and goals of the University and focuses on the uniqueness of each individual. The mission of the Department of Nursing is to enhance the health of individuals, families, groups, and communities. The philosophy expresses the beliefs of the faculty regarding person, environment, health, nursing, and education. Its goals are to help nursing students develop knowledge and skills essential to the present and future practice of nursing. Graduates of the program are prepared to provide care to individuals and groups, help people identify and meet their health care needs, be effective colleagues on the health care team, and shape the future of health care.

The curricula are divided into biological, social sciences, and humanities as a foundation for courses in the major, and nursing courses, which emphasize relationship-based care, reflective thinking, clinical decision making, and the use of evidence-based guidelines to develop quality and safe clinical skills. Clinical experiences are offered in area hospitals and in community health agencies. The senior year culminates in a capstone practicum, NURS 721C, Integrating Professional Nursing Practice Clinical, in which students apply curriculum concepts in a precepted clinical experience. Candidates for the nursing degree must satisfy all of the University Discovery Program requirements in addition to satisfying major requirements.

The faculty of the nursing program believe learning is a creative process wherein students are active participants in their education, growth, and development as professional nurses. Faculty members are facilitators and mentors to students within a supportive, scholarly environment.

Honors-in-major courses are offered to interested nursing students who have achieved a minimum grade-point average of 3.75 in NURS courses and cumulative GPA of 3.4 at the end of the sophomore year in nursing. In addition to NURS 641H, Translating Research for Practice (4 cr.), students must successfully complete 8 additional credits of honors coursework drawn from the following courses: NURS 612H, Care of the Adult with Acute Illness 2 (4 cr.); NURS 627H, Clinical Judgment in Nursing (4 cr.); and NURS 705H, Contemporary Leadership within Health Care Systems (4 cr.), for a total of 12 credits of honors coursework.

Honors-in-major students must successfully complete NURS 794, Special Topics: Honors Seminar (1 cr.) spring semester junior year; NURS 797, Honors Thesis (1 cr.) fall semester senior year; and NURS 797, Honors Thesis (4 cr.) spring semester senior year. These self-directed learning experiences, related to the student's interests, are designed to help students acquire advanced knowledge and skills to undertake inquiry or scholarly projects. Students must submit a project description to a faculty adviser at the beginning of the senior year. Students will present the results of this study at the Nursing Inquiry Day.

A grade of C or better in high school chemistry is required as well as biology or physics. The following prerequisite courses must be completed successfully prior to enrollment in NURS 500: ENGL 401; BMS 507-508; and PSYC 401. BMS 501 must be taken prior to or concurrent with NURS 500. A course in statistics must be completed prior to, or taken concurrent with, NURS 641.

Prerequisite courses require grades of C or better and only one prerequisite course may be repeated one time in order to progress. Most of the prerequisite courses also meet discovery requirements. Major courses require a minimum grade of C. Nursing courses may not be repeated. A cumulative grade-point average of 2.50 must be maintained throughout the program.

Students are responsible for their own transportation to clinical agencies, uniforms, professional equipment, health insurance coverage, criminal background checks through approved vendor, drug and alcohol screening through approved vendor, fingerprinting, yearly health assessment, and select immunizations and titers. Students must be certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation at the healthcare provider or professional rescuer level only. All clinical documents must be received by July 1st before the sophomore year and remain up to date as necessary until graduation. Clinical documents cannot expire during the academic year; documents that must be submitted yearly must be dated between May 1 and June 30. Students will be assessed a late fee if clinical documents are not received by the due date and will be dropped from the major if documentation is not received by the first day of class. Additional costs associated with the program include, but are not limited to, laboratory fees each semester beginning in the sophomore year and fees associated with program requirements and attendance at professional meetings.

Freshman Year - Fall Semester

Abbreviation	Course Number	Title	Credits
BMS	507	Human Anatomy & Physiology	4
ENGL	401	First-Year Writing	4
		Elective(s)	8
		Total Credit Hours for Semester	16

Freshman Year - Spring Semester

Abbreviation	Course Number	Title	Credits
BMS	508	Human Anatomy & Physiology	4
PSYC	401	Introduction to Psychology	4
		Elective(s)	8
		Total Credit Hours for Semester	16

Sophomore Year - Fall Semester

Abbreviation	Course Number	Title	Credits
BMS	501	Microbes in Human Disease	4
NURS	500	Introduction to Professional Nursing	2
NURS	504	Diseases and Drugs 1	4
NURS	510	Health Assessment	3
NURS	515	Nursing Fundamentals	1
NURS	516	Health Assessment and Nursing Fundamentals Lab	2
		Total Credit Hours for Semester	16

Sophomore Year - Spring Semester

Abbreviation	Course Number	Title	Credits
*		Statistics	4
NURS	505	Diseases and Drugs 2	4
NURS	506	Human Development, Interaction and Learning Across the Lifespan	4
NURS	601	Function and Well-being of Older Adults	2
NURS	601C	Function and Well-being of Older Adults Clinical	2
		Total Credit Hours for Semester	16

* HHS 240, PSYC 402, SOC 502

Junior Year - Fall Semester

Abbreviation	Course Number	Title	Credits
NURS	611	Care of the Adult with Acute Illness 1	4
NURS	611C	Care of the Adult with Acute Illness 1 Clinical	2
NURS	616	Living with Mental Illness, or NURS 621/621C Maternal and Newborn Nursing	2
NURS	616C	Living with Mental Illness Clinical	2
NURS	641	Translating Research for Practice	4
		Elective	4
		Total Credit Hours for Semester	18

Junior Year - Spring Semester

Abbreviation	Course Number	Title	Credits
NURS	612	Care of the Adult with Acute Illness 2	4
NURS	612C	Care of the Adult with Acute Illness 2 Clinical	2
NURS	621	Maternal and Newborn Nursing or NURS 616/616C Living with Mental Illness	2
NURS	621C	Maternal and Newborn Nursing Clinical	2
NURS	627	Clinical Judgment in Nursing	4
		Elective	4
		Total Credit Hours for Semester	18

Senior Year - Fall Semester

Abbreviation	Course Number	Title	Credits
NURS	702	Child Health Nursing	2
NURS	704	Public Health Nursing	4
NURS	704P	Public Health Nursing Project	2
NURS	704C	Public Health Nursing Clinical	2
NURS	711	Clinical Judgment in Complex Illness	2
		Elective(s)	4-6
		Total Credit Hours for Semester	16-18

Senior Year - Spring Semester

Abbreviation	Course Number	Title	Credits
NURS	705W	Contemporary Leadership within Health Care Systems	4
NURS	721	Integrating Professional Nursing Practice	2
NURS	721C	Integrating Professional Nursing Practice Clinical	6
		Total Credit Hours for Semester	12

R.N. Baccalaureate Program

Registered nurses with an unencumbered registered nurse license who meet University admission criteria may pursue, on a full- or part-time basis, a bachelor of science degree with a major in nursing. Nursing major courses are offered using on-line, hybrid, and face-to-face formats. Face-to-face courses may be held on the Durham campus or select off campus sites.

Curriculum requirements may be met through transfer credits, course enrollments, and challenge examinations. Students from an associate's degree program are allowed to transfer up to 64 credits from a two-year program. A maximum of 96 credits may transfer in from all programs.

The nursing component is based on the belief that RN students enter the program with knowledge and competence gained through previous educational and work experiences. This knowledge and competence can be demonstrated through completion of required baccalaureate-level nursing courses. Individualized plans of study are developed to enable completion of nursing content. RN students must meet with academic adviser during preregistration advising time fall and spring semesters in order to review plan of study, obtain permission to enroll in nursing courses, and receive registration access code form (RAC).

Honors-in-major courses are offered to interested RN-BP students who have achieved a minimum grade-point average of 3.75 in NURS courses and cumulative GPA of 3.4.

The RN student must earn a minimum of 128 credits and have a 2.5 cumulative grade-point average throughout their coursework. A minimum grade of C is required in each prerequisite and nursing course. Permission from academic adviser is required to register for all nursing courses to ensure prerequisites were met; prior approval is required for courses taken outside UNH. Students must maintain continuous enrollment by registering for coursework at UNH or NURS 400, Nursing Continuing Enrollment, to remain active until degree is conferred. Students who are enrolled in the bachelor’s degree program must attain the last one-quarter (32 credits) of total credits for the degree in residence (at UNH).

RN-BP Courses

Abbreviation	Course Number	Title	Fall	Spring	Summer
NURS	606	Seminar on Professional Nursing 7 cr.	X
NURS	617	Nursing and Healthcare Policy 3 cr.		X
NURS	622	Clinical Decision Making 4 cr.	X
NURS	645W	Research 4 cr.			X
NURS	655	Community Health Nursing I 3 cr.			X
NURS	656	Comm Hlth Nurs II: Indiv, Fam, & Aggregates 2 cr.		X
NURS	656C	Community Health Nursing II/Clinical 1 cr.		X
NURS	703W	Nursing Leadership/Mgmt and Org Context 4 cr.	X
NURS	719	Professional Nursing Practice: Transitions 7 cr.	X

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