Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Curriculum

This course teaches the student to assess the health status of clients of any age in any setting. Students incorporate knowledge attained in the prerequisite courses, Introductory and Developmental Psychology, Sociology, Anatomy and Physiology, Chemistry, and Microbiology. The student learns verbal and non-verbal communication techniques used in obtaining a health history and the written communication techniques used in documenting the health assessment. Students acquire the basic psychomotor skills of inspection, palpation, percussion, and auscultation necessary when performing a physical examination. The effects of age, gender, culture, religion, socioeconomic status, lifestyle, and adaptation are identified.

This course focuses on the translation of current evidence into nursing practice, including the identification of practice issues, appraisal and integration of evidence, and the evaluation of outcomes (AACN, 2008). Students develop the skills necessary for understanding, evaluating, and applying evidence in transforming nursing practice. Activities include in-depth study of the research process as it relates to the critique and evaluation of research, the synthesis of nursing research in the development of a review of the literature, and the dissemination of research findings.

This is an introductory course to explore the role of the professional nurse in the ever-changing healthcare system with a view to empowering and solidifying that role. Students explore the challenges and opportunities inherent in professional nursing including but not limited to advances in nursing practice and role development, the increased use of technology in practice, ethics and legal issues in practice, concepts critical to leadership, interdisciplinary collaboration and systems thinking, and the increasing role of theory and research in advancing the profession and providing quality, safe patient care. Activities include values clarification, portfolio development, seminar leadership, group activities, and/or online discussions.

The role of the professional nurse in the primary level of health care is explored. Using client models, students implement the nursing process and adaptation model to plan therapeutic nursing interventions for individuals, families, and groups in a variety of community settings. In addition, the course will focus on community assessment, communication, critical thinking and decision-making skills, teaching, epidemiology, research utilization, group process, and other strategies used in community health. Students will develop competence in a clinical practice setting. (60 hour clinical component, must be RN licensed) Prerequisites: NU 304 and NU 403

This course focuses on the historical development of theory from the perspective of nursing science. Nursing theory and its relationship to research and evidenced-based nursing practice, as well as approaches to theory construction are explored. Students will analyze selected concepts, the building blocks of theories. Students will critique specific nursing theories in relation to their own belief systems, examining the concepts of the major paradigms within the discipline of nursing as well as other human science disciplines. Early "grand nursing theories" and "mid-range nursing theories" more recently developed will be evaluated. Emphasis will be on understanding individual nursing theories and borrowed theories from other disciplines and their application to nursing practice, nursing research, nursing leadership, and nursing education.

This course focuses on issues of leadership role development in professional nursing. Using role theory, students will explore concepts of role mastery, congruence and conflict as well as the role of nursing leadership in the broader organizational context. Emphasis in NU 605 is on the analysis of leadership and related theories as these apply to the individual practice of the nurse leader.

This course will provide an in-depth study of the concepts of the science of pathology for graduate nursing students. It will cover the physiological causes and development of diseases; functional and secondary changes they cause; and their course, complications, and appropriate treatments. Specific examples of disease states throughout the lifespan will be evaluated. The course will treat all levels of pathology from molecular to cellular, tissue, organ, and organ systems, emphasizing the role of homeostasis and the ensuing disturbances, which lead to disease conditions.

This course will address health promotion and disease prevention across the lifespan. The focus will be in developing, evaluating, and educating populations on preventative health care behaviors. Populations served, including vulnerable populations, will be discussed in relation to how advanced practice nurses shape the development of community-based care and population-based systems delivery programs. Students will analyze the impact of social, cultural, ecological, and systems of care delivery factors on healthcare disparities across population groups. Emphasis is on application of sociocultural, nursing theories, and methods to analyze healthcare phenomena as an advanced practice nurse.

The Scientific Inquiry for Evidence-Based Practice course will explore the conceptual, theoretical, and ethical foundations of nursing. The course will focus on the research process and application of evidence to nursing practice. During this course students identify a practice problem according to its relevance to the professional practice of nursing or advanced clinical practice. The primary focus of this course is on understanding research methods as they pertain to evidence-based practice. During the course students will complete an evidence-based practice proposal.

This course examines U.S. health care policy and the political challenges related to delivery, cost, quality, and access to care. The course is in seminar format which allows students to observe the policy-making process and the role of government and private stakeholders in the financing and delivery of services through a field experience attending health policy-related events and meetings.

This course is required for students in the Nurse Practitioner Advanced Graduate Program. Course content addresses pharmacological interventions for disease categories and expands the foundation in pharmacotherapeutics necessary for nurse practitioners in clinical practice. This course is designed to prepare students for the role of prescriber based on national guidelines and evidence-based practice.

The Advanced Health Assessment course is developed for the nurse practitioner student. Students incorporate, apply and adapt assessment skills appropriate to all ages in a primary care setting. Using critical thinking skills, students analyze assessment data toward differential diagnosis and determine the need for additional assessment information such as laboratory data, specialty referral and diagnostic testing. Students are required to apply history and physical assessment skills on a weekly basis. Written communication of the weekly history and physical examination as well as data analysis and problem list development is required. The effects of age, gender, culture, religion, socioeconomic status, locus of control, lifestyle and risk factors are considered in developing a baseline for therapeutic nursing intervention by the nurse in advanced practice.

This course focuses on the role and scope of practice of the advanced practice nurse. Professional licensure, credentialing and requirements for prescriptive privileges are addressed. In a hybrid format, course content focuses on legal and ethical standards of care and professional competencies for entry into advanced practice in the primary care setting. The course includes current and projected trends in primary practice as they affect nurses in advanced practice.

The focus of this course is on theories and methods used by the advanced practice psychiatric mental health nurse as broadly applied across treatment settings. Students will explore theory and techniques associated with various therapeutic models with regard to theoretical underpinnings, therapeutic action, techniques, relationship between therapist and patient, and application to different diagnostic populations and family systems. Students will gain learning experiences that promote satisfactory assimilation of mental health and mental illness concepts in their delivery of advanced practice nursing across the lifespan. Emphasis is placed on evidence-based practice and treatment guidelines utilizing a range of theoretical and conceptual models for conducting psychotherapy and supporting recovery. Selected psychotherapeutic theories will be studied and application made where possible in practicum placements, seminar discussions, and classroom settings.

This course focuses on developing knowledge and skills in the safe and effective use of medication for psychiatric mental health problems in populations across the lifespan. The curriculum integrates knowledge from previous courses such as pharmacology, pathophysiology, and health assessment and complements the Psychiatric Mental Health curriculum. Course content addresses psychopharmacological interventions for disease categories and expands the foundation in pyschopharmacotherapeutics necessary for nurse practitioners in clinical practice. This course is designed to prepare students for the role of prescriber based on national guidelines and evidence-based practice. Prerequisite: NU 641

The focus of this course is developing knowledge and skill in the assessment and diagnosis of psychiatric mental health problems in the populations across the lifespan. The curriculum also integrates knowledge from previous courses such as pharmacology, pathophysiology, and health assessment. Psychiatric nurse practitioner students utilize many theoretical sources in the development of their practical skills and draw from neurophysiology, neuropsychology, family systems, and biopsychosocial approaches.

Classroom learning of special populations such as the elderly and the chronic mentally ill are emphasized and applied in supervised clinical preceptorship experiences of 300 hours.

Nurse practitioner students will continue to develop knowledge and skill in the assessment and diagnosis of mental health problems in adults. In-depth study of geriatric mental health problems, such as mood disorders, dementia, and delirium, will prepare students to work with this complex population upon graduation.

Classroom learning from course NU 665C is applied in supervised clinical preceptorship experiences of 300 hours.