Undergraduate - UnitNUR3106 - Introduction to high acuity nursing

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Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Offered	Bairnsdale First semester 2012 (Day) Gippsland First semester 2012 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Karen Missen

Synopsis

This unit will incorporate an introduction to high acuity nursing of severely ill patients. Using a systematic approach to patient assessment, students will develop skills in caring for patients with, altered circulation, multi-organ failure, shock states and trauma. The focus will be on high acuity care and include other specialist areas of nursing practice such as critical care, perioperative, coronary care, acute medical surgical, emergency nursing and paediatric nursing with an emphasis of caring for patients across the lifespan.

Outcomes

Educational Objectives:
On completion of this unit students are expected to:

1. Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of a range of complex health problems experienced by clients throughout the lifespan;
2. Explore and evaluate the clinical application of nursing research and theoretical literature to acute and high acuity care;
3. Incorporate culturally relevant, age specific, nursing therapeutics to address problems experienced by seriously ill clients;
4. Review an appropriate disaster management plan, building upon existing knowledge of disaster management;
5. Apply a systematic approach to patient assessment and implementation of management strategies in team-based simulation environment;

Clinical Objectives:

1. Apply pathophysiological principles to the care of clients with serious and life threatening illness;
2. Apply clinical reasoning to selected pathophysiological and psychosocial nursing phenomena;
3. Demonstrate safe clinical practice based on current theoretical and pharmacological knowledge;

Assessment

Written assignment: 30% - 3000 word essay exploring the management of a high acuity patient;
Written examination: 60% - 3 hour examination;
Clinical case study: 10% - 1000 word assignment;
Clinical assessment: Pass/fail
Students must attend 100% of all scheduled laboratories - refer to school clinical guidelines for details.
Students must obtain a pass grade in the examination in order to obtain an overall pass grade for this unit

Chief examiner(s)

Karen Missen

Contact hours

7 hours a week (lectures, tutorials, labs) plus 160 hours clinical.

Guided Learning:
1 hour of guided learning including 2 online quizzes.

Prerequisites

NUR2002, NUR2004, NUR2104

Co-requisites

Available only to students enrolled in the Bachelor of Nursing Practice