N495: Health Assessment

SYLLABUS

N495: Health Assessment

N495 Health Assessment focuses on the complete health assessment, the nursing process, and its relationship to the prevention and early detection of disease in diverse patients across the life span.  The process of health assessment is introduced, including: interviewing, history-taking, and physical assessment. Health assessment occurs within the context of the family and community and incorporates cultural and developmental variations and needs of the patient. Normal findings and cultural and age variations are emphasized. Incorporated throughout the course is the importance of communication and collaboration with patients and health care professionals.  This course prepares the professional nurse to apply the concepts, knowledge and skills necessary to complete a health assessment for patients in all age groups, emphasizing the major elements, sequence and methodology of health assessment. This course also serves as a foundation for a graduate-level health assessment course.

Welcome to your course in the School of Nursing at Aspen University! This course will build on your previous courses to problem-solve complex nursing problems.

University Mission and Goals:

The graduate from Aspen University…

1. Exhibits self-directed learning that demonstrates professional behavior and ethics,
2. Functions successfully in multiple roles and teams showing cultural competence,
3. Exhibits a self-awareness of professional behavior through leadership and advocacy,
4. Demonstrates professional performance through research by using evidence-based practices, and
5. Leverages technology to produce high-value work products.

Program Goals: 

The mission of the RN to BSN Program is to prepare nurses for a broader scope of practice, enhance their professional development, and provide a better understanding of the cultural, political, economic, and social issues that affect patients and influence care delivery. Nurses will be prepared to assume roles that demand critical-thinking, decision-making, communication, and leadership skills.

The goals of the RN-to-BSN program are to educate professional nurse generalists who emulate the following characteristics and behaviors:

• Professional Behavior/Ethics: Develop a personal values system and value-based behaviors that include the capacity to make and act upon ethical judgments
• Cultural Competence: Recognize the need for evidence-based knowledge and sensitivity to variables such as age, gender, culture, health disparities, socioeconomic status, race, and spirituality
• Research and Evidence-Based Practice: Use research findings and other evidence in designing, implementing, and evaluating care that is multidimensional, high quality, cost-effective and leads to improved patient outcomes
• Leadership/Advocacy: Work within organizational and community arenas to promote high quality patient care through organizational and systems leadership, quality improvement, and safety
• Technology: Design and implement measures to modify risk factors and promote healthy lifestyles, utilizing emerging advances in science and technology

Anticipated Program Student Learning Outcomes:

The RN-to-BSN courses have been designed to meet the AACN Baccalaureate Essentials and to support the transition into the graduate-level nursing courses for those who wish to pursue continued education. The unique goals of the RN-to-BSN program are to prepare associate-degree and diploma nurses with the knowledge and skills to deliver safe, cost-effective, and quality nursing care. Upon completion of the RN-to-BSN program, students should be able to:

• Analyze the impact of economic, demographic and technological forces on health care delivery, and the concerns relating to ethical, legal, and social issues that influence nursing practice.
• Apply a solid foundation of research and theory, focusing on the interrelationships and application of these concepts to nursing practice, education, and leadership
• Improve population health across the lifespan and across the continuum of healthcare environments through health promotion and disease prevention strategies
• Explore leadership and management concepts that directly and indirectly influence the nature and functioning of the healthcare system and professional nursing practice
• Assess health among a diverse patient population, devising strategies for the prevention and early detection of disease across the life span
• Integrate professional values, attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors into nursing practice

Professional Standards 

AACN Baccalaureate Essentials:

1. Liberal education for baccalaureate generalist nursing practice
2. Basic organizational and systems leadership for quality care and patient safety
3. Scholarship for evidence-based practice
4. Information management and application of patient care technology
5. Healthcare policy, finance, and regulatory environments
6. Interprofessional communication and collaboration for improving patient health outcomes
7. Clinical prevention and population health
8. Professionalism and professional values
9. Baccalaureate generalist nursing practice

IOM Core Competencies:

1. Patient-centered care
2. Work in interdisciplinary teams
3. Evidence-based practice
4. Quality improvement
5. Informatics

Course Goals

This course has been based on the following learning goals. At the completion of this course, students should have the knowledge and skills to:

• Demonstrate skill in systematic data collection methods: Interviewing, observation, physical examination and mental health assessment
• Use anatomical, physiological, psychosocial, nutritional, developmental norms and theories, cultural and environmental factors to interpret health assessment data
• Differentiate normal findings for the client’s age, developmental stage, and cultural background and those unusual or abnormal findings, which need further evaluation
• Identify information technology sources to generate assessment data
• Communicate health assessments effectively in both oral and written form
• Discuss common pathophysiological mechanisms in relation to health assessment, health promotion and disease prevention
• Identify age-appropriate patient teaching and health promotion activities

Prerequisites: None.

Course Materials

• American Psychological Association. (2009) Publication manual of the American Psychological Association(6^th). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. ISBN: 978-1433805615.
• No textbooks required

Course Structure:

Module 1: Nutrition

Module 2: Sleep

Module 3: Exercise

Module 4: Stress

Module 5: Substance Use Disorders

Module 6: Surviving Disasters

Module 7: Coping with Incivility

Module 8: The Holistic Assessment and Patient Teaching, Self-Reflection

Module 8 will also provide you an opportunity to provide your instructor as well as the university with feedback on this course.