This course introduces current issues and challenges in nursing, health, and health care to the registered nurse who is enrolled in the RN-BS program. The course will explore the multiple roles of the baccalaureate-prepared nurse as a member of the health care team in traditional and alternative settings. Issues that affect nursing practice such as quality and safety initiatives, licensure and legal implications, workplace concerns, unconscious bias and cultural competence, information technology, and professional responsibility will be examined. Students will be able to execute life-long learning skills such as negotiation, networking, and preparing resumes. Factors that influence nursing practice will be analyzed, such as the corporatization of health care, and conflicts between economic and clinical priorities. Current issues in health that will be addressed include genetics and genomic implications in wellness and disease processes as well as concepts of population health and the globalization of health and wellness. The impact of an aging and diverse population on the health care system, and how this will affect nursing in the next few decades will be considered. Students will analyze current issues and challenges in health, health care, and nursing so as to enhance their capacity for critical thinking and develop an understanding of the changing role of the nurse in the 21st century. Students will refine their communication skills through written work and oral presentations.

This clinical course provides the student an opportunity to apply previously acquired knowledge and concurrent knowledge from the Health and Illness in Adult Populations theory course to supervised clinical experiences. Clinical learning experiences focus on the health promotion, disease prevention, and the restoration of optimal health across adult populations with chronic and noncomplex conditions. Emphasis is placed on transitions of care across the care continuum. Relationships among clients' health status, age, genetics, spiritual and ethnic backgrounds, and the environment are examined. Students, in collaboration with the client, their families and other health care professionals, will provide holistic, culturally competent, person-centered nursing care. Concepts of pathophysiology, pharmacology, therapeutic nutrition, rehabilitation, and complementary/alternative treatment modalities are explored as related to clients' alterations in health status. Clinical assignments are selected to stimulate student inquiry, critical thinking, and independence as learners and emerging professional nurses. Using the nursing process, principles of evidence-based practice, professional practice guidelines, nursing standards of care, and the Code of Ethics students prepare and implement comprehensive nursing care plans and/or concept maps for adult patients. During planned and guided clinical pre- and/or post-conferences, students will explore selected topics that promote a positive image of the nursing profession and facilitate the expanded use of the nursing process, critical thinking skills, and scientific evidence in nursing clinical practice.

This course will provide baccalaureate nursing students with the opportunity to process the knowledge gained through the Community Health Nursing and Global Health theory course in a community health setting. Students will observe and participate in the provision of patient-centered, evidence-based care in varied community settings. Utilizing the concept of the community as a client system, students will participate in the promotion and maintenance of population health. Utilizing nursing and public health theory, science, and research, students will perform a community assessment, and develop and implement an educational program to meet the assessed needs of the community of interest. Cultural competence will be emphasized as students engage in the nursing care of diverse and vulnerable populations. Emergency preparedness and the role of the nurse in disaster response will be examined. The impact of political, economic, social, environmental, and cultural concerns on the health of the local community will be addressed.