RN to MSN Bridge Program

The purpose of this course is to refine and expand the skills of history and taking and physical assessment of the human system in health. Students analyze qualitative and quantitative data to determine health deviations from the normal healthy state. They collect data systematically using appropriate assessment techniques and tools to complete a physical assessment. The course stresses the documentation of findings using appropriate terminology for each system. There is emphasis on the communication of findings to both the client and other health-care professionals.

The purpose of this course is to stimulate a refinement of, and appreciation for, the potential of the research process in the development of nursing, client, and health-care systems. This course emphasizes the research approach in nursing and the necessity for theory-based and evidence-based practice. Problem identification, literature review, hypothesis formulation, research design, sampling, data collection, and analysis is explored. Students are required to identify a problem in the nursing or client system, propose a method for its investigation, and present the proposal for critique by peers. Emphasis is placed on the critique of published nursing research and on the notion that an applied discipline is only as strong as its research and theoretical base.

This course expands the theoretical and experiential base gained in prior nursing and non-nursing courses by introducing students to population-based nursing with a special focus on global and international health issues. Emphasis is placed on identifying trends in the health and health care services of populations as well as exploring strategies to address health promotion, primary, secondary, and tertiary disease prevention, and protection goals for particular at-risk and high-risk populations throughout the world.