RPN Bridge Semester into Honours Bachelor of Science in Nursing

Courses

• First Year - Semester One
• COMM1082 Critical Reasoning & Academic Writing
• Students develop their academic reading, writing, and critical thinking skills by discussing, researching, and writing related to a variety of nursing and health topics. They develop library literacy and searching proficiency to locate information in the professional databases which are foundational academic skills. In analyzing and comparing texts and writing in a variety of academic styles, students develop scholarly academic writing and critical reading skills that support their future academic work and prepare them to communicate effectively in professional settings.
• NURS1016 Ethics & Moral Theory
• Moral judgment is an inescapable part of our lives. This course introduces students to the philosophical study of ethics. Students will explore the various theories of ethics that attempt to discern what it means to be good. They will also assess the most significant challenges to ethical theory, and, above all, the challenges of relativism and egoism. Discussion of contemporary moral issues, such as abortion, euthanasia, warfare, the duty to aid, animal rights and environmental responsibility will be central constructs in this course. In thinking about these topics, students will learn to recognize and work with the structure of logical argument as a way of clarifying one's own ideas and assessing the ideas of others.
• NURS1019 Families in Transitions
• This course focuses on promoting the health of childbearing families, encompassing the childbearing experience. It will increase awareness of health promotion with families during the childbearing and child-rearing years and explore the meaning of health from the family's perspective. It will also develop, at a beginning level, the theoretical basis for assessment, intervention and support of families during the childbearing years.
• NURS1024 Pathophysiology
• This course extends the students’ foundational pathophysiology knowledge. An integrated and systemic approach will be taken to provide the student with the background concepts to engage in and integrate into their practice. In this course, students will engage in the pathophysiology of all the major systems, but focus primarily on the circulatory, respiratory, digestive, neurological, and reproductive systems. It is expected that the student will bring to this course a competent background in human anatomy and physiology.
• NURS1018 Professional Transitions
• The study of professional transitions will be based on an understanding of the personal, the professional and the political contexts of nursing as a discipline. It will seek to expand understanding of the broader scope and accountability of the registered nurse role and will encompass critical perspectives from selected readings from the professional literature. This course is restricted to students enrolled in the RPN to the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program.
• NURS2011 Research in Evidence Informed Nursing Practice
• This course allows students to explore the interaction between theory, research, and evidence-informed practice. Students develop an understanding of common research methods and the information literacy skills necessary to search, read, critically examine, and use scholarly nursing, health, and social science research. As novice research consumers, students learn to pose a researchable practice question, critically appraise research studies, and judiciously incorporate relevant findings into their evidence-informed practice with patients, families, communities, and populations.

• Second Year - Semester Two
• NURS2013 Acute Health Challenges
• This course examines the client’s experience of acute health challenges across the lifespan, while focusing on nursing care, therapeutics and nursing processes within a Primary Health Care framework.
  Prerequisite: NURS 1024, NUTR 1005, NURS 1021
  Co-requisite: NURS 2014
• NURS1020 Canadian Health Care System
• This course explores the structure of the Canadian health care system. It also examines current service delivery issues as they influence nursing and the health of Canadians.
  Prerequisite: NURS 1018, NURS 1019
• NURS2017 Clinical Practicum: Acute Health Challenges
• This course prepares students to practice safe, comprehensive care in collaboration with children or adults in acute care environments under direct clinical supervision.
  Prerequisite: NURS 1023
  Co-requisite: NURS 2015
• NURS1023 Clinical Practicum: Community & Population Health Nursing
• In this course, students apply principles of community assessment, planning, and development when working in community settings with diverse populations.
  Co-requisite: NURS 1021
• NURS1021 Community & Population Health Nursing
• This course focuses on the role of the nurse in the community and public health nursing, using the population health framework. It addresses principles of community assessment and development, program planning, and other strategies that are supported through a population health perspective, with particular emphasis on populations, and social, political and economic determinants of health.
  Prerequisite: NURS 1018, NURS 1019
  Co-requisite: NURS 1023
• NUTR1005 Nutritional Sciences
• This nutrition course will provide nursing students with fundamental knowledge related to food and nutrition. Factors influencing eating behaviours and the identification of nutritional problems are explored. The focus includes individual and public health interventions that can be implemented to prevent and manage non-communicable diseases, basic principles of clinical nutrition interventions for at-risk individuals related to malnutrition and nutrition support, and nutritional needs at critical stages of the life cycle.
  Prerequisite: NURS 1024
• NURS1022 Theoretical Foundations of Nursing
• This course explores the theoretical foundations of nursing practice and research. An overview of grand, middle-range, and practice-specific theories will be presented and situated within worldviews, paradigms, and the development of specialized nursing knowledge. The study of the nursing metaparadigm will be examined through the definition of concepts of person, health and environment, selection of nursing and non-nursing theories will be examined as a foundation for practice and research. Cultural perspectives of nursing theory will be included.
  Prerequisite: NURS 1015, NURS 1018

• Second Year - Semester Three
• NURS2013 Acute Health Challenges
• This course examines the client’s experience of acute health challenges across the lifespan, while focusing on nursing care, therapeutics and nursing processes within a Primary Health Care framework.
  Prerequisite: NURS 1024, NUTR 1005, NURS 1021
  Co-requisite: NURS 2014
• NURS2017 Clinical Practicum: Acute Health Challenges
• This course prepares students to practice safe, comprehensive care in collaboration with children or adults in acute care environments under direct clinical supervision.
  Prerequisite: NURS 1023
  Co-requisite: NURS 2015
• NURS1023 Clinical Practicum: Community & Population Health Nursing
• In this course, students apply principles of community assessment, planning, and development when working in community settings with diverse populations.
  Co-requisite: NURS 1021
• NURS1021 Community & Population Health Nursing
• This course focuses on the role of the nurse in the community and public health nursing, using the population health framework. It addresses principles of community assessment and development, program planning, and other strategies that are supported through a population health perspective, with particular emphasis on populations, and social, political and economic determinants of health.
  Prerequisite: NURS 1018, NURS 1019
  Co-requisite: NURS 1023
• NCBE3001 Criminology
• The interdisciplinary study of social science examining the individual and social aspects of crime is known as criminology. Students work through an introduction to the social science perspective on crime. Presentations, discussions, and assignments allow students to investigate the various theoretical positions related to crime and criminal behaviour. Working forward from the types and definitions of crime, students trace some of the links between government policy and the impacts of these policies on both society and the individual.
• NCBE3002 Gaming and Gender: The Digital Divide
• This degree elective breadth course combines the study of digital games and psychological, sociological, cultural, aesthetic and literary influences characteristic in online gaming. Students explore parallels between modern societal values related to gender and those occurring in the gaming world. Through experiential learning opportunities involving gameplay, students examine a variety of elements and how they converge or diverge from socio-cultural norms.
• NCBE3003 Global Citizenship
• Informed citizens in today's world appreciate the meaning of civic life at the local, national and global level. Students reflect on and develop a personal awareness of the meaning of freedoms, rights and obligations in a diverse global community and consider the political, social and economic drivers that influence patterns of human behaviour and the health of the planet. Based on general principles of global citizenship, students look beyond national borders to assess personal responsibilities related to the health and well-being of the planet and inhabitants. Students critically evaluate information related to environmental and social health, equipped with attitudes and behaviours that foster global environmental and social responsibility.
• NCBE3004 Global Perspectives
• Sociology, through its exploration of the organization of society and the connections between people and their surroundings, provides new ways of looking at the world. Using fundamental knowledge in the field of sociology, students analyze globalization and its impact on Canadian society. Students take opposing views to debate the opportunities and challenges that come with globalization.
• NCBE3005 Introduction to World Drama
• The course provides an introduction for students to a variety of dramatic works from around the world. This course will present art and history of theatre as it has evolved from pre-historic times to our post-modernist world. We will examine the literature of theatre structure, form, genre and style and how a play text is transformed into theatre.
• NCBE3006 New Worlds and Alternative Realities: Spectulative Fiction
• Speculative fiction gathers together all those works of fiction in which new worlds or alternative realities are envisioned. Within this category of prose, students have the opportunity to explore the various sub-genres that present readers with new ways of thinking about some of the issues that face society. Students also develop skills in critical analysis using a variety of approaches and methodologies from literary studies.
• NURS3006 Qualitative & Quantitative Data Analysis
• This course examines the client’s experience of acute health challenges across the lifespan, while focusing on nursing care, therapeutics and nursing processes within a primary health care framework.
  Prerequisite: NURS 2011
• NCBE3007 Survival in the Information Age: Risk and the Media
• On an almost daily basis, the media, through its various outlets – television, radio, websites, RSS and podcasts – reports on issues that address our well-being. Through discussions, readings and assignments, students enhance their ability to interpret and question information presented by the media by better understanding the inherent risks. Issues like alternative medicine (e.g. vaccinations) and socio-legal issues (e.g. bullying, hacking, surveillance, privacy) provide grounds for students to use principles from the social science as a means to think critically about real and perceived risks in daily life.
• GNED General Education Elective
• General Education Courses

• Third Year - Semester Four
• NURS4002 Clinical Practicum: Nursing Families in Complex Situations
• This course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to care for families who have at least one member experiencing an acute or chronic illness. Students will be expected to care for families in multiple settings, including their home and hospital. Students will integrate and apply the theory examined in Families within Populations and Nursing in Complex Situations in this practice setting.
  Prerequisite: NURS 2014
  Co-requisite: NURS 4000, NURS 4001
• NURS4000 Families within Populations
• This course explores the experiences of families living with complex health challenges from a population health perspective. Students focus on nursing therapeutics with further development of independent clinical judgement and decision making appropriate to Primary Health Care.
  Prerequisite: NURS 2013, NURS 2014
  Co-requisite: NURS 4001, NURS 4002
• NURS4001 Nursing in Complex Situations
• This course explores the client's experience of complex health challenges. It examines related nursing therapeutics with an emphasis placed on clinical judgment and decision-making.
  Prerequisite: NURS 2013, NURS 2014
  Co-requisite: NURS 4000, NURS 4002
• GNED General Education Elective
• General Education Courses

• Third Year - Semester Four (Elective Group 1 )
• NCBE3001 Criminology
• The interdisciplinary study of social science examining the individual and social aspects of crime is known as criminology. Students work through an introduction to the social science perspective on crime. Presentations, discussions, and assignments allow students to investigate the various theoretical positions related to crime and criminal behaviour. Working forward from the types and definitions of crime, students trace some of the links between government policy and the impacts of these policies on both society and the individual.
• NCBE3002 Gaming & Gender
• This degree elective breadth course combines the study of digital games and psychological, sociological, cultural, aesthetic and literary influences characteristic in online gaming. Students explore parallels between modern societal values related to gender and those occurring in the gaming world. Through experiential learning opportunities involving gameplay, students examine a variety of elements and how they converge or diverge from socio-cultural norms.

  Informed citizens in today's world appreciate the meaning of civic life at the local, national and global level. Students reflect on and develop a personal awareness of the meaning of freedoms, rights and obligations in a diverse global community and consider the political, social and economic drivers that influence patterns of human behaviour and the health of the planet. Based on general principles of global citizenship, students look beyond national borders to assess personal responsibilities related to the health and well-being of the planet and inhabitants.

  Students critically evaluate information related to environmental and social health, equipped with attitudes and behaviours that foster global environmental and social responsibility.

• NCBE3003 Global Citizenship
• Informed citizens in today's world appreciate the meaning of civic life at the local, national and global level. Students reflect on and develop a personal awareness of the meaning of freedoms, rights and obligations in a diverse global community and consider the political, social and economic drivers that influence patterns of human behaviour and the health of the planet. Based on general principles of global citizenship, students look beyond national borders to assess personal responsibilities related to the health and well-being of the planet and inhabitants. Students critically evaluate information related to environmental and social health, equipped with attitudes and behaviours that foster global environmental and social responsibility.
• NCBE3004 Global Perspectives
• Sociology, through its exploration of the organization of society and the connections between people and their surroundings, provides new ways of looking at the world. Using fundamental knowledge in the field of sociology, students analyze globalization and its impact on Canadian society. Students take opposing views to debate the opportunities and challenges that come with globalization.
• NCBE3005 Introduction to World Drama
• The course provides an introduction for students to a variety of dramatic works from around the world. This course will present art and history of theatre as it has evolved from pre-historic times to our post-modernist world. We will examine the literature of theatre-structure, form, genre and style and how a play text is transformed into theatre.
• NCBE3006 New Worlds & Alt Realities
• Speculative fiction gathers together all those works of fiction in which new worlds or alternative realities are envisioned. Within this category of prose, students have the opportunity to explore the various sub-genres that present readers with new ways of thinking about some of the issues that face society. Students also develop skills in critical analysis using a variety of approaches and methodologies from literary studies.
• NCBE3007 Survival: Information Age
• On an almost daily basis, the media, through its various outlets – television, radio, websites, RSS and podcasts – reports on issues that address our well-being. Through discussions, readings and assignments, students enhance their ability to interpret and question information presented by the media by better understanding the inherent risks. Issues like alternative medicine (e.g. vaccinations) and socio-legal issues (e.g. bullying, hacking, surveillance, privacy) provide grounds for students to use principles from the social science as a means to think critically about real and perceived risks in daily life.
• GNED General Education Elective
• General Education Courses
• Notes
• Select 1 courses from above

• Third Year - Semester Five
• NURS4004 Integrated Practicum
• This course provides the student with the opportunity to work and learn in a health care setting based on student interests, individual learning needs, lifelong goals and program progression policy. This integrated practicum experience uses the preceptor model and may occur in a variety of settings. Using a preceptor model the student has the opportunity to develop leadership and independence in their nursing practice and to achieve the competency level expected of nurses entering the profession.
  Prerequisite: NURS 1018, NURS 4002
  Co-requisite: NURS 4003
• NURS4003 Leadership Capstone Project
• In this capstone course, students explore leadership roles of nurses in facilitating quality improvements in a variety of health care settings. Students examine trends, leadership strategies, and structures to promote and maintain high quality health care delivery and services. Students demonstrate their ability to create a focused, evidence-based analysis that applies empirical evidence to solving a particular opportunity, problem, gap, identified need, or challenge that is relevant to the practice environment of their Integrated Practicum. Students will choose a clinical challenge related to information and communication technology, quality improvement, cultural safety, and/or social justice in their practicum setting. The student will disseminate their synthesized knowledge of key issues using both written and visual outputs. This course will be delivered on-line.
  Prerequisite: NURS 4001, NURS 4000, NURS 4002

*Courses subject to change.