Online Women's Health Nurse Practitioner Curriculum

This course is an advanced level course in pathophysiological functioning in human organisms. The focus will be on the central concepts of pathophysiology at the cellular, tissue, and program levels. Elements of related supportive and therapeutic management across the lifespan will also be discussed.

This graduate level writing course will help the student refine writing skills from the fundamentals of writing through argumentation. Through a series of small writing assignments, this course will prepare the student for scholarly writing and research.

This course will focus on the advanced practice role as it relates to practice in a primary care setting, or women’s health setting. Topics will include the multifaceted aspects of legal and financial issues related to advanced practice; nurse to nurse practitioner to physician role differentiation; how advanced practice nurses manage care provision to individuals and families; and special issues in the community.

Theory and techniques in the measurement of human health, development, and level of functioning will be presented. Clinical practice in obtaining health histories, conducting physical examination, making physical measurements, and testing functioning in individuals across the lifespan will be included. Common diagnostic tests will be used to identify pathologic variations and to initiate intervention(s). Clinical experiences will take place in clinics located in rural and medically underserved areas.

The student will apply techniques in the measurement of human health, development, and level of functioning in the clinical setting. The student will gain clinical practice in obtaining health histories, conducting physical examinations, making physical measurements, and testing functioning in individuals across the lifespan.

Co-requisite: NU 745.

Graduate students will be introduced to the graduate diagnostic testing modalities including but not limited to: Radiographs, Laboratory Values, Suturing, Extremity Splinting/Casting, Joint injections. Students will participate in learning modules and simulation module activities in order to achieve course objectives. Diagnostic techniques, procedures, and results will be used to formulate Differential Diagnosis for plan of care development and implementation.

Using a problem-based approach to symptoms, students will understand the diagnostic framework, algorithms, and terminology facilitating the critical discernment from symptoms to diagnosis. Using evidence-based diagnostic processes, the student will explore the accuracy of the health history and sensitivity of the physical examination, laboratory studies, and diagnostic tests to rule in or rule out specific diseases. Students will synthesize the process of formulating clinical impressions that lead to hypothesis testing in the care of patients throughout the lifespan.

This course focuses on quality, informatics, and the role of statistics in quality improvement. Concepts, models, and strategies of quality improvement and informatics are examined. Students will apply principles of quality and regulatory management with an emphasis on defining, measuring, and evaluating outcomes within and across organizational systems. The student will apply informatics and statistical concepts to identify, gather, process, and manage information/data. At the end of the course, the student will be able to create and implement innovative solutions to improve patient care and safety.

This course will study the interaction of chemicals with living systems across the lifespan. It explores decision making processes that identify concepts and principles that illuminate the importance, meaning, and rationale for using one drug over another. Builds on knowledge of drugs, pathophysiology, and disease states across the lifespan.

This course, the first in two sequential clinical course in primary care, addresses the health care needs of adults across the lifespan from early adulthood through senescence. It introduces the student to acute and chronic common health concerns. Emphasis is placed on the collaborative management of patients to achieve desired outcomes. Students use scholarly inquiry to further develop their practice. Evidenced-based research as related to normal and high-risk populations.

The focus of each of the clinical courses is the management of acute and chronic health problems and the planning and management of both nursing and medical care by the advanced practice nurse.

The focus of this course is the management of acute and chronic health problems in women and reproductive health. It will incorporate planning and management of both nursing and medical care by the advanced practice nurse. Particular emphasis will be placed on high-risk groups and individuals living in medically underserved populations

The focus of this course is on the management of acute and chronic health problems in women, including reproductive and gynecologic health across the lifespan. It will incorporate health promotion, recognition of health risks and evaluation and management of illness in women by the advanced practice nurse. Particular emphasis will be placed on the high-risk groups and individuals living in medically underserved populations.

This course continues to provide the framework for clinical practice in well woman gynecologic care and care of the pregnant woman. Evidence-­-based care processes are presented. Topics include common variations experienced by the woman with a healthy pregnancy and during the normal life cycle. Psychosocial factors influencing adaptation to pregnancy, motherhood, and reproductive life issues are explored. Cultural factors impacting childbearing women are explored. Physical assessment skills specific to care of pregnant women, and skills for gynecological assessment are presented and practiced in the clinical setting. Management approaches for preconception care, and preparation for childbirth and breastfeeding will be covered in this second women’s health course. Pharmacotherapeutic agents and prescribing responsibilities used in the management of preconception and pregnancy are considered throughout the course.

This course, the second in a series of three sequential clinical courses in women’s health care continues to address reproductive-­-based health care for pregnant and non-­-pregnant women across the life span, but introduces common gynecologic complications of the pregnant woman, prepares the students to assume the professional practice roles in the care of normal antepartum women and those with health pattern variations with an at-­-risk pregnancy. Emphasis is placed on the collaborative management of interventions to achieve desired outcomes during pregnancy. Students use scholarly inquiry to further develop their practice. Evidence-­-based research as related to normal and at-­-risk client systems is applied.

This third women’s health course focuses on complex issues in gynecologic care of women. The student will be provided the opportunity to synthesize and integrate research, theories, concepts, and advanced skills into a framework for advanced nursing practice in women’s health care, applying physiologic, developmental, psychosocial, and cultural factors to diverse populations, from adolescence to senescence. Analysis is used to evaluate contemporary trends and issues, as well as policy that have an impact on the delivery of health care to women.

This course, the third in a series of three sequential clinical courses in women’s health care continues to address reproductive-based health care, care for pregnant and non-pregnant women, and advanced gynecologic care across the life span. Students are given the opportunity to integrate knowledge and refine advanced practice gynecologic skills. The focus is on the synthesis of theory, knowledge, and skills from previous courses for women’s health nurse practitioner scope of practice, and adding additional advanced gynecologic management. Evidence-based research as related to normal, at-risk, and gynecologic health deviations is applied.

This FNP focused research course provides a review of elementary research concepts and the introduction of moderate to advanced research concepts. Students will identify pertinent clinical problems, review the literature regarding those problems, and formulate a plan to address clinical problems using evidenced-­‐based sources and appropriate statistical methods. Students will compose a rudimentary clinically-­‐based research proposal for continuation in subsequent graduate level courses. This course fulfills the graduate assessment requirement for writing.

This course focuses on theoretical foundations and conceptual principles of leadership, professional collaboration, communications, and the skills necessary to practice leadership competently in healthcare environments, recognizing that organizational and systems leadership are critical to the promotion of high quality and safe patient care. Key concepts including ethical and critical decision making, motivation and individual behavior, interpersonal and group behavior, job satisfaction, work stress and culture, and influences of micro-, meso-, and macro-organizational behaviors are explored. The course is designed to enhance leadership self-awareness and to encourage students to fashion personal perspectives on how to lead professionally. Analyzing trends and issues in the current health care system that have implications for exercising leadership will help students determine the way they can make a difference.

This graduate level course addresses health risks and trends in communities and in families. High-risk populations, aggregates, and communities comprise the focus for investigation. Developmental, psychodynamic, social-political, and cultural theories and concepts are synthesized and applied to analysis of health behaviors in community settings and in families across the life cycle. Risk appraisal methods and evidence-based strategies to identify and prevent health risks in individuals, families, and communities are examined. This course highlights local, state, and federal resources for families, particularly those individuals in medically underserved areas.

The purpose of this course is to prioritize management strategies and apply selected practice models for delivery of care to families across the lifespan, in a variety of community specialties. The focus of this course is to provide the student with opportunities to integrate in depth diagnostic and management skills to provide care for families. The emphasis of this course is on the formulation and management of individualized treatment plans based on diagnostic findings and current practice models.

This course will focus on advanced practice role integration, legal and financial issues related to advanced practice nursing, management of care, and transition to nurse practitioner practice. This course builds on graduate level research foundational knowledge. Students will complete a quality improvement project designed to meet an identified need within the community of practice, develop an IRB proposal, and systematically collect and evaluate evidence for practice improvement. The student will present findings to the practice and the academic community.

Pre/Corequisites: NU 7152, NU 751, NU 752.

The focus of this course will be the confluence of ethics and policy in health care in general with specific application to nursing. General principles of ethics and those principles most often applied in health care will be considered. This course will include an overview of health care policymaking in the United States as well as the role of the “leader as advocate” in ethics and policy. Case studies will be utilized to debate and apply the role of advocate for ethical decisions and for policies resulting from these decisions.