Effective: 2025-05-01

Course Description

The course outline below was developed as part of a statewide standardization process.

General Course Purpose

The purpose of this course is to introduce the advanced beginner student to concepts relevant to community based nursing.

Course Prerequisites/Corequisites

Prerequisites: BIO 142 (or BIO 232), NSG 100, NSG 106, NSG 130 and NSG 200

Course Objectives

• Assess diverse client/family values, beliefs, and attitudes as well as community resources in a variety of community settings.
• Provide culturally relevant care that minimizes risk of harm to clients in community settings.
• Demonstrate use of the clinical judgment and evidence-based care related to the concepts of family dynamics, culture, spirituality, grief/loss, motivation/adherence, patient teaching, health care disparities and infection in supervised community care.
• Differentiate relevant cues in the care of diverse populations experiencing health problems with common and predictable outcomes in the community setting.
• Develop a plan for providing community-based care in a resource poor environment.
• Use epidemiological principles in the evaluation of diverse community settings.
• Implement a teaching plan for an individual or group in the community setting with supervision.
• Compare and contrast the uses of informatics and quality control for inpatient vs. community based care.
• Demonstrate the principles of pharmacology in the community setting.

Major Topics to be Included

• Community Based Practice
• Overview of community nursing
• Role of the nurse in community setting
• Home health nursing
• Home safety
• Epidemiology
• Exemplar: community assessment (windshield survey), community resources
• Family Dynamics Concept
• Overview of the family dynamics
• Genogram
• Risk related to genetics
• Family structure and roles
• Exemplars: Changes to family dynamics (includes expanding the family, aging of family members), the effect of family relationships on health care
• Culture Concept
• Overview of culture
• Culture subconcepts
• Cultural competence
• Cultural self-awareness
• Diversity
• Exemplars: sexual orientation, examples of cultural preferences in situations across the lifespan
• Spirituality Concept
• Overview of spirituality
• Effects on health
• Spiritual needs and assessment
• Exemplar: spiritual distress
• Health Care Disparities Concept
• Overview of health care disparities
• Characteristics of those at risk
• Healthcare access
• Quality of care
• Healthy people 2030
• Exemplars: homelessness, veterans, lower socioeconomic status
• Stress and Coping Concept
• Overview of stress and coping
• Physiological response to stress
• Risk/benefit of stress
• Healthy coping & stress Management
• Exemplars: Psychological and physiological responses to stress, coping strategies, stress prevention strategies (across the lifespan)
• Grief & Loss Concept
• Types of loss (Pregnancy loss/fetal demise, loss of a child, loss of a parent, loss of a partner)
• Stages of grief
• Effect on the family and significant others
• Exemplars: Response to loss across the lifespan, end of life care, post-mortem care
• Infection Concept
• Community based infections
• Epidemiology
• Diagnostics related to infection
• Pharmacological interventions: antimicrobials (antibiotics and antifungals)
• Pharmacology: Gentamicin, Cephalosporins, Azithromycin, Clarithromycin, Ciprofloxacin, Doxycycline, Fluconazole Anti-tubercular drugs, Isoniazid Rifampin Pyrazinamide Ethambutol Streptomyci
• Exemplars: pneumonia, otitis media (across the lifespan), meningitis (across the lifespan), Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) (across the lifespan), Tuberculosis