Bachelor of Science in Nursing Online Degree

This course focuses on the skills and strategies necessary for the nurse to articulate concepts and ideas in a written logical and scholarly manner. Students are introduced to the research process through the development of information literacy skills needed to locate, analyze, apply, and cite information found in the literature, utilizing a variety of research techniques and resources.

The decisions made by the government impact our lives every day. Learning about government empowers students to be active citizens who have a positive impact on their communities. This course provides the student with an overview of the framework and basic functions of the three branches of government, the role of political participation in American democracy, and the relationship between government and the rights of citizenship. Students will also explore the similarities and differences between national, state, and local governments.

This course focuses on the key people, social experiments, and technologies that continue to impact our lives. Particular attention is paid to the latter half of the 20th Century and the dawn of a new millennium in America – a time that, through the lens of history, both gives us pause and inspires hope for the future.

This course focuses on the role of ethics in healthcare delivery. The student is introduced to basic ethical principles and its application while considering personal bias within the context of working with diverse individuals.

The changing demographics of the US population, rapid growth in the use of technology, the diversity of the population and the pressure for cost containment pose challenges that impact nursing practice. In addition to these challenges, the profession faces a looming workforce demand that is currently unmet. This course is designed to prepare nurses for clinical and leadership roles that can effectively respond to the complexity and challenges in today’s health care delivery environment. Students will complete a change management project pertaining to nursing practice as a major assignment for this course. Students must earn a grade of C- (70%) or higher in all courses within the RN to BSN degree program to pass the course in the program.

Nursing informatics has been defined by the American Nurses Association as the integration of nursing science, computer science and information science in identifying, collecting, processing, and managing data and information to support nursing practice, administration, education, research and the expansion of nursing knowledge. Using this definition as a framework, the course will explore the data sources and technological tools and methods used by nurses to further the quality and effectiveness of care delivery in today’s complex healthcare environment. Students must earn a grade of C- (70%) or higher in all courses within the RN to BSN degree program to pass the course in the program.

Population based nursing expands the scope of nursing practice from the individual to groups ranging from families, to communities and to a global perspective. This course will introduce the student to concepts of public health science and blend these with an approach to nursing care as it is delivered to populations.
Concepts will include epidemiology, levels of health promotion and disease prevention and the role of the public health nurse in a diverse global society. The course will include a real world clinical assignment with population-focused, community-based care delivery. All components of the didactic and clinical assignment must be completed to successfully complete the course. Failure to successfully meet these requirements will result in a course failure. Students must earn a grade of C- (70%) or higher in all courses within the RN to BSN degree program to pass the course in the program.

Many adults in the U.S. use some form of alternative or complementary intervention as part of their regular health care program. As our society grows and becomes more diverse, it is important that nurses are aware of the array of alternative and complementary forms of treatment available to patients and their families. This course will examine various forms of alternative treatment and consider how the nurse can evaluate their efficacy and safety and partner with patients and providers to incorporate them into holistic treatment plans. Students must earn a grade of C- (70%) or higher in all courses within the RN to BSN degree program to pass the course in the program.

Achieving patient care outcomes that are of a high quality and protective of patient safety and well being are paramount to nursing practice. This course will focus on the processes and practices of quality assessment and continuous quality improvement for a variety of healthcare indicators sensitive to nursing interventions. Additionally students will examine the issue of patient safety and create a model patient safety initiative for a clinical population. Students must earn a grade of C- (70%) or higher in all courses within the RN to BSN degree program to pass the course in the program.

As providers of care, nurses should be competent in conducting comprehensive assessments of the health and well-being of patients. Assessment includes completion of a systematic health history, a physical examination, a family and social and spiritual history, and a life style behavioral assessment. Students will learn the strategies for completing and recording a comprehensive patient assessment focused on health and wellness across the lifespan. Though a physical exam will be covered, this is not a physical assessment course. This course will include a clinical assignment. All components of the didactic and clinical assignment must be completed to successfully complete the course. Failure to successfully meet these requirements will result in a course failure. Students must earn a grade of C- (70%) or higher in all courses within the RN to BSN degree program to pass the course in the program.

The nursing profession is accountable to the public to deliver care based on evidence and best practice standards. This course will prepare students to access, evaluate and integrate nursing research findings in practice. Topics will include an overview of the research process, methods used to access and analyze research findings, and strategies used to move from knowledge development to knowledge use in clinical practice. Students must earn a grade of C- (70%) or higher in all courses within the RN to BSN degree program to pass the course in the program.

As the complexity and demand for health care expands, nurse leaders and managers must be prepared to plan, coordinate, implement, and evaluate patient care delivery. In addition, the nurse leader needs to use resources such as time, money, equipment, and nursing manpower wisely to promote optimal patient outcomes. This course will prepare the nurse with the knowledge and skills necessary for effective leadership and management in today’s complex and diverse healthcare environment. Students must earn a grade of C- (70%) or higher in all courses within the RN to BSN degree program to pass the course in the program.

Innovation is a vital concern in nursing. As healthcare moves increasingly to outpatient, patient-centered practice that is safe and effective, innovation in care delivery is essential. Consumers including payers, employers and patients are actively involved in making decisions about health care and lifestyle choices. This course is designed to support the nurse to systematically examine clinical practice issues such as workforce, manpower, collaborative care models, long term care, use of technology and undeserved populations, and to apply systems thinking to create innovative practice solutions. Strategies for creativity and innovation will be applied to nursing practice. Students must earn a grade of C- (70%) or higher in all courses within the RN to BSN degree program to pass the course in the program.

This course will provide students with the opportunity to develop and demonstrate critical thinking skills in relation to competencies. The relationship between critical thinking and the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses competencies will be the focus. Students will be given virtual clinical experiences that reflect real world scenarios to demonstrate critical thinking associated with the identified competencies. This course will also correlate theory with clinical practice. Students must earn a grade of C- (70%) or higher in all courses within the RN to BSN degree program to pass the course in the program.

This is the final course in the BSN degree completion program. Students will complete individual assignments that build toward a final assignment that will encompass the program competencies and reflect a synthesis and application of their prior coursework. This course will require the student to demonstrate an understanding and application of the concepts associated with communication skills, leadership skills, healthcare policy, finance, regulation and accreditation, information and technology resources, patient preferences, values and needs, quality improvement processes, system effectiveness and individual performance factors, and evidence based practice. Students must earn a grade of C- (70%) or higher in all courses within the RN to BSN degree program to pass the course in the program.

This course introduces and describes the healthcare delivery system with an emphasis on its history, development and evolution in the United States. The roles of key stakeholders will be established, and students will discuss how the evolution of care and payer models has impacted consumers and providers. Students will be exposed to different types of provider organizations with a general orientation to the laws, regulations, and policies that govern the health care industry.

This course is a study of healthcare statistics and research including statistical principles, descriptive and inferential statistics, and research methods. Statistical concepts are related to the operations of a healthcare organization. Emphasis is on defining healthcare statistics and their application to decision making, trend analysis, benchmarking, and resource allocation for financial, clinical, and quality management. Students will have an opportunity to formulate and ask questions, locate, collect, and evaluate healthcare statistics and data resources, summarize, display, report, and interpret information, and explore the limitations in statistical inferences. Manual and software assisted methods of computing, presenting, and reporting statistical data is also covered.

This course is designed to enhance students’ knowledge of cultures, traditions, and value systems as they apply in international, multinational, and global business settings. Students explore topics such as language and other forms of communication, traditions, values, norms, cultural diversity, cultural influences on communication and the negotiation process, and ways to improve communications with people whose first language is something other than English.

In this course students examine the international business environment and how it influences management. The course examines the issues and implications involved in the application of modern management practices and principles within the global business environment.

This course examines the nature of the legal system in which society functions, including business agreements, business entities, and government regulations. Using frameworks for ethical decision-making, students will explore the ethical issues that confront business organizations and individuals.

This course examines the principles and techniques of managing operations processes in manufacturing and service industries. Students will explore the interrelationships between operations concepts, such as forecasting, planning products, technologies, facilities, demand, inventory, productivity, quality, and reliability.

This course will provide the fundamentals of Healthcare Informatics including the roles of healthcare information and management systems professionals, the organizational structures in which they work, and fundamentals of IT project management and implementation techniques. Tools for optimizing electronic access and analysis of health information for improving outcomes of patient care will be emphasized. Topics of discussion will include current IT tools being used in the healthcare industry as well as emerging trends and the IT Future of healthcare and how to manage these within the healthcare environment.

This course introduces database design, and implementation and database management systems (DBMS) with a focus on healthcare. Databases in healthcare form an integral part of electronic health records (EHRs) and health information systems (HIS) as well as important tools for decision making. Students will learn basic, conceptual, logical database design, and the file/data acquisition process. With the constraints on healthcare IT staff (ICD 10, HIS implementations, meaningful use, etc.), understanding these processes is extremely valuable. In addition, topics will include implementing these designs using a database management system and developing healthcare applications that access these databases.

This course provides a survey of several Health Information Systems (HIS) for securing healthcare data. These types of systems collect and store data then process it into information used by decision makers. Storing health information in electronic form raises concerns about patient privacy and data security. Adequate protection of the confidentiality and integrity of patient information needs to be insured for HIPAA/HITECH & compliance while keeping the patient information readily available to authorized healthcare personnel. This course’s focus will be on the conceptual foundations around utilizing health information system applications for securely storing, retrieving health information and processing it in business intelligence formats.

Students will understand how to provide historical, current and predictive views of business operations using Business Intelligence. In this course, students investigate the process of planning, designing, building, populating, and maintaining a successful Data Warehouse (DW). Students focus on the implementation of a Data Warehouse as an essential decision-support tool needed for healthcare. Students examine various forms of graphical modeling methods, including business modeling, entity relationship diagramming, dimensional modeling, physical modeling, and Warehouse metadata management.