Nursing Assessment Across the Life Span

Masters in Nursing Science Degree

NRS 503

Breyer State University
Instructor: Dominick L. Flarey, Ph.D, DCH, MBA, RN,CS, CNAA, FACHE

SYLLABUS

COURSE OVERVIEW: Welcome to NRS- 503, a graduate Level course in the curriculum for the Degree, Master of Science in Nursing Science. I am pleased to offer you this course, which will be a very important foundational course for the remainder of your studies in the graduate program. This is an exciting course. You have the opportunity in this course to explore the art and science of physical assessment and advanced nursing assessment. This course is an intensive course and is equivalent to any physical assessment and diagnosis course in a medical school or advanced practice nursing curriculum. It provides foundational study in health, wellness, and in pathology states. It takes us from the "normal" to the abnormal and uses a "body systems" framework for content presentation.

You will learn how to take a comprehensive health history. You will also learn how to conduct a comprehensive physical assessment/examination. Each body system that is examined will be done so in the context of the "normal" progressing to the most common manifestations and findings in disease states. At the completion of this course, you will have a solid foundation of skills and knowledge and will be able to conduct a proficient health history on clients, as well as appropriate physical assessments. You will also have a foundational knowledge of many disease states and their manifestations and subjective symptoms.

TIME FRAME: This is a six-semester hour course. This course is allotted ten weeks of time. You must complete all of the requirements for the course successfully by the end of the ten week period. The first day of week one will begin the day that you register for the course, or the day which you notify me that your text book(s) have arrived and you are ready to begin your studies. Please be cognizant of the time frame. It is rare that extensions of time are permitted, unless you have good justification. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be awarded six semester hours of credit.

TEXTBOOKS: There is one (1) required textbook for this course:

Bates's Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking. Ninth Edition. By Lynn S. Bickley & Peter Szilagyi, Philadelphia, PA; Lippincott: 2007. ISBN # 0781767180.

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EXAMINATIONS: There is one final examination for this course. The examination will be an objective-type test of multiple choice and true/false questions. It is an open book examination. The final examination must be taken by the end of the 10th week in the course. The examination is programmed and is located in the classroom for this course. You will have three (3) days to complete your exam, once you access it from the classroom.

GRADING: The grading scale for this course is as follows:

90-100%    = A
80-89%      = B
70-79%      = C
Below 70% = Fail

COMMUNICATION: You are encouraged to communicate with me. I am available as a teacher, coach, and mentor to assist you in meeting your goals for this course. Primarily, communication is through email. However, I am also available for conversation by telephone. Our classroom for this course has a "chat" room. I am also very willing to meet with you one-on-one in the chat room at your request. From time to time, depending on how many students are enrolled in this course at a particular time, we will have some scheduled group chats. You will receive more detailed information at the time such chat sessions are scheduled.

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS: You will produce a learning portfolio in this course as you progress. In the classroom is a link for the written assignments. For each chapter in the textbook, you are given specific questions, which you must respond to in writing. After you have completed reading and study of a chapter, you will progress to address the chapter questions. Responses to the chapter questions are NOT to be turned in to me until the end of the 9th week in the course. At that time, you will submit all responses to all questions for the entire book. This comprises the learning portfolio for the course. Detailed instructions for completing the learning portfolio are provided in the course classroom. Click on assignments for details.

There is another major assignment for this course. You are required to conduct an actual health history on a recruited subject. The health history must follow the guidelines as provided in the text. You will write up the health history and submit it to me by the end of the 5th week in the course. Specific information is provided in the course classroom. Click on assignments for details.
Written assignments are graded on a Pass/Fail basis.

ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR: Dominick L. Flarey, Ph.D, MBA, RN,CS, FACHE, is Dean of Nursing and Alternative Health Care at Canyon College, and is professor of many of the nursing and health care related Certificate Programs offered by the Canyon College. He holds a BSN degree, a Masters in Business Administration, a Masters In Health Science Education, and PhDs in Nursing Administration and Management. He is a Registered Nurse and a Certified and Licensed Adult Nurse Practitioner. He has held positions as an Emergency Room Nurse Practitioner, A Primary Care Nurse Practitioner with a specialty practice in BioPsychiatry, a Nurse Executive, A Chief Operating Officer, and an Administrator in Acute Care. He has also held several positions with national consulting firms. He is also the President of Breyer State University.

Dr. Flarey is currently the Editor-in-Chief of a journal in Healthcare Law, Ethics & Regulation. He lectures extensively across the country on management and clinical issues in health care, as well as law and ethics. He is also a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist and holds a Doctorate Degree in Clinical Hypnotherapy. He is Certified in Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing, Certified as a Grief Counselor, and Certified in Angelology Practice. He has a small hypnotherapy practice in Northeastern Ohio, and also does private Spiritual Counseling, as well as Intuitive Counseling and mediumship work. He holds a Practitioner Certificate in Metaphysics from the University of Metaphysics in California and was recently certified in Pastoral Counseling Psychology.

He is the co-author/editor of 7 texts books in health care, and has authored over 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Flarey is a Board Certified Adult Nurse Practitioner by the American Nurses Credentialing Commission. He is licensed as a Nurse Practitioner in the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania. He practiced as a Nurse Practitioner for four years in a large emergency room, and also practice on a surgical service and in primary care.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

1). Understand the breath and scope of practice related to physical assessment and diagnosis.
2). Learn how to conduct a comprehensive health history on clients.
3). Learn how to conduct a comprehensive physical assessment/examination on clients.
4). Understand the basic and foundational techniques of conducting physical assessments.
5). Understand how to conduct a physical examination structured by body systems.
6). Learn to accurately record the health history and the physical examination.
7). Understand the aging process and how to conduct a health history and physical examination on geriatric clients.
8). Understand the special issues of history taking and physical examination related to children and adolescents.
9). Understand the specific history and assessment standards related to the pregnant client.
10). Understand how to conduct a comprehensive psychosocial history.
11). Understand the modern day use of assessment tools and equipment, their purpose and proper uses.
12). Understand the methodology involved in conducting a physical assessment on infants.
13). Comfortably conduct a health history and a physical assessment on recruited clients.
14). Use the tools of physical assessment and health history taking to formulate a client problem list.

PREREQUISITE: This is a doctoral level course. You must have been accepted into the doctoral degree program at Breyer State University, in order to register for this course.

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