Independent Study Project

Masters in Nursing Science Degree

NRS 530

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

SYLLABUS

COURSE OVERVIEW: This is a ten-semester hour course in the Master of Science in Nursing Degree Program, Gerontological Nursing Track. This course is designed as an Independent Study learning course. When you are at this level in the MSN degree program, you will select one area of clinical specialty practice and study related to Gerontological Nursing. This specialty study is officially declared by you and approved by the University. This course of study is structured around a comprehensive learning contract. You develop a learning contract which provides ten semester hours of a combination of different learning activities and independent studies focused on their declared specialty. Upon official enrollment into this graduate project course, you are provided with full instructions for preparing a learning contract, as well as examples of completed contracts. You and I then review your learning contract and mutually agree on the defined goals and learning processes to meet the goals. Faculty provides mentorship, guidance and support to you throughout the development of the learning contract and its implementation and evaluation. You are evaluated using mutually agreed upon evaluation guidelines. The learning contract is a dynamic ongoing process, which may be revised as you progress in the course. Your learning needs are given high priority during the development of the learning contract and the implementation phase. Evaluation criteria are focused on learning experiences appropriate to advanced clinical practice at the graduate degree level. The ten semester hours of learning is based on a formula: one semester hour is equivalent to fifteen contact hours of learning activities.

TIME FRAME: You are allotted ten weeks of time to complete this course. An extension of up to five additional weeks is generally approved.

TEXTBOOK: These are selected based on your learning contract.

A good place to order yours textbooks from is:

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INSTRUCTOR CONTACT: You have many avenues of access to me. You may contact me anytime you have questions, would like clarification, etc. Your interaction with me is one-on-one and this is highly beneficial as you proceed through the course. You may contact me anytime you need to. Full instructor contact information is provided inside of the online classroom for this course.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: Dominick L. Flarey, Ph.D., MBA, RN,CS, CNAA, FACHE - is President of Dominick L. Flarey & Associates, a health care consulting firm, and The Center for Medical-Legal Consulting. He has held positions as a certified nurse practitioner, associate administrator of patient care, chief operating office and administrator in acute care hospitals. He is a faculty member for Learning Tree University. He was an executive consultant to a national "big 6" accounting firm's health care practice and was a service line administrator and consultant for case management for another national consulting firm. He holds a BSN, an MBA, and Doctorates in nursing administration and management.

Dr. Flarey is certified in nursing administration advanced and as an adult nurse practitioner by the American Nurses Association Credentialing Center. He is a board certified health care executive by the American College of Healthcare Executives, and is a Fellow in the college. He also holds national certification in managed care from the Professional Education Institute. He is a Certified Medical-Legal Consultant.

He is the past editor-in-chief of JONA's (Journal of Nursing Administration) Healthcare Law, Ethics, and Regulation. He is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Nursing Administration, Seminars for Nurse Managers, Case Management: Managing the Process of Patient Care, and Nursing Outcomes. He has authored over 50 published articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Flarey is editor/author of the book, "Redesigning Nursing Care Delivery: Transforming Our Future," published by Lippincott/Raven publishers. He is also co-editor/author of the following books by Aspen Publishers: "Reengineering Nursing and Health Care: The Handbook for Organizational Transformation," winner of a 1995 AJN book of the year award, "The Handbook of Nursing Case Management: Health Care Delivery in a World of Managed Care," "Case Studies in Case Management," "Health Care Outcomes: Collaborative, Path-Based Approaches," and "Cardiovascular Outcomes: Collaborative, Path-Based Approaches," and "Process-Centered Healthcare Organizations."

He lectures nationally on the topics of Case Management, Critical Pathways, Reengineering, Redesign, Organizational Transformation, Managed Care, and Legal Issues in Health Care. He is owner and president of his own consulting firm located in northeastern Ohio . He currently practices as a medical-legal nurse consultant. He has consulted for numerous attorneys across the country on medical and nursing malpractice cases, personal injury cases, product liability cases, workers compensation cases, and has served as an expert witness in nursing malpractice cases.

GRADING: The grading scale for this course is mutually agreed upon by you and faculty. You design a grading scale for the course within the learning contract. You complete a comprehensive analysis of all learning experiences during implementation of the contract.

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

1). Learn the process of learning contract development.
2). Design effective learning contracts at the doctoral level of study.
3). Contribute significantly to one's own learning process.
4). Take higher level responsibilities for independent learning.
5). Acquire skills and motivation for lifelong higher level learning and achievements.
6). Acquire a higher level of overall knowledge and skill development in a focused area of professional nursing practice.
7). Experience learning via a learning contract.
8). Evaluate attainment of all defined goals in the learning contract.
9). Critically evaluate experiences of independent, self-directed learning.
10). Begin preparations for developing a proposal for the graduate degree project.
11). Produce a graduate level paper or project based on the defined learning contract.
12). Incorporate knowledge and skills attainment into advanced practice in Gerontological Nursing at the graduate degree level.

COURSE CONTENT: The following is a short abstract of the types of learning activities that you may incorporate into your learning contracts:

1). Independent Research.
2). Focused Reading and Study.
3). Article Abstracts and Analysis.
4). Attending Related Seminars.
5). Clinical Projects.
6). Audio Tape Programs.
7). Video Tape Programs.
8). Research and Publication.
9). Clinical Preceptorship.
10). Course Development.
11). New Services Development.
12). Project Implementation.

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