Nursing (NURS) 442
Gerontological Nursing (Revision 6)
Revision 6 is closed for registrations, replaced by current version
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Delivery Mode: Individualized study online
Credits: 3
Area of Study: Applied Studies
Prerequisite: NURS 328
Precluded Course: NURS 442 cannot be taken for credit if credit has already been obtained for NURS 4441 in the Athabasca University at Mount Royal College Bachelor of Nursing Program.
Faculty: Faculty of Health Disciplines
Centre: Centre for Nursing and Health Studies
NURS 442 is not available for Challenge.
Overview
Nursing 442: Gerontological Nursing provides an opportunity to explore the area of gerontological nursing, a field of nursing that focuses on the care of older adults. The course presents the unique health care needs of the older adult and introduces students to nursing approaches to managing those needs. Ethical/legal issues related to the nursing care of the older adults are explored.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of NURS 442, the student will achieve or exceed the following learning outcomes:
- Identify the unique health needs of older adults;
- Identify strategies related to assessment and prevention in the older adult;
- Explore the importance of families and other social supports;
- Identify nursing interventions related to a variety of health problems in the older adult;
- Critically analyze ethical issues related to the care of the older adult; and
- Identify research questions that remain unanswered both in your personal learning and in the profession of gerontological nursing.
Course Structure
- Unit 1: Nursing in an Aging Society
- Unit 2: Assessment of the Older Adult
- Unit 3: Aging Families
- Unit 4: Promoting Well-being
- Unit 5: Living with Chronic Illness
- Unit 6: Common Chronic Problems
- Unit 7: Promoting Mobility
- Unit 8: Medication and the Older Adult
- Unit 9: Chronic and Acute Pain
- Unit 10: Mental Health and Cognition
- Unit 11: Legal and Ethical Issues, and Research in Gerontological Care
Evaluation
To receive credit for NURS 442, you must complete and submit all of the required assignments and achieve a composite grade of “C-” (60 percent). Effective January 1, 2010, all papers submitted must follow the guidelines of the APA Publication Manual (6th ed.) (2010).
The assignments and weighting of the composite grade is as follows:
| End of Unit Questions | 15% |
| Conference Postings from Selected Topics | 20% |
| Aging and Chronic Illness Paper | 30% |
| Ethical Issue Paper | 35% |
| Total | 100% |
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.
Course Materials
Textbook
Ebersole, P., Hess, P., Touhy, T. & Jett, K. (2016). Toward healthy aging: Human needs and nursing response (9th ed.). St. Louis: Mosby.
Other materials
A variety of electronic journal articles and websites are used in the course and paper copies are not included in the course package.
Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice. Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized-study counterparts.
Opened in Revision 6, February 4, 2016.
View previous syllabus