NU 300 Pathophysiology (3 credits)
This course builds on basic anatomy and physiology. Emphasis is placed on altered physiological functioning common to illness and disease processes. Understanding the etiology, clinical manifestations, diagnostic and laboratory findings, and compensatory mechanisms provides a base for promoting, maintaining, and restoring health. Prerequisite: Admission to the nursing program. (Must be taken prior to or concurrently with NU 325.)
NU 315 Concepts of Health and Nursing (3 credits)
This course provides students with an introduction to the nursing profession. Nursing theories and concepts provide a basis upon which students develop a professional value system and build future course work. Students are introduced to the nursing process as a problem-solving method for meeting holistic needs of clients in areas of health promotion and maintenance. Introduction to community health nursing and mental health issues are presented. Prerequisite: Admission to the nursing program. (Must be taken prior to or concurrently with NU 325.)
NU 325 Foundations of Therapeutic Nursing Interventions (3 credits)
In this beginning course students apply knowledge from the liberal arts and sciences, while focusing on the foundations of nursing from a theoretical base. Critical thinking and problem solving are emphasized as a foundation for the care provider role. Medical terminology and math for nursing are integrated. Prerequisite: Admission to the nursing program. (Must be taken concurrently with NU 325L.)
NU 325L Foundations of Therapeutic Nursing Interventions Clinical (3 credits)
In this beginning course the student masters basic nursing skills necessary to provide individualized care to clients. Initial experiences are in the nursing lab where students practice beginning level skills. During subsequent experience students care for clients in acute, extended, long term, outpatient, and community based settings. Students identify the various roles of nurses in these different settings. Prerequisite: Admission to the nursing program. (Must be taken concurrently with NU 325.)
NU 330 Health Assessment Across the Lifespan (3 credits)
This course provides the learner with theory based assessment as the foundation of the nursing process. Emphasis is placed on the interview process and recognition of normal findings for history and physical examination of each system. Developmental and cultural variations related to health assessment are included. Health promotion at various stages of growth and development is integrated. There is one two-hour theory session per week. The lab session provides the student with the skills needed to perform and document a systematic health assessment of a normal client. The student practices history taking and physical exam skills. The course culminates in the performance and documentation of a head-to-toe examination. There are two hours of laboratory per week. Prerequisite: Admission to the nursing program. (Must be taken prior to or concurrently with NU 325.)
NU 335 Health Assessment (3 credits)
This course introduces the basics of physical, psychosocial, emotional, spiritual, and cultural assessment. Emphasis is placed on health promotion at various stages of growth and development. Functional health patterns as a data collection method is correlated with the traditional methods of body systems and head-to-toe examination. Students will practice assessment techniques during class time and in clinical settings. (For licensed RNs only.)
NU 345 RN-BSN Bridge Course (4 credits)
This is a seminar course designed to ensure that the technically prepared RN nurse graduate possesses the knowledge to succeed in upper-level baccalaureate nursing courses. The student will be introduced to selected content related to the care of clients across the life span.
Second-Level Courses
NU 360 Pharmacology (3 credits)
This course focuses on the study of various drug classifications and their nursing implications. Prerequisite:
NU 300 or permission of instructor.
NU 375 Nursing of Childbearing Families (3 credits)
This course explores the health of childbearing families, focusing on health promotion, restoration, and
maintenance. Material is presented that focuses on the nursing process related to care of families from
preconception through the prenatal, intrapartum, postpartum and early neonatal period. Legal, ethical, and social issues affecting the childbearing family are included in the course. Prerequisites: Completion of Level One courses; completion of or concurrently with NU 360. (Must be taken concurrently with NU 375L.)
NU 375L Nursing of Childbearing Families Clinical (1.5 credits)
This course focuses on the application of the nursing process in the provision of care to families during the
childbearing continuum from preconception through the prenatal and birth processes and into the postpartum and early infancy periods. The needs of childbearing families are addressed in a variety of settings. Ethical dilemmas pertaining to perinatal issues are identified and discussed. Prerequisite: Completion of Level One courses (must be taken concurrently with NU 375).
NU 385 Nursing of Adults: Acute Health Alterations (3 credits)
This course explores acute health alterations of the adult, focusing on health promotion, restoration, and
maintenance. Nursing of the surgical client is an emphasis, including patient and family responses, ethical and legal issues, pharmacologic therapy, and management of supportive therapies, technologies, and equipment. Prerequisites: Completion of Level One courses; completion of or concurrently with NU 360. (Must be taken concurrently with NU 385L.)
NU 385L Nursing of Adults: Acute Health Alterations Clinical (1.5 credits)
This course focuses on application of the nursing process, including health promotion, restoration, and
maintenance in provision of care to adults experiencing surgical intervention for acute health alterations. Patient and family responses, ethical and legal issues, and management of supportive therapies, technologies, and equipment are explored in a variety of settings. Prerequisites: Completion of Level One courses. (Must be taken concurrently with NU 385.)
NU 393 Nursing of Persons with Mental Health Alterations (3 credits)
This course focuses on the interpersonal and communication skills needed by students to assume the care provider and coordinator role in mental health nursing. How to maintain and restore clients’ mental health in a variety of settings is emphasized. Prerequisites: Completion of Level One courses; completion of or concurrently with NU 360. (Must be taken concurrently with NU 393L.)
NU 393L Nursing of Persons with Mental Health Alterations (1.5 credits)
This course focuses on the interpersonal and communication skills needed by students to competently assume the provider and coordinator role in a psychiatric setting. How to promote, maintain and restore mental health is emphasized. Prerequisites: Completion of Level One courses (must be taken concurrently with NU 393).
Third-Level Courses
LA 301 Reasoning and Writing (3 credits)
This course integrates instruction in logic and critical thinking with the preparation of a formal research paper. It is required for all students transferring to Baker with thirty credit hours or more of full-time college study, including three or more credit hours of English Composition. As an upper-college course, it presupposes skills in careful reading and expository writing.
NU 400 Selected Topics in Nursing (1-2 credits)
This course is designed to allow RN students the opportunity to explore an area of interest in nursing at the level and depth of a senior nursing student. Students work closely with their faculty advisor to establish purpose and direction for this experience. (For licensed RN’s only.) (May be taken as two one-credit courses.)
NU 405 Nursing Research (3 credits)
This course provides an introduction to the field of nursing research, including relevant terminology, processes, and techniques. An introduction to qualitative and quantitative research designs and hypothesis testing is presented, and concepts of validity and reliability are addressed. Content on selecting, presenting, and interpreting statistical analysis is also included, along with the ethical implications of research involving human subjects. A major focus of the course is on developing the analytic skills to become a skilled consumer of empirical data. Prerequisites: Completion of Level One and Two courses.
NU 425 Nursing of Children (3 credits)
This course emphasizes the health care needs of children of all ages and stages of development from infancy through adolescence. Principles of child development, family centered care, and nursing process are used as frameworks. Concepts of health promotion, maintenance, and restoration and issues related to dying are addressed for this population. Prerequisites: Completion of Level One and Two courses. (Must be taken concurrently with NU 425L.)
NU 425L Nursing of Children Clinical (1.5 credits)
This course focuses on the application of the nursing process, including health promotion, restoration, and
maintenance in the provision of care to infants, children, and adolescents. Emphasis is placed on family centered care, incorporating developmental characteristics and needs of children with various socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Prerequisites: Completion of Level One and Two courses. (Must be taken concurrently with NU 425.)
NU 435 Nursing of Adults: Chronic Health Alterations (3 credits)
This course explores chronic illness alterations of the adult, focusing on health promotion, restoration, and
maintenance. The focus is on nursing of the chronically ill adult, including patient and family responses, ethical and legal issues, pharmacologic disease management, chronic pain management, and health promotion and risk reduction. Prerequisites: Completion of Level One and Two courses. (Must be taken concurrently with NU 435L.)
NU 435L Nursing of Adults: Chronic Health Alterations Clinical (1.5 credits)
This course focuses on the health care needs of clients with chronic health alterations. The nursing process
framework is implemented to manage care for individuals with increasingly complex health problems. Emphasis is placed on health promotion and the maintenance and restoration of client systems with chronic health alterations within institutional and community settings. Prerequisites: Completion of Level One and Two courses. (Must be taken concurrently with NU 435.)
NU 445 Nursing of Elders (2 credits)
This course focuses on using the nursing process to promote health restoration and health maintenance for elders. Material presented assists students to identify aging as a process of increasing complexity, encompassing biological, psychosocial, and cultural variables. Prerequisites: Completion of Level One and Two courses. (Must be taken concurrently with NU 445L.)
NU 445L Nursing of Elders Clinical (1 credit)
This course focuses on health care needs of elders in a variety of settings. Physical, psychological, sociocultural, and developmental issues associated with both normal and challenged aging processes are explored. Health promotion needs, as well as those associated with acute and chronic illness and end of life, are addressed, along with nursing actions to meet these needs. Students are exposed to a variety of programs and services available in health care settings and the community at large. Prerequisites: Completion of Level One and Two courses. (Must be taken concurrently with NU 445.)
Fourth-Level Courses
LA 401 Science, Technology and Human Values (3 credits)
This seminar is required for all seniors. It engages all of the values and skills developed by students through their liberal education in the study of significant public policy issues created by scientific and technological development. Each student chooses an important public policy issue, does extensive research, then writes, presents, and defends a position paper advocating a specific public policy. This is a required humanities course. Prerequisites: LA 301 or LA 101 and LA 102.
NU455 Nursing of Communities (2.5 credits)
This course explores communities-as-clients, with an emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention. Students will explore and apply the concepts of community assessment, epidemiology, prevention, population-based services, community activism, and evaluation of community outcomes as they address the unique health needs of various populations. Prerequisites: Completion of Level One, Two and Three courses. (Must be taken prior to or concurrently with NU 492L.)
NU 475 Leadership and Management in Professional Nursing (2.5 credits)
This course is designed to assist the student during transition from a student role into a professional nursing role. Content is based on theories, principles, and skills needed to provide leadership, manage resources, staff, and groups, and promote team building. Learning activities are designed to enhance skills in critical thinking and clinical judgment, and to encourage active participation in political, social, and environmental issues. A project requiring use of nursing research and change theory assists the student to incorporate theory into the practice setting. Prerequisites: Completion of Level One, Two and Three courses. (Must be taken prior to or concurrently with NU 492L.)
NU 485 Nursing of Adults: Complex Health Alterations (3 credits)
This course explores complex health alterations of the adult, focusing on health promotion, restoration, and
maintenance. The foundations of critical care nursing are addressed, including patient and family responses, ethical and legal issues, dysrhythmia interpretation, pharmacological therapy, hemodynamics, and ventilatory assistance. (Must be taken prior to or concurrently with NU 492L.)
NU 492L Professional Nursing Practicum Clinical (5.5 credits)
This course focuses on the clinical application of the principles of professional nursing practice, incorporating the roles of care provider, manager, and member of a profession in acute care and community settings. This course includes opportunities for the student to provide care for adults with complex health alterations, collaborate with communities-as-clients, and transition to graduate professional nursing practice. Prerequisites: Completion of Level One, Two and Three courses. (Must be taken concurrently with or after NU 455, NU 475, and NU 485.)
NU 495L Advanced Nursing Practicum (3 or 4 credits)
Concepts from NU 345, NU 455 and NU 475 are applied to a complex client system in the clinical setting, designed to meet the needs of the B.S.N. Completion student. (For licensed RNs only.) Pre- or corequisites: NU 455 and NU 475.
NU 499: Independent Study
Independent studies conducted as tutorial courses are available in limited number to qualified degree-seeking students. Independent study projects must be approved by the Dean and the faculty member to whom these are assigned. The approval process assures compliance with the degree plans, academic credibility and G.P.A. The topics for independent study are limited. A statement must be prepared by the student, in collaboration with the faculty, providing a title, objectives, requirements for course, general outline, and bibliography for the study. Generally, no catalog courses may be taken on an independent study basis. Theory related courses will be assigned a letter grade, and clinically focused courses will be assigned a P/NC. The independent study is approved, registration must be completed at enrollment and tuition paid along with other fees.
