Nursing Field Experience:

6341

Total Hours: 144

1. NURS 6341: Specialty in Clinical Nursing

• Didactic: 4 credits
• Practicum: 1 credit
• Total Hours: 72

2. NURS 6351: Role of the Nurse Educator

• Didactic: 4 credits
• Practicum: 1 credits
• Total Hours: 72

Prerequisites: In some instances, students may have reason to take NURS 6351 prior to NURS 6341 (this must be petitioned through Student Success Advising). However, NURS 6321: Curriculum Development, Assessment, & Evaluation, NURS 6331: Teaching Learning Strategies: Integrating Technology Into Nursing Education, and NURS 6370: Foundational Skills for Nurse Educators in Academic and Healthcare Environments must be successfully completed prior to taking NURS 6351.

In addition, NURS 6380: Advanced Pathopharmacology and Advanced Health Assessment for Nurse Educators must be successfully completed prior to taking NURS 6341.

NURS 6341: Specialty in Clinical Nursing

• The purpose of NURS 6341 is to provide nurse educator students with an opportunity to apply the knowledge gained in the science-driven courses of pathopharmacology (NURS 6301) and advanced health assessment (NURS 6512 or NURS 6380; catalog year Spring 2019).
  • The course, through online classroom Discussions and practicum experiences, provides students with the opportunity to apply these sciences to advanced direct patient care.
  • Preceptors are required to have been prepared at the graduate level in the application of these sciences and must be engaged in delivering advanced patient care in a specialized field. Advanced patient care is defined as the management of complex disease processes in a specialty beyond the basic bedside nursing care to a specific group of patients. For example, students might select to learn more about the pain management of oncology patients or the management of hypertensive patients.
  • Other examples of student experiences may be learning the management of complex nursing care delivery, involving the work of a clinical nurse specialist, experiences with a wound specialist, or hospice care. To achieve these learning experiences, students must propose a practicum site that allows them direct contact with patients. Acceptable preceptor and site choices include the following:

• Possible Preceptor Choices: (Clinician) clinical nurse specialist, nurse practitioner, physician, or physician assistant who provides advanced direct care
  • The preceptor is NOT required to be an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN).
• Possible Site Choices: Community clinic, emergent care clinic or hospital, and/or nursing home or hospice that provides direct contact with patients
• Preceptorship Prescreen Checklist

Note: The focus of this course is not on educating patients, students, or staff. A college, university, or staff development department is not an appropriate site and will not help students achieve the objectives of this course. Also, supervising nursing students in a clinical setting would not be an appropriate activity for this course. In addition, individuals in educator roles are not appropriate preceptors for this practicum unless they have expertise as clinicians and can provide students with access to direct patient contact.