NU-101 Nursing Assistant Practice

Course Description:  Nursing Assistant Practice introduces concepts and skills essential to the provision of basic nursing care to individuals in a variety of health care settings, including ethical and legal standards; observation, measurement, reporting, and documentation; interpersonal skills and communication with clients, families and team members; patient/client centered care; infection control and standards/transmission based precautions; personal care, activities of daily living; nutrition and elimination; safety and emergency procedures; basic restorative care, medical-surgical, primary and public health care and end of life care.

• This course also meets PLO #(s)   1-7 of the Nursing Assistant program.

A. PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES (PLOs):
The student will be able to:

1. Demonstrate self-awareness of personal and workplace actions based on the role of the nursing assistant, core nursing values, lifelong learning, standards of practice, and ethical-legal principles.
2. Communicate effectively using interpersonal, documentation, and technology skills. 
3. Provide a safe, caring, culturally relevant and therapeutic environment to improve patient/client care outcomes in a variety of settings.
4. Use medical terminology and abbreviations accurately to report patient/client health status and interpret nursing care plans.
5. Report basic health observations and prioritize deviations in patient/client health.
6. Organize and safely provide basic nursing care to individuals across the lifespan under the supervision of a professional or practical nurse.
7. Participate in basic wellness care of individuals in primary care and public health settings.

The student will be able to:

1. Demonstrate the professional behavior, work and practice standards, and ethics expected of the nursing assistant role. 
2. Apply principles of effective communication, documentation, and technology in nursing assistant practice. 
3. Provide caring and therapeutic nursing to achieve positive patient/client health outcomes.
4. Report and record basic health observations and deviations in a timely manner.
5. Organize and provide safe basic nursing care to patients across the lifespan under the supervision of a professional or practical nurse.
6. Apply basic wellness care principles to own self-care.

I = Introduced
D = Demonstrated
M = Mastered

C. STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES (SLOs)-SPECIFIC
The student will be able to:
General SLO 1. Demonstrate the professional behavior, work and practice standards, and ethics expected of the nursing assistant role.

General SLO 2. Apply principles of effective communication, documentation, and technology in nursing assistant practice. 

General SLO 3. Provide caring and therapeutic nursing to achieve positive patient/client health outcomes.

General SLO 4.  Report and record basic health observations and deviations in a timely manner.

General SLO 5.  Organize and provide safe basic nursing care to patients across the lifespan under the supervision of a professional or practical nurse.

General SLO 6.  Apply basic wellness care principles to own self-care.

D. COURSE CONTENT

1. Domain: Legal, ethical and professional behaviors

   Health care system
   Scope and practice of the nursing assistant
   Collaboration with the health care team
   Workplace standards, expectations, and job-seeking skills
   Patient/client rights and responsibilities (ex: HIPPA)
   Patient-centered care across the lifespan

2. Domain:  Interpersonal skills, communication, and collaboration

   Therapeutic communication skills
   Appropriate and inappropriate communication
   Communicating with patients, families, team members
   Communicating with others who do not speak English, or are physically, cognitively, visually, hearing, or speech impaired.
   Communicating in situations of conflict, violence, grievance,  or other unusual situations

3. Domain:  Safe, therapeutic environment and quality improvement

   Infection control and standard/transmission based precautions
   Safety and emergency procedures in the health care setting
   Technical skill competency and lifelong learning
   Cultural diversity and cultural safety
   Introduction to human flourishing and therapeutic environments
   Basic concepts of quality improvement

4. Domain:  Reporting, recording, and documenting observations

   How and what to observe to establish a normal baseline
   Focused nursing assistant assessment
   Vital sign assessments
   When and what to report given developmental age, abilities and changes
   Principles of documentation
   Introduction to disease conditions

5. Domain: Management of nursing care

   Basic human needs
   Activities of daily living (ADL)
   Personal care
   Positioning devices and restraints
   Nutrition and hydration
   Elimination
   Restorative care
   Measure and record
   Assistive devices
   Functional abilities
   Activity, comfort, pain, rest, and sleep
   End of life care
   Care of the peri-operative patient
   Maternal-child care
   Care of the emotionally stressed patient
   Care of the patient with dementia
   Care in the home setting

6. Domain: Public health and primary care

   Basic introduction to public health, primary care, and health promotion
   Introduction to wellness and health teaching across the lifespan
   The nursing assistant role in public health and primary care
   The nursing assistant role in disaster and emergency response
   Basic internet public health and primary care resources

E.  Methods of Instruction:

1. Lectures: in class mini-lectures
2. Group discussions and exercises (problem-solving, role-playing, teaching, debate)
3. Follow-a-Nurse
4. Web-based activities
5. Skills lab and simulation lab practice
6. Direct patient/client care

F. REQUIRED Text(S) AND COURSE MATERIALS
Hegner, B.R., Acello, B., and Caldwell, E.  (2011). Nursing assistant care: A nursing process approach: Basic care. Clifton Park, NJ: Delmar (or most recent edition).

G. REFERENCE MATERIALS
Delmar’s Nursing Assistant Skills and Procedures software. (2005). Clifton Park, NJ: Delmar (or most recent edition).