Nursing Certificate Options
CERTIFICATE OPTIONS FOR BScN STUDENTS
The certificates are an option for students and not a requirement to graduate. The graduation requirement is that all students have 6 credit hours of nursing electives, but students do not have to complete a specific nursing certificate. NURS 4715 is a corequisite with these electives to obtain a certificate.
1. Public Health:
a. Nursing 4381 : This course provides an opportunity for students to advance their introductory knowledge of public health nursing principles, roles, and functions. Public health nursing integrates knowledge from public health and nursing science to promote, protect, improve and restore the health of populations. The focus will be on advancing their understanding and application of population health, priority setting and planning approaches, partnerships, public policy literacy and health equity.
b. Nursing 4380: Introduction to Epidemiology Methods in Nursing Practice: This introductory course is intended to provide students at both the undergraduate and graduate level with a working knowledge and understanding of the basic concepts and methods of epidemiology. The main focus of this course will be to learn to analyse and interpret information about disease (i.e. both acute and chronic) and other health related occurrences at a population level (e.g. risk factors, diversity, determinants of health) within a Public and Community Health Nursing context. This course will also provide an introduction to the concepts for developing, implementing and evaluating public health programs and, for independent inquiry and decision making around public health policy. A clinical background and a basic understanding of statistics for the Graduate students are essential but not necessary for Undergraduate students.
2. Acute and Critical Care:
a. Nursing 4471: Emergency Preparedness: A Nursing Perspective: This course focuses on preparation of future nurses for various hazards using an "all hazards" approach. Local, provincial and national disaster response systems, in the event of a mass casualty, are explored, and the ability to care for victims and responders of all types of hazards is emphasized.
b. Nursing 4472: Acute and Critical Care Nursing: With the focus on acute and critical care nursing in the intensive care and emergency room areas, students will further develop, critically analyze and apply knowledge gained in previous courses with a focus on the management of critically ill clients. Emphasis includes working with clients across the lifespan and inter-professional relationships within specialty practice.
3. Mental Health:
a. NURS 4371: Addictions Nursing Practice: This nursing elective introduces major concepts associated with addiction nursing practice. It provides a foundation for students pursuing careers in addiction-related care. Within a primary healthcare perspective, students critique models and theories of addiction, consider the interplay between social, gender, cultural environments and addictions and become knowledgeable of a variety of treatment approaches. Universal, selective, and prevention activities at an individual, family and community level are explored
b. NURS 4372: Mental Health Nursing: Students will gain insight into individuals’ experiences of mental health problems, mental disorders/psychiatric illnesses, and addictions over the life course. Multiple perspectives, including biological, nursing, sociological, philosophical and political, will guide the analysis. Treatment modalities will be critiqued. The association between nurses’ relational practices and individuals’ quests for life fulfillment will be examined.
4. Paediatric Nursing
a. NURS 4420: Paediatric Nursing: Recognizing the unique health needs of children, this course focuses on the synthesis of knowledge and the partnership between the nurse, child, family and interprofessional team. Students will integrate developmentally supportive, family-centred care and application of nursing management with the paediatric population experiencing serious episodic and persistent illness and hospitalization.
b. NURS 4410 (Fall): Perinatal Nursing across the Childbearing Continuum: Students build upon core curriculum knowledge of the perinatal experience. The nature of the childbearing experience is critically analyzed from multiple perspectives, while evidence-informed nursing care for childbearing families with health complexities is appraised. Theory underlining processes of maternal transformation, person-centered care, relational practice and parent-infant attachment overlay these analyses.
5. Oncology Nursing
a. NURS 4352: Exploring Concepts In Oncology: Introduction to concepts of oncology nursing including cancer biology/pathophysiology, pain and symptom management, bio-psychosocial-ethical issues, treatment modalities, psychosocial distress and decision-making across the cancer continuum. The implications of cancer care at the individual, community, organization/system to the global level are explored. Students learn the principles, standards and competencies underpinning quality of life cancer care.
b. NURS 4353: Multi-dimensional Aspects of Cancer: Building on Exploring Concepts in Oncology, this course will challenge learners to consider the comprehensive care of a range of health and illness needs of individuals at risk for or living with cancer within a dynamic and changing system. The course reflects a critical analysis of the existing theoretical and evidence-informed perspectives influencing health related behaviours within the context of cancer at the individual, organizational and global levels.