This didactic and clinical course provides an opportunity for the application of basic nursing principals and standards of nursing care. Basic history taking, physical assessment, and fundamental nursing skills will be practiced in a simulated lab setting and competency for these skills will be determined before applying them in a clinical setting. An introduction to the concept of patient centered care and the nursing process to manage care for patients with medical and surgical conditions in acute and long term healthcare settings will be presented. The student will be introduced to the concept of critical thinking and will begin to apply them when planning and providing nursing care. Students will learn therapeutic communication skills and methods to promote and restore the health of the patient. This course also introduces content regarding nursing as a professional discipline, the theoretical basics for nursing practice, current nursing issues, roles, law and education. Ethical/legal issues in nursing are also discussed.
Certificate:Completion of this course certifies proficient understanding of Foundations of Nursing Care Practice based on a score of 80% or higher on competency exams.
This course fulfills requirements for the following Programs: Competencies (skills you will learn):- Define the scope of practice of the Licensed Practical Nurse as a member of the healthcare team and within the guidelines of the Utah State Nurse Practice Act.
- Describe the foundations of nursing, including culture and ethnicity, health and illness, human needs, nursing theory, research and evidence-based practice, values, ethics, and advocacy.
- Evaluate the settings in which healthcare is practiced and the methods taken to ensure continuity of care for the patient within interdisciplinary teams
- Describe the components, of the nursing process: assessing, diagnosing, planning, implementing, and evaluating to promote the health of patients.
- Use theories of growth and development across the lifespan to enhance the patient care plan
- Describe the roles basic to nursing care, including communicator, teacher and counselor, and leader, manager, care coordinator, and interdisciplinary team member.
- Define health physiologic responses in patients by using best practice for; hygiene, skin integrity, and wound care, activity, rest and sleep, comfort and pain management, nutrition, urinary and bowel elimination, oxygenation and perfusion, electrolyte and acid-base balance.
- Define quality and legal issues related to nursing and the delivery of patient care.
- Perform history taking, physical assessment, and fundamental nursing skills in a simulated lab setting and apply them safely in a clinical setting with appropriate supervision.
- Begin to apply the nursing process into an individualized plan of care in the clinical setting.
- Apply personal management skills to prioritize and organize nursing care for one patient.
- Demonstrate knowledge of selected medical-surgical conditions and associated diagnostic/treatment modalities.
- Develop plans of care to help patients meet basic psychosocial needs; self-concept, stress and adaptation; loss, grief, and dying; sensory stimulation; sexuality; and spirituality.
- Demonstrate professional behavior in the clinical setting.
- Safely demonstrate basic actions of nursing care to promote health physiologic response.
- Demonstrate how to collect, organize, record, and report patient data using Electronic health Records.
- Implement the actions basic to nursing care; maintaining asepsis, measuring vital signs, assessing health, promoting safety, incorporating complementary and alternative therapies, administering medications, and caring for medical-surgical patients.
This is a competency-based course that has a defined start and end date.
Course Length:The estimated length of this course is 330 hours.
Course Location & Schedule:Tooele Tech Campus
88 S. Tooele Blvd., Tooele
Monday (Clinicals)
Wed: (makeup days as needed; see calendar)
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday (Class/Lab)
Applicants are required to complete and submit the Practical Nurse Application
Textbooks & Materials:Please check the Bookstore for required books, and current prices.
Tuition & Fees:Tuition is based on the number of enrolled classroom hours. High school students are exempt from tuition, but are responsible for course and program fees and the cost of textbooks. Please visit the Tuition pages of this website or contact Student Services for current tuition and fee information. This course does not have an individual course fee, but please see the information sheet for your desired program for estimated total program tuition and fee costs.