Nursing
NUR 358 - Communication And Mental Health Nursing
Description: This purpose of this required accelerated BSN course expands student understanding of the continuum of mental health and illness, and builds upon pre-requisite psychology courses. Students explore the theoretical and biopsychosocial underpinnings of mental health and illness. Student understanding of psychotropic medications, as well as a host of non-pharmacologic nursing and inter-professional team interventions are explored. Throughout the course the importance of therapeutic communication, personal presence, self-awareness and self-reflection are addressed. Students are exposed to a multitude of cultural, ethical and legal issues that nurses confront related to caring for patients and families with mental illness. Students gain a basic understanding of the wide range of pediatric and adult mental illnesses, including best practices for the vast array of treatment modalities, both acute care and community-based, for each illness, with emphasis on the influences of stress, coping and resilience. By the end of this course students are exposed to a foundational understanding of the many roles nurses fulfill related to mental health and illness throughout the continuum of care which enhance their critical reasoning, clinical practice, professionalism and leadership abilities. This leads to individualized clinical reasoning and collaborative care planning which sets the stage for caring and successful psychiatric and psychosocial nursing practice in all health care settings. Letter grade only.
Units:
2
Sections offered:
Spring 2025
Summer 2025
Requirement Designation:
Prerequisite: Accelerated BSN
Corequisite: (NUR 351, NUR 352, NUR 353, NUR 354, NUR 355, NUR 356, NUR 357, NUR 357L, NUR 358L, NUR 359)