Course Critique

Stephanie Crowe
The University of Texas at Tyler College of Nursing
Nurs 5327 Nursing Education Curriculum Develoment
Critique of Course Descrition and !earning "utcomes#
$tudent# $tehanie Cro%e
&' Nursing course secifications#
The course NURS 3310 is Health Assessment. According to Texas Common Course
Numer s!stem "#010$ the %irst digit "3$ indicates the academic le&el o% the course. The
second digit "3$ indicates how man! credit hours will e earned. The last two digits "10$
are uni'ue identi%iers %or the course.
Course credit 1 Theor!( # laorator! %or total o% 3 credit hours.
See http)((www.utt!ler.edu(catalog( .
*rere'uisites are NURS 3303 "*athoph!siolog! o% Acute Care$+ NURS 3#0,"Nursing
concepts and theories$+ NURS 330-"*harmacological asis %or nursing$ or concurrent
enrollment.
Note) NURS 3310 Health assessment must e completed or ta.en concurrentl! with this
course.
Re%erence)
Texas Common Course Numering s!stem "#010$
http)((www.tccns.org(aout.aspx/ruric
&&' Course Descrition#
(' Nursing emhasis 0
This course teaches concepts on health assessment o% patients. Students are taught s.ills
to assess patients holisticall! and %or man! di%%erent de&elopmental ages. Students are
taught the asics o% otaining a health histor! %rom a patient as well as a through ph!sical
exam. Students are taught to anal!1e ph!sical+ cogniti&e and social %unctioning o%
patients.
2' Target oulation 0 Students are taught to assess patients across the li%espan. Nursing
students need to e %amiliar with patients %rom neonatal to geriatric and the di%%erent
ph!sical+ ps!chosocial and cogniti&e le&els o% these patients. This course teaches an
o&er&iew o% how to assess the patient holisticall!.
3' )ealth challenges# The challenges o% nursing education is the high sta.es learning in
which mista.es in the clinical setting could lead to the death or in2ur! o% a patient
"3enner et. al #010+ p. 4#$. Students learning ph!sical health assessment are taught to
o2ecti&el! assess the patient s!stematicall! and comprehensi&el! e%ore other s.ills and
inter&entions are co&ered.
*' !earning exeriences# Students practice health assessment s.ills in a laorator!
setting and must master s.ills such as &ital signs+ 100 lood pressures+ head to toe
practicum+ and reath sound and heart sound competenc!. These learning experiences
ta.e place with the Sim 5an+ a classmate or peer+ or assessment in clinical setting.
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Course Critique
Stephanie Crowe
Re%erence)
3enner+ *.+ Sutphen+ 5.+ 6eonard+ 7.+ 8a!+ 6. "#010$. Educating nurses: A call for
radical transformation. San 9rancisco) :osse!03ass.
&&&' !earning "utcomes#
(' Nursing emhasis 0 Upon success%ul completion o% this course the student should
master s.ills in ta.ing &ital signs "temperature+ pulse+ respirations and lood pressure$.
The student should per%orm a head to toe assessment on a classmate. The student should
correctl! identi%! heart and reath sounds. ;n addition the student will complete the la
written assignments in the corresponding la manual.

2' Target oulation < The student should e ale to success%ull! complete a
comprehensi&e health assessment on an! person o% an! age and de&elopmental le&el.
Nursing students are gi&en a comprehensi&e o&er&iew o% the human od! and proper
health assessment is an important %oundation in ecoming a success%ul nurse.
3' )ealth challenges + =ne o% the iggest challenges students %ace when learning the
s.ill o% health assessment is learning how to prioriti1e. Setting priorities when doing a
comprehensi&e assessment helps the nurse de&elop proper inter&entions ! determining
the nature o% the situation "3enner et. al+ #010+ p. ,0$. A%ter completing this course+
students should e ale to de&elop their ailit! to prioriti1e a%ter assessment.
*' !earning Domains "Cogniti&e+ A%%ecti&e+ *s!chomotor$) Health assessment is oth
cogniti&e and ps!chomotor s.ills. The %oundation o% health assessment is ased on
.nowing norms and when to recogni1ed when something is outside o% normal limits. This
cogniti&e .nowledge must e comined with the ps!chomotor s.ills o% per%orming a
ph!sical health assessment and &ital signs. Nurse educators can help students uild these
s.ill through demonstration+ discussion and using a&ailale resources %or the student to
practice on "=ermann+ #013$.
Re%erence in A*A %ormat)
3enner+ *.+ Sutphen+ 5.+ 6eonard+ 7.+ 8a!+ 6. "#010$. Educating nurses: A call for
radical transformation. San 9rancisco) :osse!03ass.
=ermann+ 5.H. "#013$. Teaching in nursing) The guide to est practice. New >or.)
Springer *ulishing Compan!. ;S3N) ?-@0@#A1?,,31
&,' Teaching- !earning $trategies and .ssignments /2012 /5+3 lines each area2
Congruency of strategies and assignments %ith course descrition#
The course description teaches students on concepts o% health assessment including a
health histor! and ph!sical examination. The learning assignments include a health
histor! assignment+ a grand rounds presentation as well as a comprehensi&e %inal exam
that utili1es all the s.ills and concepts co&ered in the course. 3! the end o% the course
students ha&e per%ormed &ital sign assessment+ chec.ed 100 lood pressures+ identi%ied
heart and lung sounds and per%ormed a complete head to toe assessment.
Congruency of strategies and assignments %ith course o45ectives# The course also
assesses le&els o% ph!sical+ cogniti&e and social %unctioning in the practice o% health
#
Course Critique
Stephanie Crowe
assessment. The students are anal!1ed on their ailit! to per%orm a health assessment+
recogni1e anormalities and discuss with patients their health histor! to conclude with a
comprehensi&e health assessment. =ermann "#013+ p. 1?4$ discusses how students
progress through the cogniti&e phase ".nowledge to e gained$+ associati&e "practicing
and de&eloping s.ills$ and ps!chomotor phase "s.ills accuratel! per%ormed$.
Re%erence)
=ermann+ 5.H. "#013$. Teaching in nursing) The guide to est practice. New >or.)
Springer *ulishing Compan!. ;S3N) ?-@0@#A1?,,31
,' 6rading 7rocedures# /2012 /2+* lines each area2
Critique of 6rading Criteria /$ecificity and aroriateness2
1. $ecific grade %eights for assignments listed to total (001 and assigned
grade categories in decimal terms /ending in 8ero or 5 for easy calculation2#
Braded assignments are outlined as %ollows) 9our exams worth A0C+
Comprehensi&e %inal exam worth #0C+ Health Histor! worth ,C+ grand rounds
presentation worth 10C+ and 8ail! grade worth , C. This is comined with - pass
or %ail la(clinical assignments %or a total o% 100 C.
#. Comarison of grade %eighting 4et%een %ritten tests and other graded
assignments# There are 4 written tests worth 1,C each %or a total o% A0C o% the
grade. The comprehensi&e %inal is worth #0C o% the grade so students can assume
i% the! do well on the written exams+ the! should do well on the %inal. The other
graded assignments are slightl! lowerD the health histor! assignment is ,C+ Brand
rounds 10C and dail! grade o% ,C.
3. Critique of E9U.!&T: of 6rading $cale categories . through ;
/comarison of 1 oints in each for grades .< =< C< and D2# The grading
criteria is a criterion0re%erence interpretation. =ermann "#013+ p.1?3$ states that
criterion0re%erence interpretation is ased on a preset criterion and students are
gi&en a grade ased on this criterion instead o% in relation to other learners "norm
re%erenced criteria$. The preset criterion %or this class is A ?00100+ 3 @00@?+ C -,0
,?+ 8 A00-4+ and 9 elow A0.
4. =&erall clarit!+ e%%ecti&eness+ and %airness o% grading Criteria) =&erall the grading
criteria are spelled out clearl! and %airl!. The preset grading criteria is stated
plainl! and all grades are gi&en their appropriate weight and communicated to the
students e%ore the class egins. ;n addition there is an optional learning port%olio
that students can complete to add one additional point to their %inal grade.
Re%erence)
=ermann+ 5.H. "#013$. Teaching in nursing) The guide to est practice. New >or.)
Springer *ulishing Compan!. ;S3N) ?-@0@#A1?,,31
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Course Critique
Stephanie Crowe
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