Advanced Health Assessment for Advanced Practice Nurses

This course focuses on the advanced comprehensive assessment of individuals within a developmental life span perspective. The interactions of developmental, biopsychosocial, and socio-cultural contexts resulting in health effects for individuals provide the structure of the course. The course builds on the students' knowledge and skills of basic physical assessment and provides a foundation for the advanced practice nurse to evaluate the health of individuals across the life span. Students are grounded in the theoretical perspectives, empirical documentation, and practice skills necessary for advanced communication (i.e., clinical interviewing, focused history taking), biopsychosocial and physical assessment, critical diagnostic reasoning, and clinical decision-making. Students acquire the requisite advanced knowledge and skills within a case-based, problem focused learning framework that integrates theoretical, empirical, and experience-based practical knowledge.