SKOMP1000 The Profession of Nursing and Social Science Course description

The course will teach students about the history, underlying philosophy, evidence-based practice, cultural understanding and professional ethics of the nursing profession, as well as knowledge about the state and municipalities, and health and social policy. This forms the basis for nurses’ duties in the municipal and specialist health services.

Admission to the programme.

After completing the course, the student is expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and competence:

Knowledge

The student

• can disseminate knowledge about nursing as a profession and as a science
• can describe the history and tradition of nursing
• is familiar with theory of science, research ethics and different research methods
• can explain evidence-based practice
• is familiar with professional and research critical debates
• can discuss ethical theories and professional ethical principles
• can refer to health and social policy, including applicable official requirements, compulsory provisions and laws and regulations
• can describe the development of the welfare state and see the relationship between societal development, standard of living and individual health and social issues
• can give an account of patient safety and quality at different levels of the health service
• can give an account of cultural diversity in Norway, including the indigenous status of the Sami people
• can give grounds for his/her professional communication in different relations

Skills

The student

• can find, assess and refer to relevant research articles in order to elucidate nursing issues, both orally and in writing, in accordance with evidence-based practice
• can document nursing in a legally and professionally sound manner
• can use up-to-date knowledge about the health and welfare system, laws, guidelines and regulations in the performance of his/her duties
• can use technology and digital solutions in the health service

Competence

The student

• can disseminate subject matter on health administration and about health and society, both orally and in writing
• can plan and carry out independent assessments of the nursing needs of people from indigenous and minority backgrounds
• knows about quality challenges at system and/or task level that require innovative thinking
• can share opinions about ethical challenges, with particular emphasis on safeguarding patients’ autonomy, integrity and dignity
• can reflect on and handle ethical issues and principles
• can reflect on his/her own professional practice and power structures when working with people

Lectures, group work, supervision, workshops, seminars, and internet searches course at the learning centre, and self-study.

The following coursework must have been approved in order for a student to be permitted to take the exam:

80 % attendance of timetabled activity marked.

Assignment 1

The profession of nursing:

1a) Ethical focus

Group assignment/individual Students will write an ethical reflection in groups with individual reflection note from the work Scope: 1,000 words (+/- 10%) Feedback from the lecturer during the process The assignment will be presented and discussed in study groups with the study group supervisor.

1b) Focus on evidence-based practice

Group assignment The assignment will be presented using a given template at a seminar Scope: 1,000 words (+/- 10%)

Assignment 2

State and municipal studies, health and social policy.

2a) Health and social law focus

Individual subject note. Scope of 1000 words (+/- 10%).

2b) Focus on the structure and organisation of the health and care services.

Individual electronic multiple choice assignment - 100% correct and submitted by the deadline.

Supervised individual written exam, 6 hours.

A link to the Health Personnel Act and the Patient and the Act relating to the rights of patients and users is made available in the task set. In addition, an approved dictionary can be brought along.

Grade scale A-F.

Gender, ethnicity, social class, age/generation, functional ability and sexual orientation form the basis for social categories that are part of the power relations and forms of dominance in society today. That also makes them important to the freedom of action of groups and individuals and the way in which they understand themselves and others. It is a challenge in empirical analyses to take into consideration that people belong to many different categories at the same time.

Intersectional approaches make it possible for analyses to identify the many-faceted interactions that can constitute social categories and that social categories can produce. This course includes theoretical perspectives and empirical research that are primarily based on affiliation to one of the relevant categories, as well as scholarly works that make dynamic relationships between category affiliations the focus of their analysis.

After completing the course, the candidates are expected to have the following knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

Candidates have

• knowledge about theoretical perspectives that challenge notions that social categories are substantially uniform
• knowledge about social and cultural processes that have contributed/contribute to different forms of category construction

Skills

Candidates have

• an academic basis for conducting complex and dynamic analyses of people's concurrent affiliation to important categories
• an academic basis for analysing and reflecting on power relations in research and social work activities from an intersectional perspective

General competence

Candidates are capable of

• assessing and identifying new research questions in the field
• taking part in debates in national and international forums

Teaching will take the form of lectures, groups- and class discussions.