SYKK1000 Foundations of Nursing 1 Course description

In this course, students will learn about the key theories, concepts and values of nursing, and what defines nursing as an independent profession. Human beings’ fundamental needs and resources, and what promotes, impedes and maintains balance in people's fundamental needs are central aspects of the course. This forms the basis for the nurse’s duties both in the municipal and specialist health service. Furthermore, ethical perspectives and assessment, action and decision-making processes in nursing will be studied, as well as the relational responsibility of the nurse.

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:

KnowledgeThe student

• is capable of describing the historical development and social mandate of nursing and the discipline’s development from work to profession
• has fundamental knowledge of theories and key nursing concepts
• is capable of describing the human being’s fundamental needs and resources
• is capable of describing factors that can influence a patient's ability to self care
• is capable of describing the human being’s psychological development and needs
• is capable of describing what makes up assessment, action and decision-making processes in nursing
• is capable of describing the main elements of care ethics and why attitudes and values have a central place in nursing
• is capable of describing key values such as self-determination, respect, dignity and solidarity
• is capable of describing how cultural conditions and social inequality may be significant to health matters
• is capable of explaining the relevance of the duty of confidentiality and duty to document for nursing practice
• is capable of describing characteristics of empathetic communication and cooperation and how this is applied to nursing practice

SkillsThe student

• is capable of reflecting on ethical issues by applying the SME model (Centre for medical ethics, UiO)
• has basic communication skills such as actively listening, giving and receiving constructive feedback and expressing disagreement in an appropriate manner
• is capable of receiving supervision and reflecting on his/her own role and participation in group cooperation
• masters the principles of academic writing

CompetenceThe student is capable of

• exchanging views on the fundamentals of nursing and the nurse’s areas of responsibility
• reflecting on the significance of own efforts in study groups and reflecting on challenges when group processes are used as learning methods

The bachelor’s thesis is the final academic in-depth paper in the nursing programme. Through the work on the bachelor’s thesis, the student will delve into a delimited area of research, and have the opportunity to develop his/her own academic independence. The topic must be linked to the nursing profession, patients and/or next-of-kin. The bachelor’s thesis must include systematic literature searches to apply results from recent research related to the chosen research question. The bachelor’s thesis must be presented in a systematic and clear manner. The title of the bachelor’s thesis will also be included on the diploma.

Passed first and second year of 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 is capable of

• discussing the nurse’s role and responsibilities in a chosen area of specialisation
• summarising relevant research and professional development in the chosen specialisation

Skills

The student is capable of

• creating a project description, including a time schedule and how he/she intends to complete the bachelor’s thesis with the resources available
• formulating a clear research question relating to nursing, which is possible to answer within the framework of the thesis
• carrying out an independent systematic literature review in accordance with the applicable research standards
• clarifying concepts, analysing and assessing different sources of information, and using these sources to formulate relevant argumentation
• presenting specialist literature in an independent, logical, critical and systematic manner

Competence

The student is capable of

• disseminating and arguing for strengths and weaknesses of his/her own study in a substantial and methodical manner
• reflecting on relevant research ethics issues

Lectures, seminars, supervision and self-study. All students will be allocated a supervisor.

The following coursework requirement must have been approved in order for the student to take the examination:

• Project description for the bachelor’s thesis, scope 1,000 words (+/- 10%)
• Completed supervision, three compulsory supervision sessions out of the four sessions offered

Bachelor’s thesis

• Literature review
• Normally written in pairs.
• Scope of 8,000 words (+/- 10%).

Resits/rescheduled exam: If the bachelor’s thesis is awarded a fail grade, the student has the right to submit a reworked version once.

All aids are permitted, as long as the rules for source referencing are complied with.