Department of Nursing and Allied Health Technology

NURSING

Nursing is one of the great caring professions. Enroll in one of CSM's nursing programs and start your career caring directly for patients in a variety of healthcare settings.

Continuing Education Program: Critical Care Nursing

Program Description & Courses

Nurses become more effective in the assessment and management of critically ill clients. Emphasis will be placed on the assessment, signs and symptoms, treatment modalities, documentation, medications, and critical thinking. Case studies and critical thinking exercises will be used to meet the course objectives.

Course Outcomes

At the end of this course, the student will be able to:

• Describe what is current in the care of the critically ill client.
• Through the analysis of case studies, describe the role of the nurse in the assessment, medication administration, and treatment modalities.
• Describe documentation that is necessary and sufficient.
• Describe critical thinking approaches to utilize when caring for the critically ill client who does not follow the normal clinical pathway.

Course Content Outline

• Collaboration in Critical Care Settings
• Head-to-Toe Systems Assessment
• Critical Care Pharmacology
• Critical Care Laboratory Values
• Ethics, Law, and Professional Issues
• Core Measures
• Patient Safety
• Pulmonary Issues
• Cardiovascular Issues
• Diabetes and Renal Issues
• SIRS/Sepsis
• Family Crisis Communication
• End of Life Care and Spirituality
• CVA and Selected Neurological Issues
• GI Bleeding

Textbook

AACN. (2006). Core Curriculum for Critical Care Nursing . Alspach, J. Grif, editor. Alsio Viejo , CA : Saunders.