Year
2024Credit points
10Campus offering
Prerequisites
NRSG524 Advanced Pathophysiology for Specialty Nursing Practice AND NRSG525 Evidence-based, Person-centred Family Care in Specialty Nursing Practice
Unit rationale, description and aim
Patients with both acute and chronic neurological conditions often present to hospital requiring surgical or non-surgical episodic care. Neuroscience patients can present with histories that involve a range of pathophysiological changes, psychosocial changes and behaviours of concern; these factors lead to the requirement for complex, person-centred and multidisciplinary care. To be effective healthcare practitioners, nurses working in neuroscience settings must have pathophysiological knowledge and a range of skills, to understand, apply and develop an appropriate plan of care for patients with acute, chronic and complex neuroscience conditions.
It is critical that neuroscience nurses are equipped with the specialty knowledge and skills to effectively care for neuroscience patients through application of evidence-based practice. The selection of content is based on the complexity of care required by neuroscience patients and the recent advances in neuroscience nursing. Key concepts related to traumatic brain injury, spinal surgery, alterations in arousal, cranial nerve disorders, acute, chronic and degenerative neuroscience conditions, space occupying lesions and cerebrovascular disorders will be detailed. Various medical treatments and procedures, comprehensive neurological assessment, pre and post operative nursing care, monitoring, autoregulation and compensation and cerebral protective strategies will be explored to assist students with skills in analysis, evaluation, and application of person-centred care in the neuroscience setting.
The aim of this unit is to support students to evaluate the complexity of neuroscience nursing care while developing knowledge and skills to critically appraise and evaluate evidence to ensure neuroscience patients are delivered high quality and safe care, that is respectful and promotes health and wellbeing.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
| Learning Outcome Number | Learning Outcome Description | Relevant Graduate Capabilities |
|---|---|---|
| LO1 | Analyse specialist clinical nursing knowledge and skills, interprofessional communication and teamwork in the specialist clinical setting | GC1, GC2, GC7, GC11 |
| LO2 | Determine alterations in arousal in the neuroscience patient and prioritise timely evaluation, escalation and nursing management techniques for cerebral harm mitigation | GC1, GC2, GC7, GC8, GC11 |
| LO3 | Appraise and apply the evidence underpinning the comprehensive medical and nursing management of cerebrovascular disorders, the various diagnostics, preventative, curative, rehabilitative and multidisciplinary approaches to care for neuroscience patients | GC1, GC2, GC4, GC7, GC8, GC10 |
| LO4 | Examine the impact and goals of care required when caring for a neuroscience patient that has a traumatic brain injury whilst critically reflecting upon the key pathophysiological concepts that contribute to complex care trajectories | GC1, GC2, GC3, GC6, GC7, GC8, GC11 |
Content
Topics will include:
- Traumatic brain injury: Primary vs secondary
- Types of head injury
- Mechanism of brain injury
- Ischaemia & Hypoxia
- Abnormal autoregulation
- Post traumatic Amnesia
- Spinal surgery
- Pre-operative care assessment skills
- Common conditions requiring surgery
- Treatment options
- Post-operative nursing management
- Professional concepts related to post operative management
- Spinal & Neurogenic Shock
- Types of spinal surgery
- Minimally invasive spinal surgery and recent technological advancements
- Spinal precautions
- Brain death
- Alterations in arousal: Coma
- Pathophysiology
- Clinical manifestations
- Nursing assessment
- Underlying mechanisms
- Management of coma and post coma unresponsiveness
- Cranial nerve disorders
- Cranial nerves
- Bells Palsy
- Trigeminal Neuralgia
- CNS Structural Malformations
- Myelomeningocele
- Degenerative neurological disorders
- Parkinson’s disease
- Myasthenia Gravis
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Motor Neuron disease
- Guillain Barre Syndrome
- Huntington disease
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
- Medical and nursing management
- Space occupying lesions
- Gliomas
- Astrocytomas
- Pituitary tumours
- Diabetes Insipidus
- Syndrome of inappropriate anti-diuretic hormone
- Signs & symptoms
- Diagnostics
- Medical & nursing management
- Complications
- Cerebrovascular disorders: Subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) & aneurysms
- Arteriovenous malformations
- Aetiology & pathophysiology
- Types of aneurysms
- Common causes of SAH
- Diagnosis
- Medical & nursing management
- Post-operative management and management of complications
- Cerebrovascular disorders: Ischaemia & haematomas
- Overview of conditions and epidemiology
- Signs & symptoms
- Diagnostics
- Medical management
- Nursing care of the neuro/stroke patient
- Subdural & epidural haematomas
- Classifications
- Signs & symptoms
- Diagnostics
- Medical and nursing management
- Seizures
- ILAE seizure classification
- Aetiology
- Diagnosis of epilepsy
- Medical and surgical management of epilepsy
- Emergency seizure management
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit is offered in online mode and uses an active and collaborative learning approach to support students to analyse and critically evaluate approaches to providing evidence-based, ethical nursing care within a surgical nursing setting. Students will engage in readings and reflections, e-Learning activities, and opportunities to collaborate with peers in an online environment. This can involve, but is not limited to, online discussion forums, chat rooms, guided reading, and webinar sessions.
Through an online learning platform, students will have the opportunity to reflect on the complexity of delivering person-centred care to patients in surgical settings. Online learning in this unit will be supported by the provision of opportunities for students to attend online webinar sessions that allow synchronous exchange of information and facilitate responses to queries generated by students in relation to unit content. For those unable to participate in synchronous webinar sessions, recordings will be available.
Students are required to complete online activities and assessments to demonstrate the application of knowledge. The learning and teaching strategy used in this unit allows flexibility for students while ensuring they have expert support. These modes of delivery assist students in linking knowledge and skills to the neuroscience nursing context, and to develop shared meanings through online experiential reflections and discussions.
Assessment strategy and rationale
In order to successfully complete this unit, a minimum combined total grade of all assessment tasks of 50% is required to pass this unit.
The assessment strategy used in this unit encourages depth of learning and provides the students the opportunity to develop their capacity to interpret, translate, apply and evaluate evidence-based care provision in neuroscience settings. In order to develop neuroscience nursing knowledge and skills required to achieve the learning outcomes and graduate attributes, students first demonstrate the ability to participate in peer review to create a nursing plan on a common acute, chronic or degenerative neurological condition. The rationale for the plan should be based on the patient’s signs and symptoms, diagnostics, medical treatments available, nursing management and the management of post operative complications that may occur. Knowledge and skills gained in this assessment task are then further developed in the final assessment where students demonstrate the ability to write an evidence-based essay. The essay is required to consider the neuroscience patient who has undergone a traumatic brain injury and should detail the context of pre and post operative management of the patient’s condition, diagnostics, signs and symptoms, the medical and nursing management required, complications that may be encountered and the comprehensive care of the neuroscience patient in relation to the provision of holistic care for the patient’s health and wellbeing Through the application of learned knowledge, critical thinking skills, analysis and synthesis of evidence, students will develop a comprehensive plan of care that addresses risk management, treatment and prevention strategies that promote physical and psychosocial health, and well-being for patients undergoing surgical interventions.
Overview of assessments
| Brief Description of Kind and Purpose of Assessment Tasks | Weighting | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
Peer Reviewed Nursing Plan Enables students to create a peer reviewed nursing plan that demonstrates an ability to research evidence related to a common acute, chronic or degenerative neuroscience condition. Students will examine signs and symptoms of the patient, the diagnostic results, the medical treatments available, the nursing management required and any post operative complications that may occur. With this knowledge, students are to create a nursing care plan that recommends an effective plan of care for the nominated condition. This assessment task is divided into Part A and Part B and involves collaboration and peer review of other students’ nursing plans to promote critical thinking and facilitate interpretation, critique and feedback skills. | 50% | LO1, LO2, LO3 |
Essay Enables students to develop their evidence-based knowledge through the critical appraisal and evaluation of treatments and surgical interventions for nursing management of patients with a neurological condition. | 50% | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
Representative texts and references
Abraham, J., Gulley, J. & Allegra, C, J. (2019). The Bethesda handbook of clinical oncology (5th ed.). Wolters Kluwer. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/acu/detail.action?docID=5762697
Barash, P.(ed). (2017). Clinical anesthesia (8th ed.). Wolters Kluwer. https://acu-edu- primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/7pr622/61ACU_ALMA51122808060002352
Brown, D., Edwards, H., Buckley, T., & Aitken, R. (2020). Lewis’s Medical-Surgical Nursing ANZ. Elsevier Australia. https://www.clinicalkey.com/student/nursing/content/toc/3-s2.0-C20170033220
Clarke, S., & Santy-Tomlinson, J. (2014). Orthopaedic and trauma nursing: An evidence-based approach to musculoskeletal care. Wiley Blackwell. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/acu/detail.action?docID=1740751
Hamlin, L., Richardon-Tench, M., Davies, M., & Gillespie, B. M. (2015). Perioperative nursing: an introductory text (2nd ed). Mosby Elsevier. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/acu/detail.action?docID=1722309
Hickey, J. (2020). The clinical practice of neurological and neurosurgical nursing (8th ed.). Wolters Kluwer, Philadelphia. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/acu/detail.action?pq-origsite=primo&docID=6372346
Hoffmann, T., Bennett, S., & Del Mar, C. (2017). Evidence-based practice across the health professions (3rd ed.). Elsevier https://acu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/61ACU_INST/13lm7d8/alma991013272647302352
Odom-Forren, J. (2018). Drain’s Perianesthesia nursing: A critical care approach (7th ed.). Elsevier. https://www.clinicalkey.com.au/nursing/#!/browse/book/3-s2.0-C20190055070
Patton, K., & Thibodeau, G. (2019). Anatomy & physiology (10th ed.). https://www.clinicalkey.com.au/nursing/#!/browse/book/3-s2.0-C20181027031
Rothrock, J., & McEwen, D. (2019). Alexander’s care of the patient in surgery (16th ed.). Elsevier. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001209211000421
Ryan, D. (2019). Handbook of neuroscience nursing: Care of the adult neurosurgical patient. Thieme Medical Publishers, USA. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/acu/detail.action?pq-origsite=primo&docID=5788745
Thorne, C. H. M., Gurtner, G. C., Chung, K. C., Gosain, A., Mehrara, B. J., Rubin, P., & Spear, S. L. (2014). Grabb & Smith’s plastic surgery (7th ed.). Wolters Kluwer. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/acu/detail.action?docID=3418274