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Syllabus

Syllabus: Registered Nurse Primary Care Certificate Program

Program Description

Fifty Contact Hours, Five Continuing Education Units

This program is designed to prepare a Registered Nurse to work in primary care in an ambulatory care setting. It covers basic concepts of primary care related to common chief complaints for seeking care. This five-module program is a self-paced program that reviews common issues in contemporary primary care settings and incorporates how changes to patient care delivery systems impact RN practice. The course describes the role of the RN in preventive care, quality and safety, and basic primary care skills. Educational, legal, and ethical issues and inter-professional collaboration are also included in these modules. This broad overview of the primary care will help RNs currently working in acute or long-term care become familiar with primary care terminology, concepts, and basic skills.

Evaluations

At the end of each module, please complete the module evaluation to let us know how well that module met its stated objectives. These evaluations are optional, but your feedback is very important because it allows us to make improvements to the course for future students.

All of the evaluations are short—just a series of multiple-choice questions and an area to provide additional comments—and should only take five to ten minutes to complete. They are available in the Exams and Evaluations section of Sakai. Thank you in advance for your feedback!

Required Materials and Information

The following materials will be mailed to you from Digital and Lifelong Learning*:

  • five-module textbook
  • access information for Online Modules
  • access information for Sakai Testing Site

Course Instructor

Dr. Schuler has been a nursing and allied health educator for nearly 30 years working in a variety of educational settings. She has a BS in Nursing from Rhode Island College, an MSN from Southern Connecticut State University, and an EdD from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. Currently, Dr. Schuler is the Statewide AHEC Nursing Liaison and an Assistant Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. Her role is to promote nursing education and the AHEC mission in North Carolina. To meet this mission, Dr. Schuler is involved with state groups and organizations to assist in improving the diversity, education, and cultural competence of health care providers along with enhancing the quality of care and improving health care outcomes.

Module Descriptions

Module One: Contemporary Nursing and the Primary Care Setting

This module reviews basic health care concepts that are integral to the primary care setting. Health Care has evolved over the years from an acute setting -disease focused model to an outpatient primary care prevention focused model. While many of the concepts are familiar to those who work in acute care, these concepts are looked at from the primary care focus. This module reviews demographic and economic issues and their impact on the health care delivery system. Emphasis is placed on aging, culture, and health care disparities and interventions which improve health care outcomes. The modules also investigates the RN role in maintaining civility and prevention of violence in the workplace.

Module Two: Primary Care Funding, Systems, and Principles of Quality and Safety

This module reviews recent changes in the US Healthcare system that impact primary care settings and funding. It provides an overview of the patient-centered medical home model. In addition, it reviews the current laws such as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the impact of Electronic Health Records on primary care. Principles of quality and safety and the RN’s role in a culture of safety in the primary care setting are reviewed.

Module Three: Role of the RN in the Primary Care Setting

This module provides an overview of the health care workers in the primary care setting. It also describes their role and how they can work collaboratively to provide optimal patient care. Important functions within the office are described and how the RN can be most effective completing those functions such as triage, care management and patient education. Common legal and ethical issues are reviewed and how the RN can prevent legal and ethical pitfalls.

Module Four: The RN Management of Common Chronic and Acute Complaints in the Primary Care Setting

This module provides an overview of the common RN skills used in the primary care setting including principles of history taking and physical examination. This review includes the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) screenings recommendations. The module reviews common chronic and acute chief complaints related to body systems. RN skills, basic concepts of patient management and education related to these common complaints are reviewed.

Module Five: Policies, Procedures, and Protocols in Primary Care

This module reviews common policies, procedures, and protocols registered nurses need to be aware of to work effectively in the primary care setting. These include laboratory regulations as well as how to maintain a safe laboratory setting by using standard regulatory interventions. In addition, it reviews how to effectively ensure that patients with special needs are cared for while meeting state and federal standards. Common office emergencies are reviewed and the role of the RN in emergencies is reviewed along with standard interventions. An overview of financial, licensing and accrediting regulations and primary care licensure is presented.

Academic Policies

By enrolling as a student in this course, you agree to abide by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill policies related to the acceptable use of online resources. Please consult the Acceptable Use Policy on topics such as copyright, net-etiquette, and privacy protection.

As part of this course, you may be asked to participate in online activities that may include personal information about you or other students in the course. Please be respectful of the rights and protection of other participants under the UNC-Chapel Hill Information Security Policies when participating in online classes.

When using online resources offered by organizations not affiliated with UNC-Chapel Hill, such as Google or YouTube, please note that the terms and conditions of these companies and not the University’s Terms and Conditions apply. These third parties may offer different degrees of privacy protection and access rights to online content. You should be well aware of this when posting content to sites not managed by UNC-Chapel Hill.

When you are directed to links outside of the unc.edu domain, please be mindful that clicking on sites not affiliated with UNC-Chapel Hill may pose a risk for your computer due to the possible presence of malware on such sites.

Honor Code

You are bound by the Honor Code: “It shall be the responsibility of every student to obey and support the enforcement of the Honor Code, which prohibits lying, cheating, or stealing when these actions involve academic processes or University students or academic personnel acting in an official capacity.”

 

 *Programs and services that were previously managed by the Friday Center for Continuing Education are now part of UNC-Chapel Hill Digital and Lifelong Learning (DLL), the University’s dedicated resource for digital, flexible, and nontraditional learning.