Minimum Course Hours: 20

Course Description

Learners examine the legislation influencing practical nursing practice in complex care settings and when caring for older adults, including those with chronic illness and/or mental health conditions. The course explores professional issues such as responsibility, accountability, self-care, and ethical practice. Learners will also explore cultural safety, cultural humility, diversity, and anti-racism—with a focus on Indigenous-specific anti-racism as well as leadership in the practical nursing role in complex care settings. Critical thinking and decision making specific to the care of clients with chronic health challenges, including mental health conditions are also studied, as well as interprofessional practice.

Prerequisites: Successful completion of all Level 1 courses and Consolidated Practice Experience 1

Corequisites: Professional Communication 2; Health Promotion 2; Variations in Health 2; Pharmacology 2; Integrated Nursing Practice 2

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course the learner will be able to:

1. Explain how legislation and the current British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM) LPN Professional Standards, Practice Standards, and Entry-Level Competencies influence nursing practice in complex care settings and when caring for clients with chronic illness and/or mental health conditions.
   • 1.1 Discuss professional self-regulation, including the autonomous scope of practice and the implications for individual responsibilities and accountabilities of the practical nurse in complex care settings.
   • 1.2 Discuss how legislation and standards protect clients in care and govern nursing practice.
2. Implement self-care practices to promote personal mental, emotional, and physical health and wellness, including strategies to prevent and/or alleviate moral distress, moral injury, and burnout.
   • 2.1 Identify one’s emerging self-care practices.
   • 2.2 Discuss strategies to prevent and/or alleviate moral distress, moral injury, and burnout.
   • 2.3 Examine how one’s own current state of health (mental, emotional, and physical) may influence the provision of care for older adults, including those with chronic illnesses and/or mental health conditions.
3. Describe how one’s own values, biases, and assumptions may influence the care of older adults, including those with chronic illnesses and/or mental health conditions.
   • 3.1 Reflect on strategies to recognize and avoid acting on stereotypes or assumptions one may hold about Indigenous Peoples and 2SLGBTQIA+^[1] individuals.
   • 3.2 Demonstrate commitment to ongoing personal ownership of learning by identifying learning needs and seeking opportunities to meet them when caring for Indigenous clients and older adults, including those with chronic illnesses and/or mental health conditions.
   • 3.3 Discuss personal and professional responsibility to cultural safety, cultural humility, and anti-racism—particularly Indigenous-specific anti-racism—when caring for older adults, including clients with chronic illness and/or mental health conditions.
   • 3.4 Compare and contrast personal and professional responsibilities with respect to trauma-informed care with older adults, including those with chronic illness and/or mental health conditions.
4. Identify leadership responsibilities of the practical nurse when working with unregulated care providers.
   • 4.1 Discuss delegation, what it entails, and the limits and conditions under which it may occur in practical nursing practice.
   • 4.2 Explain how legislation, professional standards, ethics, and practice expectations influence leadership in nursing practice in complex care settings.
   • 4.3 Compare and contrast leadership and management roles and responsibilities in a variety of health care settings.
5. Describe the influence of interprofessional collaborative relationships on a quality practice environment in complex care.
   • 5.1 Describe approaches to accessing others’ skills and knowledge appropriately through consultation.
   • 5.2 Define the nursing care delivery models used in health care.
   • 5.3 Explore the diversity of other health care roles, including the practical nurse role in relation to regulated and unregulated care provider relationships.
6. Explore the role of critical thinking in developing ethical nursing practice.
   • 6.1 Discuss the development of critical thinking and clinical judgment skills, guided by the BCCNM definitions of those terms.
   • 6.2 Apply an ethical decision-making process to determine actions for ethical dilemmas in nursing practice with older adults, including those with chronic illness and/or mental health conditions.
7. Use critical thinking and self-reflection to support both ongoing learning and nursing practice.
   • 7.1 Demonstrate self‐reflection and reflective journal writing to enhance learning, critical thinking, clinical judgment, and nursing practice.
   • 7.2 Use critical thinking when accessing and assessing information and evidence from current, relevant scholarly resources.
   • 7.3 Format a written paper with a specific focus on correctly using in-text citations and referencing.

Course Concepts

Course outcomes will be met through examination and exploration of the following:

• Continuing Care Act, and other legislation influencing practical nursing practice in the context of complex care
• Adult Guardianship Act
• Health Care (Consent) and Care Facility (Admission) Act
• Controlled Drugs and Substances Act
• Delegation
• Professional practice
• Critical thinking
• Self-care
• Ethical practice
• Privacy and confidentiality
• Moral distress, moral injury, and burnout
• Trauma-informed practice
• Leadership in practical nursing practice
• Interprofessional practice
• Models of care
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Cultural safety, cultural humility, and anti-racism
• Indigenous-specific anti-racism
• Self-reflective practice