This graduate course critically examines issues related to nursing knowledge and advanced professional practice. Topics may vary, depending on student interest and professor availability. Sample topics include: Issues in Nursing History and Issues in International Nursing.

A broad overview of the policy process and its application to health care. Reflecting on Canadian priorities, concerns, and obligations, health care issues are analyzed with a specific focus on policy, politics and influence. The roles of nursing and nurse leaders in health policy development, implementation, and advocacy for the health and social needs of the public are critically evaluated. A required on-site residency at the Laurentian Leadership Centre in Ottawa exposes students to the key people and process of health care policy at federal and international levels.

This course addresses principles of nursing inquiry and evidence with a focus on quantitative design and statistical literacy. Students will broaden their understanding of quantitative research methods and enhance their ability to analyze quantitative data and interpret statistical results for answering research questions of relevance to nursing theory and practice.

An entry-level course in understanding the philosophical foundations of nursing inquiry and evidence with a focus on qualitative methods. Students explore the inquiry process in the context of the following methods: phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, critical inquiry, narrative analysis, historical and philosophic inquiry. The processes of data collection, analysis, and interpretation are examined. Attention is given to Christian values and principles in relation to research ethics and the applicability of research findings to the various contexts of nursing practice.

This course addresses the principles of knowledge synthesis as the basis for informing nursing theory and practice. Students broaden their understanding of different kinds of evidence while learning the skills of locating, coding, synthesizing, and applying evidence from research studies. Students learn to draw on Christian values and principles to critically reflect on the implications of evidence-based knowledge for theory and practice.

An exploration of the historical and current trends in nursing theory and philosophy. Students explore the role of models, meta-paradigms, concept analyses and middle range theories in relation to traditional and emerging views of science. Issues and controversies within nursing philosophy are introduced with emphasis on understanding the relevance of these debates for both the health care system and the discipline of nursing.

Concepts of nursing care are applied to the provision of acute, rehabilitative, or palliative nursing care and health promotion in acute or community placements.

Key concepts and processes of leadership are explored as they apply to nursing and health care. Students have the opportunity to examine and develop leadership skills required in contemporary nursing practice. Exercises promote the development and application of values and philosophies of nursing leaders within a Christian worldview

Key elements of professional nursing practice are explored through reading and discussion and applied in the development of a personal professional practice model. These key elements include theoretical and theological foundations of nursing, application of relevant theory to practice, critical analysis of pertinent nursing issues, ethical thinking and decision making, therapeutic relational aspects of client care, and responsible communication with clients, colleagues, and the public.

This course focuses on experiential learning in the provision of nursing care for adults with complex acute and chronic illnesses who are recovering from surgical procedures. Emphasis is on the delivery of safe, client-centered and evidence-informed health care to adult clients. Clinical reasoning is emphasized in assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of nursing care.