NURSING 7015HO - Applied Pharmacology in Nursing

Teaching Hospitals - Semester 2 - 2015

This course will build on nurses understanding of drug use, prescribing and administration. Discussion will include the South Australian and Australian legal requirements for the prescription and administration of drugs, ethical issues involved in the cost, prescription and clinical trials of drugs, and the process of collating a patient's medication history. Drugs will be discussed according to their class of action. Students will learn how drugs are chosen for particular effects. The pharmacological principles of pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, adverse effects, contraindications and precautions will be described using examples from different drug classes. The polypharmacy and the quality use of medicines will also be presented. While this course will not prepare students for a role as a prescriber, they will be taught the concepts of safe prescribing and administration.

Open All

Course Details

Course Code	NURSING 7015HO
Course	Applied Pharmacology in Nursing
Coordinating Unit	Adelaide Nursing School
Term	Semester 2
Level	Postgraduate Coursework
Location/s	Teaching Hospitals
Units	3
Contact	External
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	N
Restrictions	Available to MNSc only
Assessment	Essay and written exam

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Dr Jane Nugent

Course Coordinator: Iain Everett
Phone: +61 8 8313 4308
Email: iain.everett@adelaide.edu.au

School Office
Phone: +61 8 8313 3595
Email: nursing.studentliason@adelaide.edu.au

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

Course Learning Outcomes

1	Outline the principles of pharmacology and describe the aspects which are important to all nurses
2	Define and demonstrate a general understanding or pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics
3	Discuss the nurses’ role as it applies to the administration of drugs to patients in your particular area of practice
4	Classify commonly administered medications in your particular area of practice
5	Interpret the pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, pharmaco-therapeutics, common adverse reactions, drug interactions of each drug group
6	Outline the various pieces of commonwealth and state legislation relating to the regulation, use and testing of drugs in Australia, especially the Therapeutic Goods Act and Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Acts and Regulations
7	Describe the scheduling of drugs in Australia
8	Analyse the sociocultural factors which impact on the administration of drugs to patients across the lifespan
9	Critically examine medication errors and adverse drug reactions and drug-drug interactions
10	Distinguish between the legal and ethical considerations required for the prescription of medications and understand safe prescribing practice.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Knowledge and understanding of the content and techniques of a chosen discipline at advanced levels that are internationally recognised.	1-3, 5-9
The ability to locate, analyse, evaluate and synthesise information from a wide variety of sources in a planned and timely manner.	2-8
An ability to apply effective, creative and innovative solutions, both independently and cooperatively, to current and future problems.	3-5, 8-10
Skills of a high order in interpersonal understanding, teamwork and communication.	5, 8-10
A proficiency in the appropriate use of contemporary technologies.	3, 5, 7, 9
A commitment to continuous learning and the capacity to maintain intellectual curiosity throughout life.	3, 6-10
A commitment to the highest standards of professional endeavour and the ability to take a leadership role in the community.	8-10
An awareness of ethical, social and cultural issues within a global context and their importance in the exercise of professional skills and responsibilities.	6-8, 10

Learning Resources

Required Resources

Text
Bryant, B & Knights, K 2011, Pharmacology for Heath Professionals, 3rd edn, Mosby, Sydney.

Reader
The readings for this course are available electronically via MyUni.
Please note: it is your responsibility to organise printing should you prefer a hard copy of the reader.

Recommended Resources

Adams, MP, Holland, LN & Bostwick, PM 2008, Pharmacology for nurses, a pathophysiologic approach, Pearson Prentice Hall, New Jersey.

Lehne, RA 2010, Pharmacology for nursing care, 7th edn, Saunders Elsevier, St Louis.
Porth, CM 2004, Essentials of pathophysiology. concepts of altered health states, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia.

National clinical guidelines for the management of drug use during pregnancy, birth and the early development years of the newborn.
Available at: http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pubs/2006/pdf/ncg_druguse.pdf

Note: You are not required to buy recommended texts. However, they provide valuable supplementary reading on various aspects of the material covered within this course and you are encouraged to have a look at them.

Online Learning

Virtual Classroom
The virtual classroom (VC) technology will be used for lectures and tutorial discussions on a weekly basis each Tuesday from 11.00am-12.00pm during this semester. Some information on the VC should have been provided to you, you need to familiarise yourself with this technology to become reasonably comfortable with using it prior to the start of the semester.

MyUni
All students enrolled in a postgraduate coursework nursing program have access to the School of Nursing – Postgraduate Coursework Student Centre on MyUni. If you would like the opportunity to network with other students, you can use the Communication features in the site. This site will also feature information about the latest news and events at the School of Nursing.

Unified
http://unified.adelaide.edu.au/
UNIFIED is your one-stop shop for email, calendar, MyUni and Access Adelaide. It even allows you to search the Library.
UNIFIED is available to all active students; with a single login you can access your student systems and personal information through a central website. Login with your Student ID ("a1234567") and Password.

For more information, including easy to follow instructions visit https://unified.adelaide.edu.au/web/mycampus/home.

Library Resources
Help for Nursing Students
The University of Adelaide Library has a website to help nursing students use the library and its resource (www.library.adelaide.edu.au/guide/med/nursing).

Remote student library service
The University of Adelaide Library provides a document delivery and loans service to non-metropolitan students who do not visit a University of Adelaide campus to attend classes (www.adelaide.edu.au/library/docdel/external.html).
Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

This course uses mixed modes of delivery.

You are also provided with a Reader and a Study Guide which, as the name implies guides you through the prescribed content for this course. Students will also be required to attend weekly Virtual Classroom Tutorials.

Each module corresponds to one week of study. Each week you are directed to specific readings and the Study Guide contains interactive activities which are designed to test and consolidate your knowledge and to develop your skills. You will be expected to undertake a substantial program of reading. Please note that the terms drug, medicine and medications are used synonymously in the readers.

Thus, working through each module is vital to your successful completion of the course. You are encouraged to read further and become familiar with accessing materials from libraries, databases and the Internet.

To successfully pass Applied Pharmacology in Nursing, you will need to allocate an appropriate amount of time commitment to your study. In addition to the one hour tutorial conducted via the Virtual Classroom, you will need to allocate non contact time. Non contact time will be required for a range of activities which may include, but are not limited to, assessment tasks, reading, researching, note taking, revision, and writing, consultation with staff and informal discussion with other students. While the relative proportion of contact and non contact time may vary from course to course, as a guide, a full time student should expect to spend, on average, 48 hours per week on their studies during teaching periods.

Virtual Classroom Tutorials
The virtual classroom (VC) technology will be used for lectures and tutorial discussions on a weekly basis each Tuesday from 11.00am-12.00pm during this semester. Some information on the VC should have been provided to you, you need to familiarise yourself with this technology to become reasonably comfortable with using it prior to the start of the semester.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

It is expected that you will need to invest about 12 hours per week of study to successfully complete this course. It is recommended that you plan your time commitment to the course at the beginning of the semester.

Learning Activities Summary

No information currently available.

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Assessment Task	Assessment Type	Weighting	Learning Outcome(s) being addressed
Online Quiz	Formative	0%	1-2
Essay	Summative	30%	All
Written Exam	Summative	70%	All

Assessment Detail

Assessment 1
Online quiz
This online quiz will be used to assess knowledge and understanding of pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics – the first 2 weeks of the semester. This quiz is not weighted but must be completed successfully (multiple attempts until successful)

Assessment 2
Essay
You are required to write and submit for assessment a 1,250 word essay. A high standard of presentation following the School Academic Manual is expected.
The topic will be available on MyUni in Week 1.

Assessment 3
Exam
A template for this information has been included however students are permitted to develop a drug monograph in a style that is easily legible and contains similar information, of your choice.
Marks for this assessment will be allocated according to the marking guide also included in this Study Guide.

Submission

Assessments, unless otherwise stated in your Study guide, are to be submitted electronically via Assignments in MyUni on the due date identified in this Study guide. Instructions for assignment submission are available for all students under Tutorials at www.adelaide.edu.au/myuni/.

An assessment submitted via MyUni must be submitted as a .doc, .docx or .rtf file. If submitting a PowerPoint presentation for marking, the .ppt or .pptx must be submitted as .pdf file. It is also important to submit your file under your name, such as surname.firstname. MyUni stamps all the other details against your filename once you submit your assessment.

An Assignment Coversheet must be submitted with each assessment. The coversheet should be the first page of your assessment. A word version of the Assignment Coversheet is available to download at www.health.adelaide.edu.au/nursing/students/resources. The Plagiarism Statement must be signed and dated for your assessment to be marked (please note the details stated on the Assignment Coversheet). More information on avoiding Plagiarism is available at www.adelaide.edu.au/clpd/plagiarism/.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Marking criteria and grade descriptors
The University of Adelaide has generic grade descriptors that underpin the marking of all assessments for this course. The grade descriptors are set out in the following policy www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/700/. Additionally, the School of Nursing details these in the Student handbook and style guide available at www.health.adelaide.edu.au/nursing/students/resources. The marking criteria for assessments used in this course are found in the Study Guide. It is strongly recommended that you make yourself familiar with these prior to starting your assessment.

Plagiarism
Students are reminded that plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty constitute a serious offence and can result in disciplinary procedures. Students are advised to read the policy Academic Honesty and Assessment Obligations for Coursework Students Policy & Coursework Students: Academic Dishonesty Procedures policy, available at www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/230/. The following definitions should be noted.

Referencing: providing a full bibliographic reference to the source of the citation (in a style as determined by the School).
Quotation: placing an excerpt from an original source into a paper using either quotation marks or indentation, with the source cited, using an approved referencing system in order to give credit to the original author.
Paraphrasing: repeating a section of text using different words which retain the original meaning.
Please note: changing just a few words does not constitute paraphrasing.

Marking guide – Essay

Structure and Writing Style 25%

Structure (15%)
• Introduces/outlines/situates the topic of the essay.
• Clearly describes the way in which the essay will proceed.
• The essay is structured in a logical sequence so that the content flows (headings may be used to develop the structure of the paper).
• The essay ends with a cogent, defendable conclusion that summarises the discussion within the body of the paper.

Writing Style (10%)
• The essay is written with clear sentence structure, clarity of argument and precision of expression and the spelling and grammar are correct.

Content and Critical Analysis 60%

Content (30%)
• The essay question has been answered or the topic has been discussed.

• The essay content has clear links to contemporary nursing practice.

• The student’s paper demonstrates a depth of understanding of the topic and significant issues.

Critical Analysis (30%)
• The essay demonstrates a high degree of critical thought and insights by:
• providing a justification/rationale for the argument/discussion
• demonstrating they have reflected on the complex issues surrounding the topic/question
• discussing the topic from differing perspectives, thereby providing a balanced argument/discussion

Referencing 15%

• The referencing style used throughout the poster is congruent with the Discipline’s Student Handbook and Style Guide.

• The reference list is accurate (i.e. no missing page numbers, volumes, correct title etc), complete (i.e. no references in the body of the paper are missing from the reference list) and consistent with the Discipline’s Student Handbook and Style Guide.

• The references cited are contemporary (i.e. less than 10 years old unless seminal papers).

• Primary references are used predominantly (i.e. the original reference has been cited rather than a secondary source).

• There is evidence in the paper that the student has searched widely for information related to the topic/issue.

• The student has acknowledged all sources of information and all diagrams and photos are referenced.

• Direct quotations are only used to make crucial points or to support the discussion/argument.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator