Foundations of Nursing

The route

Lessons are in the order that makes each one easier than the last. Each unit ends with a short quiz.

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   Unit 1

   Meaning and Philosophy of Nursing

   Everyone thinks they know what nursing is. Here is how the great theorists defined it, and what nurses believe about people.
   1. Definitions of NursingFree Everyone thinks they know what a nurse does. Very few can define nursing precisely. 10 min
   3. Nursing Theories and Theorists Eight names, eight big ideas, one table you will use for the rest of your training. 10 min
   4. Philosophy of Nursing and the Nursing Metaparadigm What you believe about people quietly decides how you will treat them at 3 a.m. 10 min
   5. Unit 1 quiz7 questions on this unit 9 min
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   Unit 2 Full plan

   History and Trends in Nursing

   From grandmothers and monasteries to Nightingale's lamp, mission hospitals, the NMCN and the nurse with a tablet in her hand.
   1. Nursing in the Ancient, Medieval and Pre-Nightingale Periods Long before uniforms and licences, someone was always sitting up with the sick. 10 min
   2. Florence Nightingale and the Rise of Modern Nursing A rich man's daughter, a filthy barrack hospital, and a set of charts that changed medicine. 10 min
   3. History of Nursing in Nigeria From grandmothers and mission dispensaries to a council, a union and university degrees. 10 min
   4. Trends in Modern Nursing Phones, data, degrees and global demand are reshaping the job you are training for. 10 min
   5. Unit 2 quiz7 questions on this unit 9 min
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   Unit 3 Full plan

   The Professional Nurse

   What makes nursing a profession, who the law says is a nurse, the qualities and roles of a nurse, and the team she works in.
   1. Nursing as a Profession What turns a job into a profession, and why the law cares who may call herself a nurse. 10 min
   2. Characteristics of a Professional Nurse The qualities patients remember long after they have forgotten the diagnosis. 10 min
   3. Roles and Functions of the Nurse In one eight-hour shift a nurse may wear ten different hats. 10 min
   4. The Health Care Team and Levels of Health Care No single professional can heal a patient alone, and the nurse is the one who never leaves. 10 min
   5. Unit 3 quiz8 questions on this unit 10 min
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   Unit 4 Full plan

   Concepts of Health, Illness and Wellness

   Not being sick is not the same as being healthy. What health means, how people experience illness, and how disease is prevented.
   1. Concepts of Health, Wellness and Well-being Not being sick is not the same as being healthy. The difference is the whole point of nursing. 10 min
   2. The Health–Illness Continuum and Illness Behaviour Health is not a switch with two positions. It is a sliding scale, and people move along it every day. 10 min
   3. Determinants of Health and Levels of Prevention Most of what keeps people healthy happens far from any hospital. 10 min
   4. Unit 4 quiz7 questions on this unit 9 min
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   Unit 5 Full plan

   Basic Human Needs and the Nursing Process

   The needs every person shares, and the five-step method nurses use to meet them, one patient at a time.
   1. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs A man who cannot breathe does not care about his self-esteem. Maslow explains why, and nurses use it to set priorities. 10 min
   2. Henderson's Fourteen Components of Basic Nursing Care Fourteen everyday activities — breathing, eating, sleeping, praying, playing — that a nurse helps a person do until they can do them again. 10 min
   3. The Nursing Process Five steps that turn kindness into a plan, and a plan into proof that the care worked. 10 min
   4. Nursing Assessment, Nursing Diagnosis and Goal Setting How to collect the right facts, name the real problem and write a goal you can actually measure. 10 min
   5. Unit 5 quiz9 questions on this unit 11 min
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   Unit 6 Full plan

   Communication, the Nurse–Patient Relationship and Infection Prevention

   The words that heal, the relationship that carries the patient, and the hands that must never carry infection.
   1. The Communication Process Half of all nursing is talking, listening and writing things down — and most errors start with a message that didn't arrive. 10 min
   2. Therapeutic Communication The words that help a patient open up, and the ones that quietly shut the door. 10 min
   3. The Nurse–Patient Relationship A relationship with a beginning, a middle and a planned goodbye — and a line that must never be crossed. 10 min
   4. The Chain of Infection Six links must hold for an infection to spread. Break any one and the chain falls apart. 10 min
   5. Hand Hygiene and Standard Precautions The cheapest, oldest, most powerful infection-control tool in any hospital is at the end of your arms. 10 min
   6. Unit 6 quiz11 questions on this unit 14 min

Practise and remember