Students are reminded that progression requires students to successfully pass each portion of the course, including at least an 83% for all tests combined assessments. While assignment extensions may be granted for extenuating circumstances, timeliness is a critical expectation at the doctoral level.

Assignments are due at the times posted. 5% of the graded score will be deducted each day for 3 days. If the assignment is over 3 days past due, it will not be accepted and be graded as a “0”, unless prior arrangements are made with the instructor.

Participation is an essential part of this class. As a result, we expect you to access the course site 4 or more times per week, prepared to engage in the work associated with the course. This means reading the assigned chapters and articles, going through the learning modules, completing any assigned homework, and participating in class discussions and activities. Since a significant portion of your grade is based on class participation, this segment of the course is important for student performance as well as student learning.

All students are expected to conduct themselves and communicate with faculty, staff, and peers in a professional manner. This includes mutual respect, trust and an appreciation for differences in thought and opinions. Communication includes non-verbal, written, electronic, and oral communication in the event of unprofessional communication (written, electronic, non-verbal, or verbal) or demonstration of unprofessional behavior (as defined by KCON or ANA Standards of Practice or Code of Ethics), the faculty will inform the student in writing of how the communication or behavior was inappropriate, and recommendations for more professional behavior or communication in the future will be made. Subsequent incidences of unprofessional communication or behavior will result in negative consequences for the student that may include a required meeting with college administration (Associate Dean, Dean), a referral for remediation, and/or a reduction of the student’s final grade.

The purpose of the clinical practicum is to engage students in the primary care of the infant, child, and adolescent by applying advanced practice knowledge and skills to health promotion, risk reduction, and the direct treatment of common acute problems and stable chronic illness. Student's will be assigned to a clinical site and a clinical mentor. Students will perform patient assessments; identify clinical diagnoses, conduct health teaching, and design evidence-based treatment plans. An assigned faculty will visit all clinical sites at least once. Students are expected to assist with arrangements for the visit. Additional visits may be warranted depending on the student's mastery of clinical competencies and course objectives. A preceptor evaluation and professor evaluation of clinical performance will be completed. Satisfactory student performance is required in all areas of clinical evaluation.

Students are required to notify the professor with the dates and times of planned clinical experiences and changes to schedule. Since students differ in their clinical and educational backgrounds, it is important for the preceptor and student to remain in close contact at all times.

A clear faculty-student communication strategy is essential at all times. Faculty and students are expected to communicate between in-class meetings via blackboard and email. All official GVSU email goes to your student (Gmail) account, including any email sent from Blackboard. Email will be sent through Blackboard, so it is very important that you check your GVSU Gmail account on a regular basis. Many times, reminders, tips and general FYI information will be sent as an e-mail message. Likewise, it is expected that you check our Blackboard class site on a regular basis (4+ times per week).

Email sent from Blackboard includes the course number. When sending an email message that does not originate in Blackboard, please indicate the course number in the subject line and sign your name within the body of the message, so that we know with whom we are corresponding. If it is an urgent message, please also include the words “help” in the subject line. Based on the sheer volume of email we receive every day, this will help us to give priority to urgent messages from students.

Please consider the Three Before Me rule, where before emailing me concerning technical questions or other class logistics (due dates, assignment clarification, and the like), try learning your answer through three other means first:

1. For technical support, contact the Help Desk by phone (616.331.2101) or email: helpdesk@gvsu.edu. You can also review the support documents in our Blackboard course site or by clicking the “Help” button at the top of your Blackboard window.

2. Refer to course resources such as the syllabus, calendar, assignment details that are posted under Assignments, discussions, etc. Everyone is welcome to post questions and to answer questions that are posted there!

3. Email another student in the class.

Do not go to clinical if you are ill and notify the graduate Dean’s office if you are ill. Follow your clinical site's procedure for wellness screening and use of PPE.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

Faculty acknowledge the awareness of concern surrounding COVID exposure in your APRN role in the clinical practicum settings. With the current surge in COVID cases in the community, there is an increased probability of encountering asymptomatic and or symptomatic patients with COVID in the clinical setting at this time. As nurses we are exposed to many infectious diseases in caring for our patients daily in our professional roles. As an APRN it is important that you learn how to care for communicable diseases and public health matters safely now in your student role and in your future clinic practice. We also recognize that achieving competencies of caring for those with COVID and other communicable diseases is an important aspect of your education as these issues are a component of APRN practice.

If you are reluctant to see patients in your assigned and required clinical practice settings due to concerns for potential exposure to COVID, please provide a letter to the Course Coordinator within two weeks of the start of the course detailing these concerns. A meeting will be arranged with the Clinical Faculty, Course Coordinator, and with consultation from the Associate Dean of the Graduate Programs to review each student concern and determine the appropriate next steps. These steps may include a disruption in clinical hours or limit the student’s available number of clinical hours for the semester. Any interruption in clinical hour attainment may necessitate a pause in your program progression or delay graduation.

Although many of us have experience with email, online discussion is different because we’re communicating “one to many” rather than “one to one.” Therefore, it’s important that we maintain a sense of freedom to express our thoughts while at the same time providing a safe atmosphere for that expression. Please keep this in mind as you are communicating with others.

All participants should maintain a professional attitude and manner of discussion. While spirited debate is encouraged, unprofessional behavior is not tolerated. Oftentimes, words often come across “more directly and harshly” in this written form of communication, since there are no facial gestures, expression or tone of voice to help convey your message fully. Your contributions should not be overly negative or personal in nature.

Access to the GVSU Blackboard is required. Students are responsible for any and all documents, assignments, and messages posted on the Blackboard site and checking the Bb site frequently. Contents of topic folders will be made available to students 2 weeks prior. We will use Blackboard as our class environment. The class specific technologies will be accessible there. If you choose to use other technologies for any of the assignments, please alert us ahead of time.

You will need to be able to open PDF files and can find links to download this from the “Online Orientation” (http://www.gvsu.edu/online) or from the GVSU IT website. Also from the orientation website, you will find information on the self-directed Blackboard Orientation and links to additional Help documents. For technology-related questions, please contact the Help Desk at helpdesk@gvsu.edu, or 616.331.2101.

The standard GVSU word processing program is Word, and that is what we will use. Word documents in the course site are posted as .docx. If this is not compatible with what you have access to, please let me know. We prefer documents submitted to us as Word documents, and will not accept incompatible programs (if you are unsure, please save your document as rich text format (.rtf) or send us a “test” document to make sure that we are compatible. Contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

The curriculum is guided by the following documents:

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2006). The Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing PracticeWashington, DC: Author.

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2011). The essentials of master’s education for advanced practice. Washington, DC: Author.

American Nurses Association (2015). Guide to nursing’s social policy statement: Understanding the profession from social contract to social covenant (3rd ed.). Silver Spring, MD: Author.

American Nurses Association. (2015). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements (4th ed.). Silver Spring, MD: Author.

American Nurses Association. (2015). Nursing: Scope and standards of practice (3rd ed.). Silver Spring, MD: Author.

National Task Force on Quality Nurse Practitioner Education. (2016). Criteria for evaluation of nurse practitioner programs. Washington, DC: Author.

National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties. (2016). Core competencies for nurse practitioners. Washington, D.C.: Author. Retrieved from http://www.nonpf.org

Ryan-Wenger, N. A., Association of Faculties of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, & National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. (2007). Core curriculum for primary care pediatric nurse practitioners. St, Louis, Mo: Mosby Elsevier.

GVSU remains committed to supporting you because of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and is here to help you in times of financial need, including technology requirements. Financial hardship funds are available to help student's meet their basic needs, and help cover educational costs (such as housing, food, and textbooks) that a student could not otherwise pay out of pocket. Please visit the GVSU Special Circumstance & Financial Hardship Requests web page for more information.

Please review. The principles of truth and honesty are recognized as fundamental to a community of scholars. The university expects that both teachers and students will honor these principles, and in so doing protect the validity of university grades. This means that all academic work will be done by the student to whom it is assigned without unauthorized aid of any kind. Students are to review the academic code of conduct regarding academic honesty policies at GVSU. This includes all policies about plagiarism.

Students are to refer to the GVSU Student Handbook and the current GVSU academic calendar to determine the last day of the term in which students can withdraw from a course without academic penalty and receive a withdrawal grade (W) on their transcript.

Academic grievances are defined as those involving procedures, policies, and grades. The resolution of a grievance should be sought at the lowest possible level (course faculty) and follow the pathways for appeal as listed in the Kirkhof College of Nursing Graduate Student Handbook and GVSU Undergraduate and Graduate Catalog or GVSU Student Code. Grievance paths are as follows: 1) Course faculty, 2) Unit Assistant for Graduate Programs, 3) Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, 4) the Dean of KCON.

Any student who requires accommodations due to a learning, physical, or other disability must present a memo from GVSU Disability Support Resources Center, indicating the existence of a disability and the suggested accommodations. Please note that I cannot provide accommodations until I have a Disability Support Resources memo. All memos and discussions are confidential. Please submit the Disability Support Resources memo within the first two weeks of the semester.

For a fire emergency: Immediately proceed to the nearest exit during a fire alarm. Do not use elevators. More information is available on the university’s emergency website.

This course is subject to the GVSU course policies. For more information, please refer to the GVSU course policy page. See University Policies SG 3.04.C for more details. Grand Valley maintains a Religious Inclusion Policy (PC 9.6) that commits the university to accommodate religious and faith observances and holidays for students, faculty, and staff members. Please review the interfaith calendar before scheduling exams or similar course events.

Please review the GVSU website specific to COVID 19 management as the virus is impacting our daily lives. Students still have the responsibility to notify the instructor of an absence in a reasonable amount of time” AND “Students should be using the daily self-assessment to report health status.

If changes are made to the syllabus or schedule, an announcement on blackboard will be made and change the associated documentation on blackboard.