Course

Psychiatric Nursing Concepts

Faculty
Health Sciences
Department
Nursing - Psychiatric
Course code
PNUR 3402
Credits
3.00
Semester length
15 Weeks
Max class size
32
Method(s) of instruction
Other
Course designation
None
Industry designation
None
Typically offered
To be determined

Overview

Course description
This course examines an individual's experience with ongoing and episodic mental health variances in wellness throughout the life cycle and the impact on system stability and harmony. The ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ Psychiatric Nursing Conceptual Framework is applied to the health assessment of the individual client. This course integrates human pathophysiology and pharmacological management related to selected exemplars of variances. Professional relationships, ethical and legal issues, and trends in health care will be examined in relation to psychiatric nursing practice. This is a fully online course.
Course content
  • Psychiatric Nursing Conceptual Framework
  • Mental Status Examination with risk assessment and associated documentation
  • British Columbia Mental Health Act
  • BCCNM Professional and Practice Standards, legal and ethical issues
  • Psychiatric nursing role and responsibilities in the treatment of ongoing and episodic mental health challenges such as:
    • Schizophrenia
    • Psychosis
    • Depression
    • Anxiety
    • Bipolar
    • Personality Disorders
    • Gender Dysphoria
    • Aggression & Crisis Response
  • Pharmacology related to mental health treatment
Learning activities

In this course, students engage in a variety of learning activities such as discussions, group work, case studies, reading assignments, and teleconference. 

Means of assessment

The course evaluation is consistent with ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ Evaluation Policy. An evaluation schedule is presented at the beginning of the course. This is a graded course.

Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

  1. Discuss the psychiatric nurse's role in the assessment, prevention, and intervention of ongoing and episodic mental health challenges;
  2. Utilize the Psychiatric Nursing Conceptual Framework to assess an individual's health experiences and responses; 
  3. Demonstrate the purpose and process of the mental status examination including risk assessment;
  4. Identify the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM) professional and practice standards for Registered Psychiatric Nurses and the legal and ethical responsibilities related to documentation;
  5. Analyze the implications of the British Columbia Mental Health Act on voluntarily and involuntarily admitted clients;
  6. Utilize the current version of the DSM to examine symptomatology and diagnostic criteria for various mental health diagnoses;
  7. Discuss a variety of treatment modalities, such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and integrate pharmacology in relation to the management of various mental health diagnoses.
Textbook materials

A list of required and optional textbooks and materials is provided for students at the beginning of each semester.

Requisites

Prerequisites

PNUR 3700 and PNUR 4576 and PNUR 4585

Students in the BSPNUR_L program are required to maintain a passing grade of 65% (C+) in all courses to progress in the program. 

Corequisites

PNUR 3171 and PNUR 4575

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see

Institution Transfer details for PNUR 3402
There are no applicable transfer credits for this course.

Course Offerings

Winter 2025