In a Fundamentals of Nursing course, you will be introduced to principles of communication, health and patient care that will affect how you work with patients in the field. Some subjects covered are Patient Hygiene, Stress & Hospitalization, Range of Motion Principles and Environmental Health. In addition to academic learning, students usually put these principles into practice, learning to communicate with "patients" and make appropriate decisions. Practice emphasizes physiological and psychological well-being of the patient, with an emphasis on patient rights and privacy.
This aspect of the course focuses on practical application of skills necessary in nursing. You will learn the proper steps for performing a physical examination, collecting specimens, monitoring vital signs, designing an appropriate diet, completing a patient assessment and implementing catheters and injections. Depending on your particular institution, you might learn additional skills as well as these basic techniques. Again, in addition to teaching the principles behind these topics, practical application is emphasized in order to prepare you for future coursework.
Most fundamentals courses also include instruction in some stages of longer-term patient care. You might learn about such topics as pre-operative patient care, intraoperative patient care and recovery room care. In addition, the course introduces leadership skills to prepare you to supervise other nurses, to teach student nurses and to make wise decisions in a variety of circumstances. This aspect of the course blends the academic and practical lessons to teach you how to apply those principles in your daily work.
Most nursing schools and teaching hospitals design the Fundamentals of Nursing course as two separate instructional situations: classroom instruction and clinical instruction. Because emphasis is placed on applying the material learned in the Fundamentals classroom as well as working with patients, there are usually several prerequisite courses to complete before enrolling in Fundamentals. This also generally includes CPR certification as well as successful completion of introductory courses in biology, sociology and/or psychology.
Besides the basic concepts and skills already mentioned, the Fundamentals of Nursing course might include a number of other peripheral topics as well. Depending on the textbook used and the institution where you study, you might learn about such specialized topics as home health care, community health, cultural aspects of health care and legal and historical aspects of nursing. You might also discuss psychological aspects of patient care, from stress to coping with grief, and self-image to sexuality.