ACADEMICS - Course Descriptions
DNP Didactic Courses
NUR 800 - Practice Wisdom (Metis) and Formal Evidence: The Dialectic Between Knowledge and Engagement (0.5 course credits)
This course provides a foundation for building the scholarship of advanced practice in transcultural and public health nursing. Sources of knowledge and procedures for acquiring knowledge, both formal and informal, will be studied for the power to positively influence health outcomes. Evidence will be evaluated for relevance to practical experience based on context-specific (emic) positions and for rigor in empirical procedures based in context-free (etic) perspectives. Utilizing selected evidence suited to particular transcultural issues, practice modes building on both local expertise and professional research will be analyzed through systematic reflection. Students will begin developing original practice models suited to their transcultural interests and relevant to concerns of people marginalized by health systems.
NUR 802 - Making Room at the Table: Applying Ethics to Ending Hunger and Sharing Abundance (0.5 course credits)
This course in applied ethics focuses on health as a human right with emphasis on the development of skills in community building as citizen professionals. From the perspective that hoarding abundance compromises the health of everyone, the course facilitates human connections that go beyond charity to acting from a basis of shared risk and solidarity.
NUR 803 - Transcultural Cosmologies and a Global Perspective (0.5 course credits)
This course explores the intersection of Western scientific principles and cultural cosmologies. Cycles, rhythms and patterns of nature are correlated to a Western understanding of natural science. These interrelationships are then viewed through the lens of nursing theory, research and practice. A wider horizon of meaning derived from a broad understanding of diverse methods and healing practices allows for conceptual models of nursing care to emerge that are responsive to diverse cultural expressions of health and illness.
NUR 804 - Mobilizing Sustainable Models of Human Betterment: Participatory Action in Community Building and Health Care. (0.5 course credits)
This course focuses on communities as the foundation of health by recognizing strength in community residents and models that utilize participatory action which minimize the expert role in planning. Globalization in the model of neoliberalism will be critiqued and a perspective of building solidarity among local communities will be emphasized. Skill building in participatory action processes will occur.
NUR 805 - Ways of Knowing: Synthesizing Qualitative and Quantitative Evidence (0.5 course credits)
Drawing on insights from Complexity Science, this course examines the diverse ways of knowing that guide professional practice. It focuses on the comparative analysis of quantitative and qualitative data. Students will critically reflect on the data, unpacking it and uncovering the meaning behind the data that supports their practice. Comparing the positivistic and interpretive stance, the students will examine relevant knowledge and ways of knowing that provide scholarly grounding for their professional expertise.
NUR 806- The Ecology of Human Suffering in a World of Extremes (0.5 course credits) This course examines the cumulative illness-producing effects of inequities that are embedded in structures of social privilege and disadvantage. Human suffering is viewed as neither coincidental nor inevitable, but related to exploitation and organized cruelty within social systems. Epidemiological approaches are used to trace patterns of disease and illness that strike population groups and communities unequally around the world. Health status appraisal, risk analysis, and the levels of structural violence in society will be examined using culturally responsive data collection methods, resource accessibility, and the application of appropriate technology.
NUR 807 - Magic, Medicine, and Healing Spirits: Transcultural Perspectives on Health Care. (0.5 course credits)
This course explores transcultural healing and caring modalities including the integration of traditional and scientific healing ceremonies and beliefs. Healing traditions among indigenous peoples will be examined, including spiritual forces that promote health and cause illness. The use of medicinal plants for healing in indigenous traditions will be compared to contemporary views of health and healing in bio-scientific models of curing.
DNP Elective Courses
Electives can be chosen from within the Department of Nursing, Master of Business Administration, Master of Arts in Leadership, Master of Social Work, Master of Arts in Education, and the Physician Assistant program.
DNP Practica Courses
Practica are organized to provide flexibility and individual choice to students and to support students' increasing independence and depth of advanced nursing practice experience at the doctoral level. Students must complete a total of 1000 practicum hours in their master's and DNP programs combined. A total of 600 practicum hours can be transferred from a master's program in nursing into the Augsburg DNP program.
NUR 701 - NUR 704 Practicum: Directed Study Practicum (0.25-1.00 credits, 36-144 practicum hours)
Directed study practica build upon advanced nursing competencies developed at the master's level to expand knowledge for expert nursing practice. In the practica students will integrate and synthesize knowledge from emic (local) wisdom with the biophysical, psychosocial, analytical and organizational sciences as the basis for the highest level of transcultural nursing practice. Students are expected to enhance practice and/or systems management skills, including clinical reasoning, and advance to a higher level of expertise in transcultural nursing and community health. As such, directed study practica are individualized to students' specific areas of interest and are planned by students in consultation with a major faculty advisor, cultural guides, and other mentors in the communities in which they wish to carry out the practicum.
NUR 711-714 Practicum: Culture Care on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (0.25-1.0 course credits, 36-144 practicum hours)
In this practicum students stay on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in western, South Dakota, where they have opportunities to gain knowledge about health inequities and structural violence from the viewpoint of persons living with extreme poverty and cultural devastation. The strengths of the traditional Lakota culture emerge as Lakota elders and tribal leaders guide students into the life of the reservation. Healing care systems and approaches are compared and contrasted with Western biomedical care.
NUR 721 - NUR 724 Practicum: Ancient Healing Practices and Modern Implications in England (0.25-1.0 course credits, 36-144 practicum hours)
This practicum immerses students in ancient settings of healing in England. The healing waters of the Roman Baths, the healing energy of and the sacred sites of ancient Celts. The importance of a connection to the land and cosmos is embodied in the origins of modern day nursing. A visit to Homerton Hospital in Hackney, London, exemplifies transcultural care with a diverse population of immigrants and asylum seekers.
NUR 731 - 734 Practicum: Dia de los Muertos (0.5 course credits, 72 practicum hours)
In this practicum students are immersed in the ancient tradition of honoring the children and ancestors during the celebration of the Day of the Dead. Students are guided by indigenous participants in rituals and ceremonies that invite the return of ancestors who have died. Globalization of the holiday and its modifications through culture contact are revealed.
NUR 740 - NUR 744 Practicum: Health & Community Building in Guatemala (0.25-1.0 course credits, 36-144 practicum hours)
This practicum explores health as a human right. Analysis will focus on how widening gaps in the distribution of wealth diminishes the health of all members of society. Learning is based on immersion experiences in Guatemala City and highland Maya communities. Observation, presentations by cultural guides, and classroom discussions will reflect on health and social justice for marginalized people. Participation in traditional back-strap weaving will guide reflection on the relationship of health and cultural continuity. Spanish language school is an option in this practicum.
NUR 751 - NUR 754 Practicum: Poverty and Community Building in the Inner City of Minneapolis (0.25-1.0 course credits, 36 - 144 practicum hours)
An immersion experience in the inner city of Minneapolis provides experience with the rich diversity in the inner city. Concepts of public health nursing are applied among the community of people who visit the Augsburg Central Nursing Center, a community-based nursing service. In addition to participation at the Nursing Center, students explore issues of health and social reality with cultural guides from the inner city populations and nurses who work effectively with them.
NUR 761 - NUR 764 Practicum: Culture Care in a World of Extremes (0.25-1.0 course credits, 36-144 practicum hours)
Emphasis is on transcultural nursing leadership in partnership with persons and communities. Participants experience the challenges care systems face in providing health care within a geographically and economically extreme context where isolation, poverty, and virulent disease are epidemic. Participant-observation among Ju/hoansi communities in the Nyae Nyae Conservancy provide opportunities to collaborate and practice with nurses and other health care professionals striving to provide culturally safe and effective health care to one of the world's "first peoples."
Doctoral Seminars
NUR 811, NUR821, NUR831 & NUR841 - First-Year, Second-Year, Third-Year & Final Seminars (0.25 credits per term while enrolled in the DNP)
The purpose of DNP seminars is to integrate diverse practicum experiences with students' individual practice interests. As such, the seminars provide a venue for students to test ideas for their practice with faculty and peers and receive relevant feedback and support. Seminars focus on analysis, integration, & application of content to practice. Students will be developing a portfolio documenting their work in clinical practicum that builds toward their final graduate project. The last seminar (NUR841) culminates in the successful completion of a scholarly capstone project that advances nursing practice. The professional portfolio documents the process of theory and research integration and the emerging practice innovations the student is implementing. Students are required to register for a seminar each term they are in the DNP program. A minimum of 6 semester credit hours (1.5 course credits) of graduate seminars is required for graduation. Some students may take more seminars if they are not completing the DNP in a timely manner.
