B260-31496 Fundamentals of Nursing

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Introduction

This course focuses on the fundamentals of nursing from a theoretical, evidence-based approach. Students will gain acknowledge base for and have an opportunity to apply fundamental nursing concepts, skills, and the nursing process. The evidence-based knowledge gained forms a basis for clinical reasoning and decision-making as students develop their nursing skills.

Course Concepts

Concepts covered in this course include the nursing process, quality and safety, mobility, pharmacodynamics, infection, tissue integrity, elimination, gas exchange, acid-base, perfusion, fluid and electrolytes, palliative care, nutrition, clinical judgment and reasoning, pain, and patient/client/family-centered care and education.

This is a 5-credit hour course (3 didactic; 2 clinical). Please read the entire syllabus, as this is your learning contract. Additional course information is provided in the Getting Started module. You can find the Syllabus and the Course Schedule in the Syllabus tool on the left.

To begin the course

Here are some tasks to get started with right away:

Finish reading this page.
Read the syllabus - located in the course navigation menu at the left.
Read and complete the activities in the Getting Started module.
Set up the technology you'll need (use resources below for help).
Gather the required materials:
- Purchase the following textbook(s):(many should be in your nursing bundle already)

Giddens, J. (2021). Concepts in Nursing Practice (4th). Mosby.
Ignatavicius, D. D. (2025). Developing clinical judgment. Elsevier. (ISBN 978-0-323-93538-3).
Yoost, B. L., & Crawford, L. R. (2023). Fundamentals of nursing: Active learning for collaborative practice (3rd ed.). Elsevier.
ATI Skills Modules

Meet your instructor

My name is David Cunningham, DNP, RN, and I am pleased to be your instructor for this course. I received my ASN in 2012 after working for 5 years as a QMA with forensic psychiatric patients. As an RN, I have worked in Cardiac Progressive Care, Emergency Medicine, Medical Surgical, Geriatrics, and Mental Health. I received my BSN in 2017, my MSN-Education in 2020, and my DNP-Leadership in 2023. I have been teaching since 2019.

I am the course lead for B260 Fundamentals of Nursing. I also work in the registry float pool at PRMC. I look forward to meeting and assisting you as you begin your nursing journey.

Email: davicunn@iu.edu

Phone:

Office: 260-257-6805

Cell: 574-727-1244

Office location: LA 329A

Office Hours: By appointment

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