Take My Liberty NURS 502 Class

The catalog describes NURS 502 as the critique, evaluation and use of nursing and related theories in advanced practice and comprehensive care, together with professional role development, interdisciplinary relationships and the issues that face advanced practice nurses.

The published course guide opens with Written Responses to Questions 1 in Module/Week 1 and a Personal Philosophy Paper, worth 150 points, in Module/Week 2. Module/Week 3 brings the TEP Theory Analysis, also 150, the first stage of the Theory-Based Exemplar Paper. Module/Week 4 carries Written Responses 2 and the first quiz.

The exemplar paper then develops in steps: a first draft in Module/Week 5 beside Forum 1, a peer review in Module/Week 6 beside the Theoretical Framework Assignment, and the final paper, worth 150 points, in Module/Week 7 beside Forum 2.

Module/Week 8 closes with Forum 3 and the second quiz. The exemplar stages alone carry 450 points, close to half the grade.

The coordinator plans the course around the exemplar paper. In the first week the writer helps you choose a nursing theory that fits a situation from your own practice, such as Orem's self-care deficit theory for a patient learning to manage a chronic illness, Watson's caring science for an end-of-life encounter or Roy's adaptation model for a patient recovering from a major change. The exemplar is a real case, with identifying details changed, explained through the theory.

The theory analysis in Module/Week 3 describes and evaluates the chosen theory using the criteria in McEwen and Wills. The first draft applies it to your exemplar, the peer review is written as constructive feedback on a classmate's draft, and the final paper answers the comments on your draft.

The personal philosophy paper is drafted from what you share about your beliefs about persons, health, environment and nursing, connected with the Shelly and Miller text's Christian worldview.

The written responses, the framework assignment and the forums are drafted from the week's chapters.

NURS 502 goes to a nurse with a PhD or DNP who has taught nursing theory at the graduate level. Theory papers are easy to write badly: they summarize a theorist's concepts without showing how the concepts explain anything. A writer who has taught theory knows how to make a theory do work in a real case.

The writer knows the grand, middle range and practice theories in McEwen and Wills, the criteria for analyzing and evaluating them, and the Christian worldview account of nursing in Shelly and Miller.

The same writer drafts every item, so your philosophy paper, theory analysis and exemplar share one voice and one understanding of your practice.

Each item is reviewed by a second nurse educator before delivery, with the accuracy of each theory's concepts checked against the theorist's own work.

The first difficulty is choosing a theory. Students often pick a famous theory that does not fit their exemplar, and the draft strains to connect them.

The second is the step from description to analysis. A theory analysis that lists concepts and assumptions without evaluating the theory's clarity, consistency and usefulness misses most of the rubric.

The third is the personal philosophy paper, due in the second week, which asks for reflection most nurses have not put into words.

The fourth is the sequence of exemplar deadlines from Module/Week 5 to Module/Week 7, each building on the last, with the framework assignment and forums in between.

NURS 502 is mostly written: the philosophy paper, four exemplar stages, the framework assignment, two written responses and three forums. The quote is built from those items, with the exemplar paper as the largest share.

The theory and exemplar are agreed in the first week, so the philosophy paper and the theory analysis can be drafted before Module/Weeks 2 and 3, and the draft and final paper follow with time to absorb comments.

If you are taking NURS 502 with another MSN core course, one plan keeps their heavy weeks apart.

A first message that describes one patient situation you remember well gives the writer the raw material for the exemplar.

Comments from your instructor on the theory analysis are the most valuable feedback in the course, because they show how that instructor reads theory; the draft and final are written to answer them.