Calendar 2012-2013 - Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing

help students to articulate the practice of nursing and its intellectual history, as well as thedistinctive and complementary contributions of nurses to health care and society.(3 hours/week)NUR1021HNURSING ETHICSNurses encounter ethical concerns and dilemmas in all facets of their professional lives. Thiscourse will focus on critically examining these concerns and dilemmas through the lens of ethicaltheory. Although the course will survey a number of theoretical approaches, it will focus onfeminist health care ethics in order to capture the interface of ethics and politics. A number ofsubstantive issues will be examined including those pertaining to nurse-patient relationships, themoral agency of nurses, the beginning and end of life, health policy, public health, andglobalization. Throughout, the course will make visible the recurrent themes of power, nursingcompetence, and the importance of human connectedness and difference in nursing ethics.(3 hours/week)NUR1022HRESEARCH DESIGN, APPRAISAL AND UTILIZATIONFocus on the critical examination of the research process in nursing, with an emphasis onmaintaining the links between the research problem, theory, and research methods.Consideration is given to both quantitative and qualitative research approaches, designs, anddata collection and analysis. Strategies for critically analyzing research studies and for utilizingresearch findings in clinical practice are examined.(3 hours/week)NUR1023HCRITICAL ISSUES IN THE DESIGN AND CONDUCT OF CONTROLLED TRIALS OFBEHAVIOURAL HEALTH CARE INTERVENTIONSThis course is ONLY for students who are planning to design and conduct a randomizedcontrolled trial for their thesis research.The randomized controlled trial (RCT) is the gold standard for evaluating the effects of healthcare interventions. The principles and practices of RCT design are derived from medical science,and were perfected in the evaluations of pharmaceutical agents. Some of these principles andpractices must be modified when the experimental intervention is a behaviour, or set ofbehaviours, by a human being. Human behaviour cannot be standardized and packaged like amedication, and traditional approaches to blinding are impossible. Reviewers may question thevalue of evaluating behavioural or counselling interventions that are assumed (often incorrectly)to carry no risk. Placebo effects are likely, but are difficult to measure. Important outcomes arefrequently categorized as “soft”. Examples include trials of techniques (e.g. non-pharmacologicalpain relief and comfort measures), and trials involving complex human interactions (e.g. socialsupport, health education, counselling, and psychotherapy). Trials may involve the randomizationof individuals or clusters. Special issues related to multi-centre trials include maintainingrecruitment and protocol adherence across sites which may be in different countries, as well asthe concerns about standardizing the intervention.(3 hours/week)(Prerequisite: Introductory graduate courses in research design and biostatistics.)University of Toronto Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing Calendar 2012-2013 37