RCC Nursing Programs

RCC Nursing Program Technical Standards

The Rogue Community College Nursing Program has the responsibility to society to educate competent health care providers to care for their patients/clients with clinical judgment, broadly based knowledge, and competent technical skills at the entry level.

The program has academic and technical standards (non-academic criteria) students must meet to progress in and graduate from the program successfully.

Rogue Community College provides the following technical standards with examples of learning activities to inform prospectively and enrolled students of the skills required to complete their chosen profession's curriculum and provide health care services. These technical standards reflect the performance abilities and characteristics necessary for meeting the requirements of clinical-based health care programs. Individuals interested in applying for admission to the program should review these standards to understand the skills, abilities better, and behavioral characteristics required to complete the program successfully.

Students admitted to the Nursing Program are expected to complete curriculum requirements that include physical, cognitive, and behavioral core competencies that are essential to the functions of the entry-level professional nurse. These core competencies are the minimum and essential skills necessary to protect the public. Unique combinations of physical, cognitive, and behavioral competencies are encountered in providing safe and effective nursing care.

Progression in the program is dependent on the demonstration of the technical standards with or without reasonable accommodations.

Rogue Community College provides reasonable accommodations to qualified students with disabilities, including academic adjustments, auxiliary aids, and program modifications defined by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Individuals must be able to meet both our academic standards and the technical standards, with or without reasonable accommodations. Accommodations that fundamentally alter the nature of the educational program could jeopardize the health and safety of others or cause an undue burden to the program are not considered reasonable accommodations. Contact Rogue Community College Access and Disability Resources for more information regarding service and resources to students with disabilities and request accommodations. Regular, consistent attendance and participation are essential to learning, especially for all scheduled clinical experiences.

Computer and Internet Basics

Basic computer and internet access for students is essential. RCC offers student computer labs on all 3 campuses. Students admitted to RCC are assigned a personal RCC email address. Students with an RCC email address are given free access to Microsoft Office 365 applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) that they can use on line or download to their personal computers.

Internet and email access are integral parts of all practical nursing courses as all course exams will be online with ATI Testing and possession or access to a laptop computer for classroom use will be required daily. Assignments, quizzes and communication typically utilize the various tools of Rogue Online (Blackboard), the college’s learning management system.

Computer Proficiency Exam Information
CS120 is no longer required for application to the Nursing programs. However, students must be proficient in Microsoft Word and be prepared to utilize laptop computers in the classroom. Check out the Proficiency Exam to make sure you are ready for the computer skills needed to complete the Nursing Programs efficiently and successfully.

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Cognitive:

1. Recall, collect, analyze, synthesize, and integrate information from a variety of sources.
   
2. Measure, calculate, reason, analyze and synthesize data.
   
3. Problem-solve and think critically to apply knowledge and skill.
   
4. Communicate verbally and through reading and writing with individuals from various social, emotional, cultural, and intellectual backgrounds.
   
5. Relay information in oral and written form effectively, accurately, reliably, and intelligibly, including thorough and accurate use of computers and other tools, to individuals and groups using the English language.
   Examples of learning activities found in the nursing curriculum and related to industry standards:
   • Process information thoroughly and quickly to prioritize and implement nursing care.
   • Sequence or cluster data to determine client needs.
   • Develop and implement a nursing plan of care for clients in the acute, long-term, and community settings.
   • Discriminate fine/subtle differences in medical word endings.
   • Report verbally and in writing client data to members of the healthcare team.
   • Read and comprehend medical orders and client information found in the medical record.
   • Perform math computations for medication dosage calculations both with and without a calculator.
   • Apply knowledge/skills gained through completion of program prerequisites, including the requirement for computer proficiency.

Physical:

Motor:

1. Coordinate fine and gross motor movements.
   
2. Coordinate hand/eye movements.
   
3. Maintain balance from any position.
   
4. Negotiate level surfaces, ramps, and stairs.
   
5. Function with both hands-free for performing psychomotor tasks.
   
6. Maneuver in small areas.
   
7. Attend cognitive and psychomotor tasks for up to 7-12 hours.
   Examples of learning activities found in the nursing curriculum and related to industry standards:
   • Transfer patients/clients in and out of bed from stretchers and wheelchairs.
   • Control a fall by slowly lowering the client to the floor.
     
   • Perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
     
   • Lift or move (turn, position) clients or objects, pull or push things, weighing up to 35 pounds, and maintain a "medium activity level" as defined by the State of Oregon Department of Insurance Index of occupational characteristics.
     
   • Reach to shoulder or higher level to place or access equipment such as intravenous fluid bags, bend or squat to access equipment below bed level.
   • Carry equipment and supplies to the client's bedside.
     
   • Manipulate small equipment and containers, such as syringes, vials, ampules, and medication packages, to administer medications.
     
   • Dispose of needles in a sharps container.
     
   • Complete assigned periods of clinical practice (7–12-hour shifts, days, evenings, or nights, holidays, weekdays, and weekends).
     
   • Complete skills tests within the assigned time limit.

Sensory:

1. Acquire information from demonstrations and experiences, including but not limited to information conveyed through online coursework, lecture, small group activities, demonstrations, and
   application experiences.
   
2. Collect information through observation, listening, touching, and smelling.
   
3. Use and interpret information from diagnostic maneuvers.
   Examples of learning activities found in the nursing curriculum and related to industry standards:
   
   • Detect changes in skin color or condition. (pale, ashen, grey, or bluish)
   • Detect a fire in the client care environment.
     
   • Draw up a prescribed quantity of medication into a syringe.
     
   • Observe clients in a room from 20 feet away.
     
   • Detect sounds related to bodily functions using a stethoscope.
     
   • Detect audible alarms generated by mechanical systems such as monitoring bodily functions, fire alarms, call bells.
     
   • Observe and collect data from recording equipment and measurement devices used in client care
     
   • Communicate with client and healthcare team members in person and over the phone in various settings, including isolation and the operating room where health team members are wearing masks and background noise.
     
   • Detect foul odors of bodily fluids or spoiled foods.
     
   • Detect smoke from burning materials.
     
   • Detect changes in skin temperature.
     
   • Detect unsafe temperature levels in heat-producing devices used in client care.
     
   • Detect anatomical abnormalities, such as subcutaneous crepitus, edema, or infiltrated intravenous fluids.
     
   • Feel vibrations such as an arterial pulse.

Behavioral:

1. Demonstrate emotional stability to function effectively under stress and adapt to changing environments.
   
2. Maintain effective, mature, and sensitive relationships with others.
   
3. Examine and modify one's behavior when it interferes with others or the learning environment.
   
4. Possess attributes that include compassion, empathy, altruism, integrity, honesty, responsibility, and tolerance.
   
5. Accept responsibility for own actions and communicate courteously, with non-assertive, non-aggressive, and non-defensively with instructors, peers, staff, and healthcare team members.
   
6. Integrate feedback into own performance.
   Examples of learning activities found in the nursing curriculum and related to industry standards:
   
   • Exercise judgment, meet acceptable timeframes for client care delivery (reflected by ability to carry out the usual client care assignment within program progression time standards), work effectively under stress, and adapt to rapidly changing client care environments.
     
   • Accept accountabilities for all actions, including those that resulted in client care errors.
     
   • Deal effectively with interpersonal conflict if it arises; maintain compelling and harmonious relationships with members of the healthcare team.

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