Open Educational Resources for Nursing

Substance Use Disorders

• NCLEX-RN Questions on drug abuse and addiction 1--date unspecified (website/practice questions)

Mental Health

• Supporting Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities & Mental Illness: What Caregivers Need to Know--2015 (open textbook)

• Neuroscience: Canadian 1st Edition--2018 (open textbook)

  • Not many stand-alone neuroscience courses in nursing but might be good supplement for aging or mental health course

• Therapeutic Communication and Mental Health Assessment: Knowledge and practice--2015 (interactive modules & simulation game)

• Intro to Psychology: Depression and Major Depressive Disorder--2016 (video)

• Intro to Mental Disorders--2015 (video)

Substance Use Disorders and Mental Health

• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration TIP Series - Treatment Improvement Protocols--Various years (Case Studies/Protocols)

• Drugs and the brain--2013 (open course)

  • This class is a multidisciplinary introduction to pharmacology, neurotransmitters, drug mechanisms, and brain diseases from addiction to schizophrenia.

Medications

• Medication Reconciliation

  • In this case-based learning activity, learners meet Jeremiah Valentine, a patient who is experiencing medication-related difficulties. After hearing his chief complaint and exploring his medical history, learners review his medications to identify the problem(s).

• Using Medication Administration Scenarios to Enhance Learning and Create a Collaborative Nursing School Environment--2018 (case study/standardized patient scenarios

General Health Care

• Health Case Studies

  • Health Case Studies is composed of eight separate health case studies. Each case study includes the patient narrative or story that models the best practice (at the time of publishing) in healthcare settings. Associated with each case is a set of specific learning objectives to support learning and facilitate educational strategies and evaluation.

• Positions Used in Medical Examinations

  • In this interactive object, students view the various positions used during medical examinations. They then match the names of the positions with the correct images and with their descriptions.

• Affirmative and Inclusive Healthcare for Gender Diverse Patients

  • This three-part module series addresses a range of topics around providing care for gender-diverse patients. The series defines key terms to help learners understand how to utilize gender-inclusive language, discusses the role of advanced practice nurses in caring for gender diverse patients seeking mental health care, and explores the diagnosis of gender dysphoria in adolescents and children as well as key considerations when treating gender dysphoria and co-morbid mental health conditions.

• American Federalism in Health Policy

  • This American Federalism in Health Policy module explores the question of Federalism from a health policy perspective. It defines the concept of Federalism as it relates to health policy, recommends control structures for a given health policy issue, and teaches learners to defend their recommendation of control structure based on policy, operational, and ideological grounds.

• Clinical Compliance

  • The Clinical Compliance series of modules provides a clinical compliance orientation for new Bachelor of Science in Nursing students to help prepare them for skills lab and clinical rotations.

• Communication in Quality & Safety

  • The Clinical Compliance series of modules provides a clinical compliance orientation for new Bachelor of Science in Nursing students to help prepare them for skills lab and clinical rotations.

• The Digital Research Challenge

  • This case-based learning activity walks learners through the steps of the digital research process, including exploring resources, evaluating sources, summarizing main ideas, synthesizing main ideas, revisiting a query and checking copyright.

• E-Empathy: How to Convey Empathy in Goals of Care Conversations using Telehealth for Persons with Kidney Disease

  • The E-empathy module explores the unique issues that persons with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. It strives to describe the way in which providers can build or block relationships in telehealth and identify best practices in displaying empathy in goals of care conversations using telehealth visits.

• Fit for Academic Success

  • The Fit for Academic Success module includes five interactive, multimedia lessons focused on the following topic areas: learning strategies and time management, academic writing, managing technology challenges, basic research concepts, and using library resources. There is also an ESL module built into this resource for students entering the program for whom English is a second language.

• Learning in a New Language: Success in Health Care

  • This Success in Health Care module is intended for students who speak English as a second language (ESL), or who are new to American schools. In addition, this module will also help all students, as nursing is a challenging academic program and students often find they need to adjust their educational styles and skills to succeed.

Nutrition & Fitness

• Nutrition for Nurses (2024)

  • Nutrition for Nurses is structured to support the flexible integration of nutrition content across both system-based and nursing competency-based curricula. It can be used whether nutrition is taught as a standalone course or part of another nursing course. The table of contents for Nutrition for Nurses presents content in 20 chapters, organized into 9 thematic units.

    The text emphasizes evidence-based practice and holistic assessment to facilitate the integration of nutritional awareness for pre-licensure nursing students in the provision of client-centered care. Nutrition for Nurses helps students develop sound clinical judgment as well as a deep understanding of the impact of nutrition on body systems across the lifespan.

• Guide to Nutrition

  • This guide walks students through introductory topics within nutrition, including: understanding calories, micronutrients, and other related concepts. 

Cardiovascular Care

• Cardiac Diagnostic Tests for Nursing

  • YouTube video explains common cardiac diagnostic tests

• ECG Strip Identification & Evaluation

  • This course begins with a discussion of the physiology of cardiac conduction, and then covers the basics of how to read an ECG strip, and the normal components of the ECG waveform. We will then examine basic cardiac dysrhythmias, including atrial and ventricular dysrhythmias, and blocks. Finally, selected nursing diagnoses for patients with dysrhythmias will be offered, along with suggested associated nursing interventions.

Maternity & Pediatric Care

• Maternity Series

  • Provides overview information about prenatal nursing care, labor and delivery nursing care, postpartum nursing care, and newborn care

• Pediatric Jeopardy-Style Game

• Pediatrics: Developmental Stages

  • In this interactive module, learners explore biological, motor, psychosocial, cognitive and social development stages, including infant, toddler, preschool, school age and adolescence.

• Preeclampsia Case Study

  • Flash-based; In this interactive case study the learner assumes the role of a nurse who cares for a pregnant patient from the first point of telephone contact to post delivery. As the scenario unfolds the learner is presented with questions and other activities that, depending on response, lead to remediation or allow the case to progress to completion.

Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)

• National Collaborative for Education to Address the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)--Curriculum and Resources Collection

  • These indexed databases and lists provide access to curricula, assessment materials, journal articles, position papers, individual lectures, websites, videos, and other data sources pertaining to the social determinants of health.