The mission of the ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University School of Nursing is to educate undergraduate and graduate students to become qualified, competent, professional nurses who are prepared for practice. The School provides quality nursing education relevant to a changing profession, society, and healthcare environment. Collaboration between faculty and students promotes excellence in health care delivery to a variety of populations. A spirit of caring, continual inquiry, creativity and integrity is promoted through teaching, scholarship, leadership and service.
A spirit of caring - A vision of excellence.
Excellence in nursing education, in partnership with the community.
The JoAnne Gay Dishman School of Nursing faculty believes in preparing students to provide, safe, ethical patient/client-centered holistic/multi-dimensional care using evidence-based practice (EBP), and systems-based practices, clinical reasoning, and clinical judgment. The focus is also on providing quality and culturally sensitive care, working as part of the interprofessional and intraprofessional healthcare team, and using clinical informatic technology to care for diverse populations in an ever-changing global society. Personal, social, and professional strengths of the graduates are developed to form a basis for continued growth.
Faculty beliefs about the metaparadigm of nursing associated with undergraduate education are described below and entail:
Nursing is based on the concepts of moral agency, responsibility, accountability, reflection, self-analysis, self-care, lifelong learning, effective communication, inquiry, and service to the community. The goals of nursing are to provide safe, compassionate, holistic, multi-dimensional, and culturally sensitive patient/client centered care in collaboration with the intraprofessional and interprofessional team. Nurses utilize theory-based teaching and learning strategies to educate diverse populations on disease prevention, health promotion, health maintenance/and restoration, and support death with dignity. Nursing emphasizes a spirit of caring including the analysis of social determinants of health to address health disparities to contribute to the health of the individual, humanity, and society. The responsibility of the nurse is to use the nursing process, evidence-based practice, and informatics to support clinical reasoning and clinical judgment to assist people to meet health care needs and attain health related goals within a legal, ethical, and regulatory framework. Nurses use informatics to communicate, manage knowledge, and support decision making to provide competent patient/client-centered care. As members of the profession, nurses collaborate with the interprofessional team to deliver systems-based care and in achieve these goals. The faculty believe in preparing professional nurses with essential competencies in four major roles: Member of the Profession (MOP), Provider of Patient Centered Care (PCC), Patient Safety Advocate (PSA), and Member of the Healthcare Team (MOT)..
Health is a dynamic state of physical, mental, and social well-being, requiring constant adaptation to internal and external environmental stressors. Each person experiences varying states of health while progressing through the life span. Health decisions are patient/client-centered and influenced by knowledge, culture, family structure, society, and the personal choices of the patient/client.
Humanity consists of unique, multidimensional holistic beings with intrinsic worth and dignity having the right to self- determination, well-being, and equality. Humans are adaptive in nature, constantly interacting within changing environments and society in progressing toward fulfillment of innate potentials for growth, development, and maturation throughout the life span.
Society consists of individuals, families, communities, and populations with diverse cultures and value systems. In a global society, interactions among humans are diverse, continuously evolving, and interdependent. Within society, the cornerstone of humanness is a spirit of caring and commitment to others.
Environment is an aggregate of all internal and external factors which influence individuals and groups. The environment provides the context for the development of individuals, the identification of health needs, and the evolution of nursing. Through an on-going interactive process, the environment and nursing influence each other. The patient/client environment influences health, growth, trust, and the development of relationships.
Undergraduate Education is a process shared by the faculty and the learner. Learning is the exploration, utilization, and generation of knowledge. Learning is the responsibility of each person and is accomplished through self-motivation, active inquiry, and participation in the educational process. Faculty believe that nursing education is the systematic guidance of the learner toward safe, ethical, and competent clinical practice in the four major roles (MOP, PCC, PSA, MOT) and provides a solid foundation for the development of clinical judgment. Faculty incorporate a variety of evidence-based teaching modalities that integrate interactive and current technological learning resources, including digital classroom environments, simulated scenarios, and independent learning activities. Incorporating online technology facilitates global access to quality nursing information. Constructs of the nursing curriculum include the study of humanity and society, lifespan, health continuum, clinical reasoning, therapeutic interventions, and professional roles. Foundational nursing concepts include professional integrity, communication, active inquiry, and service
Baccalaureate Degree graduates use evidence-based practice, clinical reasoning, and interdisciplinary healthcare team collaboration to provide safe, theory-directed patient/client care to diverse individuals families, populations, and communities and improve patient/client outcomes. Graduates are prepared with a broad perspective and understanding of nursing, health, humanity, society, and the environment. Baccalaureate education incorporates a broad range of liberal arts, behavioral and social sciences, communication, and technology content to provide a strong foundation for coordinating evidence-based, safe, and competent patient/client care using clinical reasoning and judgment. Baccalaureate education includes instruction in community health, research, leadership, and management and facilitates graduates to synthesize information from various disciplines, think logically, analyze critically, and communicate effectively with patients, the public, and the healthcare team. A baccalaureate degree is the most common requirement for entry into graduate nursing education where nurses may further develop their professional roles to become nurse educators, researchers, leaders, or advanced practice nurses. Graduates promote the practice of professional nursing through leadership and advocacy roles.
The Master of Science in Nursing degree builds upon the undergraduate philosophy and adheres to its goals. The content of the master’s program reflects the graduate organizing framework and prepares students for expanded roles and contemporary nursing practice. The paradigms included in the graduate metaparadigm are nursing, health, humanity, society, environment, and caring.
Advanced nursing practice synthesizes theoretical frameworks from nursing and other disciplines to expand its knowledge base. The master’s prepared nurse functions as an educator, researcher, advocate, consultant, collaborator, and a leader of systems. Evidence-based research methods are used to investigate problems, serve as a basis for initiating change, and provide new knowledge to improve patient/client centered outcomes. The master’s prepared nurse practices from a professional, organizational, and personal perspectives within an ethical, legal, and regulatory framework to advocate for patients/clients. Advocacy is demonstrated particularly for those who become vulnerable as they transition from various states of illness and experience social and cultural disparities. Advocacy involves providing health resources and services; and ensuring that these are available, accessible, and acceptable. The advanced practice nurse advocates for those who are unable or cannot speak for themselves.
Health is a measurable state along a wellness-illness continuum that each person ultimately defines for themselves. It is a composite of physical, psychological, emotional, social, and spiritual functioning. The advanced practice nurse contributes to the design and implementation of interprofessional and intraprofessional healthcare delivery which is based on collaborative systems and contributes to population-focused practice. The healing process is based on the philosophy of caring for the body, mind, and spirit. Health is achieved through illness prevention, health promotion strategies, health education, and continuous quality improvement of the healthcare system.
The advanced practice nurse recognizes the person is more than the sum of their parts and honors humans as unique holistic beings of intrinsic worth and dignity that have the right to self-determination, well-being. Humans are adaptive in nature, constantly interacting with changing environments and society in progressing toward fulfillment of innate potential for growth, development, and maturation throughout the life span.
Society is the scope of humanity: individuals, cultures, families, and communities forming complex adaptive systems. The advanced practice nurse is cognizant of global diversity, health disparities, the challenges these realities bring to the healthcare system. A diverse society accelerates the need for cultural awareness and sensitivity and requires the advanced practice nurse to be culturally responsive to the health needs of individuals, families, groups, and world communities. The advanced practice nurse is aware of the interconnectedness of our global society and supports the interchange of research and evidence-based practice which benefits the whole world community.
Environment encompasses dynamic physical, cultural, political, and economic factors that influence individuals, families, communities, and populations. The sum of environment requires personal adaptation in order for individuals to progress along the wellness continuum.
Graduate education builds upon baccalaureate nursing education and leads our students in meeting their academic, personal, and professional goals. Learning at the graduate level stems from an open collegial relationship between faculty and students. Faculty in the graduate program assist the learner to engage in the scholarly exploration of theoretical and clinical concepts while fostering independence, ethical behavior, and sensitive interactions concerning diverse cultures to meet changing societal needs. The graduate paradigm serves as a basis for students to incorporate and synthesize knowledge from an array of theoretical models as a foundation for advanced nursing practice. It prepares students in advanced nursing specialties of administration and/or education and provides the foundation for doctoral studies.
Revised August 2021.