Mission and Philosophy
MISSION
The mission of the School of Nursing is to educate individuals to become exceptional professional nurses and to lead the discipline through practice, scholarship and service.
PHILOSOPHY
Nursing is both an art and science that cares for the body, mind, and spirit unity of persons-in-relation to their
environment. Nursing’s caring perspective views human beings as persons-in-relation at every level of human
existence and connection: individuals, families, groups, and communities. The concept of human beings as persons-in-relation provides the framework from which nursing addresses the potential for promotion, maintenance, and restoration of health. This framework underscores the importance of examining the political, economic, and social forces that impact a person’s agency and right to health. The infinite complexity of these forces creates a diversity of environments within which nursing seeks to maximize health at every level of human existence.
CONCEPTS
The structure for the curriculum is based upon the interrelationships among the concepts of the meta-paradigm: person-in-relation, environment, health, and nursing.
- Person-in-relation
The person-in-relation is interactive and interdependent with others and with the environment. Nursing encounters the client as an individual and aggregates-as families, communities, and groups, existing in evolving relationships.
- Environment
Political, economic, and social forces that are present in society shape the environment. This includes, but is not limited to, the biophysical environment in which we live, our diverse cultures, and our experiences andperceptions.
- Health
Health is an evolving process that is the expression of the interaction of a person with her or his environment. The individual defines health. It embraces the states of illness, wellness, disease, and non-disease.
- Nursing
Nursing is the diagnosis and treatment of human responses to actual or potential health problems.
THEMES
The philosophy is manifested in the curriculum through the continued focus of nursing’s role at the critical
intersection of the concepts of the metaparadigm. This focus is supported by nursing’s social mandate to address the needs of our clients in their environment. Within this context are three evolving themes which sequence curriculum content from basic to complex: knowledge, critical thinking, and professional development.
- Knowledge
Nursing’s knowledge base is grounded in subjective and objective knowing that is esthetic and ethical, empirical and intuitive.
- Critical thinking
Critical thinking is the promotion of a high order of thinking-not merely the accumulation of facts-but thedevelopment of curiosity. It is a reflective process that exposes contradictions of knowing in order to understand the core concern. It is the acquisition of knowledge through inquiry that includes the process of conceptualization, interpretation, analysis, synthesis,evaluation, and the skillful application and communication of information.
- Professional development
Professional development is the evolving process of the individual’s growth within the nursing profession. It is a process rooted in knowledge and understanding of nursing’s rich heritage and a vision of the future of nursing. It allows the individual to develop a sense of place and belonging within the trajectory of the development of the profession. Through this process the individual develops a sense of self as an advanced practice registered nurse, incorporates the profession’s values, and becomes part of the shaping of nursing’s future.
Through the process of professional development, the individual comes to embody the values upon which nursing is founded. These values include the belief in human caring and the embracing of diversity in the profession, as well as in the clients that nursing serves and the settings in which nurses practice. In addition to the embodiment of these values, professional development means a commitment to life-long learning and development both of the individual and the profession in order to ensure consistent and high quality nursing care to all clients.