Nursing is a discipline, a profession, and a service. The discipline of nursing is a body of knowledge, formalized in philosophical and scientific theory/theoretical statements and developed through a variety of methods of scholarly inquiry. The nurse integrates scientific and philosophic knowledge with aesthetic and personal knowing to form the basis of practice. As a profession, nursing is a self-regulating organization of persons with unique knowledge obtained through specific educational programs. Members of the profession provide a unique service in accordance with a code of ethics. The knowledge on which the service is based includes nursing knowledge and knowledge from the natural and social sciences, and from the arts and humanities. The essence of the service is an interpersonal process aimed at facilitating the health of persons, families and groups. Because nursing service is mandated by society, provision of the service fulfills a contract between society and the profession.
While health has multiple conceptualizations, it is viewed as essentially either a dynamic state or a process. As a state, health is considered to be a condition of dynamic equilibrium, that is perceived by the person as well-being and manifested as balance among life processes. Health is also viewed as a developmental process of defining and creating well-being throughout the life span. Because persons may hold conflicting views of health, the focus of nursing service is the health experience as defined by the client.
In order to facilitate health, nurses must understand the nature of persons, families and groups and their relationships with their environments. A person is a unique whole whose characteristics are different from and more than the sum of the characteristics of her/his parts. The same is true of families, groups, and communities. These human entities have intrinsic value and are worthy of respect. Consequently, the values and beliefs of persons, families, and groups must be understood and honored, regardless of the nurse's own values and beliefs if the goal of facilitating health is to be achieved. Environment is a relative term, referring to all realms of human experience that are not a manifestation of the person, family or group. Thus, nurses must understand the nature of various environments. These environments include physiological, geophysical, emotional, interpersonal, social, economic, political, cultural, spiritual relationships in which the person, family, group or community is situated.
The nursing student is an intelligent, articulate, autonomous, ethical person. He or she is able to assess situations, make decisions, develop strategies, and implement change. The student advocates for self and others and is a proponent of social justice. The student is also able to propose learning goals and to evaluate and modify behavior.
In order to educate students to practice professional nursing at the entry and the advanced levels, learning situations must be structured to promote the development of empirical, philosophical, aesthetic, and personal ways of knowing. Specifically, critical thinking skills, communications skills, reflective skills and psychomotor skills must be taught and integrated.
The faculty recognizes that students differ in abilities, learning styles, educational and cultural backgrounds, and goals. Therefore, a variety of learning modalities to facilitate the educational needs of students should be provided. The faculty's responsibility is to challenge and support students by structuring learning activities/situations that require inquiry, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Learning is optimal when faculty and students develop a dynamic professional relationship fostered by mutual respect and when they engage in critical reflection. As a result of this learner-focused approach to education, the student develops cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills that can be used in diverse life situations.
Approved by NFO 1/14/05
