DEPARTMENT OF NURSING MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the Department of Nursing is to prepare academically and clinically competent professional nurses to deliver holistic health care, integrating the values of a liberal arts education with professional preparation.

GOAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF NURSING

The Department of Nursing provides a learning environment that cultivates the development of:

• Personal and professional responsibility
• Ethical leadership
• A commitment to life-long learning
• A foundation for the pursuance of an advanced role in nursing

The mission of Morningside College centers on a passion for life-long learning, and a dedication to ethical leadership and civic responsibility.  The philosophy of the Department of Nursing arises from the mission and vision of Morningside College and the faculty’s beliefs about education and the paradigm of nursing, person, health, and environment. 

Morningside College, through its academic and extra-curricular programs, provides a solid foundation for the development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes characteristic to a baccalaureate liberal arts education.  Liberal arts education promotes the development of critical thinking which is essential for clinical judgment and ethical decision making.  The Morningside educational experience is enriched by meaningful interdisciplinary collaboration and program offerings in which students encounter diversity of thought and perspectives.  The Department of Nursing, as an integral part of the college community, reflects this philosophy in the belief that the integrated educational experience provided by liberal arts education is essential to the acquisition and critical application of scientific and humanistic knowledge and competencies required of the professional nurse.   The learning culture in the college and the department nurtures the personal and professional development of the individual in the process of becoming a professional nurse.

Education is a continuous and cumulative life process that occurs in a variety of ways and settings.  The responsibility for the pursuit of knowledge in an educational setting is shared by both teacher and learner in a cooperative and creative relationship.  A variety of learning theories and teaching-learning strategies are necessary in order to optimize learning for diverse students.  Learning results in both personal and professional development and maturation of insight, critical thinking skills and value-based behaviors.

The faculty members in the Department of Nursing believe that baccalaureate nursing education embodies foundational principles necessary for success in a highly technological and global society.  It develops professional nurses who are able to think critically and assume diverse roles and responsibilities to improve the quality and direction of nursing and health care.  The education provides a learning culture in which the development and acquisition of professional nursing values and an ethical framework for nursing practice occurs.  Moreover, it provides the basis for the skills and intellectual curiosity that will foster continued growth and development, competence in the professional work setting, and the motivation to pursue an advanced role and/or graduate study. 

The Department of Nursing uses an eclectic framework to represent the paradigm that they believe is at the core of the nursing discipline:  person, health, environment, and nursing.  The faculty believes that person, health, and environment are interrelated and impact each other.  

The person is an individual, family, group, community or the global society and is the recipient of nursing care.  The person is viewed holistically as having inherent dignity and value, possessing dynamic biological-psychological-spiritual-social-ethical dimensions which are defined within the context of the person’s culture and environment. 

Health is a dynamic and complex subjective state of being dependent on the individual’s continuous adaptation to stressors and optimal utilization of resources to maximize developmental and behavioral potential and well-being.  Illness is a state of functioning in which adaptation to internal and/or external stressors exceeds available resources.  Health reflects dynamic movement between wellness and illness and is defined by the individual.

Environment is all factors or forces including the external and internal stressors influencing and interacting with the person.  The reciprocal relationship between the person and the environment is continuous and circular in nature, and may positively or negatively impact the person’s state of health and their health care needs.

Nursing is art and science, a unique discipline, which encompasses the autonomous and collaborative holistic care of individuals of all ages, families, groups, and global populations, in diverse states of health, and in all settings.  Nursing includes the protection, promotion and optimization of health, prevention of illness, alleviation of suffering, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities and populations.  The body of knowledge is derived from the humanities, natural and social sciences, as well as the science and theories of nursing.  The application of the nursing process encompasses a wide variety of roles focused on the health needs of the person.

PROGRAM OUTCOMES

Upon completion of the nursing program, the student will be able to:

• Foster caring relationships by respecting diversity, human dignity, and beliefs, and by accepting each individual as a holistic being with an integrated body, mind, and spirit.

• Communicate effectively through oral, written, non-verbal, and technological avenues when interacting and collaborating with individuals, families, communities, members of the health care team, and the professional community.

• Evaluate decisions and behaviors using the critical thinking process to ensure professional competency in a global society.

• Design a plan of care which synthesizes the holistic nature of nursing, knowledge from the sciences and humanities, and the nursing process for diverse populations in varied settings.

• Function in multifaceted nursing roles in the provision and management of health care with consideration given to legal, social, political, economic, and ethical issues that impact the delivery of holistic care.

• Integrate ethical principles in all personal and professional activities.

• Appraise the value and relevance of research from nursing, the humanities, and the social and natural sciences as a basis for professional nursing practice.

• Assume responsibility and accountability for personal and professional growth by engaging in life-long learning and a commitment to the values and principles governing the discipline of nursing.