Nursing Program Mission and Philosophy

Mission

The mission of the Brookdale Nursing Program is to prepare an entry-level practitioner who will provide patient-centered care to diverse individuals and groups within an evolving complex healthcare environment. The program seeks to assist in meeting the needs of the community by offering an affordable quality program that provides students with an innovative curriculum that promotes academic progression and lifelong learning. Graduates are prepared to pass the National Council Licensing Examination-RN (NCLEX-RN).

Philosophy

Nursing is a scholarly and practice-based profession that combines art and science to diagnose and treat human responses to actual or potential health problems in individuals, families, and groups.  Faculty believe that the art is caring, an inherent element of nursing, based on a humanistic value system, sensitivity on one’s self and others, promotion of communication, teamwork, collaboration, advocacy, and the provision for individualized patient-centered care.  As a scientific discipline, nursing knowledge is built upon a formal general education body of knowledge, incorporating an understanding of the relationships among nurses, the patients and environments within the context of health, nursing concepts, and knowledge derived from other disciplines.

The nurse will provide holistic care that recognizes an individual’s preferences, values, and needs, and respects the patient or designee as a full partner in providing compassionate, coordinated, age and culturally appropriate, safe and effective care.  Nurses continually evaluate the quality and effectiveness of nursing practice and seek to optimize outcomes of patient care.  Nurses implement their varying roles with integrity, responsibility, legal/ethical accountability, and an evolving commitment to quality patient care.

Health is a dynamic state of a human’s well-being characterized by a physical, mental and social potential, which satisfies the demands of a life commensurate with age, culture, and personal responsibility.  Health can vary on a wellness-illness continuum throughout the life span.

Faculty believes the environment is dynamic and contextual throughout the lifespan, and it influences human behavior.  The nurse demonstrates an awareness of the healthcare system environment as a collaborating member of the interdisciplinary team to achieve the highest standards for safety and quality care.

Faculty believe learning is a contextual lifelong process that fosters sensitivity to the unique and diverse nature of individuals, acquisition of skills to access information, self-reflective thinking, and changes in values, attitudes and behaviors.  Through the use of critical thinking, students integrate the steps of the nursing process as a foundation for clinical decision making and evidence-based practice.  Students learn to think like a nurse through clinical reasoning in which they demonstrate professional and practice competencies in response to dynamic patient needs.  Through clinical reasoning, students promote optimal outcomes that are most appropriate to the patient or situation, while being mindful of resource utilization.

A concept-based curriculum provides the structure for knowledge acquisition, student-centered sustainable learning, reflection, and an enduring understanding of the roles of nursing and patient-centered care.  Program Outcomes and Student Learning Outcomes focus students on the application of concepts and the achievement of performance competencies required for practice.  Students will demonstrate associate degree knowledge, skills and attitude competencies in Patient-Centered Care; Leadership; Communication; Professionalism; Safety; Teamwork and Collaboration; Evidence-Based Practice; Informatics and Technology; Systems-Based Practice; and Quality Improvement.

The teacher/learner relationship is based on the recognition of the intrinsic value of each person and mutual respect.  This relationship promotes a collaborative learning environment which can be enhanced through the use of technology.  Faculty creates an interactive learning environment through instructional approaches that encourage a spirit of inquiry and reflective learning.  Faculty use assessment tools that target higher order thinking and evaluate achievement of outcomes.

Learners are recognized as autonomous individuals who make independent decisions about their needs.  As role models of clinical reasoning and nursing competence, faculty shapes an educational environment, which empowers students to become independent learners, to accept responsibility for lifelong learning and to develop professional behaviors.  As expert learners, faculty facilitates educational opportunities that meet individual student needs and professional standards.  Students should be challenged by and satisfied with the Nursing Program.

Associate degree graduates care for patients in a variety of settings within a number of collaborative relationships.  Using communication, teamwork and collaboration, nurses interact with patients, families and health care providers in a manner that promotes effective interactions.  Associate degree graduates demonstrate leadership at the bedside through the coordination and management of care for the individual, as well as for groups of patients.

The nursing graduate is a future oriented lifelong learner prepared for entry into professional practice and academic progression.  Graduates function within a legal-ethical framework that provides direction for practice.