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Philosophy/Conceptual Framework of Bachelor of Science in Nursing
The philosophy of the BSN nursing faculty at Lincoln University is congruent with the mission of the University. Faculty is dedicated to providing nursing education that prepares professional registered nurses to practice professional nursing in diverse health care settings. The program is based on the faculty's beliefs about nursing, person, health, and environment as well as teaching/learning, and nursing education.
Faculty believe that nursing involves the art and science of assisting diverse persons, groups, or populations in health promotion, disease prevention, attaining or maintaining optimal health, or dying with peace and dignity. Nursing care is provided to maximize optimal health outcomes. Nursing is required when individuals experience actual or potential health problems. We believe the professional nurse is ethically and legally accountable and responsible to self, individuals, community, and society. Knowledge, theory, and research from nursing and related disciplines are utilized for nursing practice. Faculty believes professional nursing utilizes professional role sets and core competencies as identified by AACN (1998) to optimize patient outcomes.
The person is a developing holistic being with intrinsic value and worth that interacts continuously with the environment. Each person has similar needs including physiological, psychosocial, cultural, and spiritual. A person's needs vary, as does their ability to meet these needs. Persons from diverse backgrounds are able to choose among alternative outcomes, set goals, and make decisions based on needs and developmental level. Persons may be categorized as individuals, groups, and populations.
Health is a dynamic, state of being experienced in a unique way by each individual, group, or population. It includes all physiological, psychosocial, cultural, and spiritual health. It is dynamic because it is constantly changing. Health is best viewed on a wellness/illness continuum in which continued adjustments are made in order to maintain homeostasis. Homeostasis is the ability of the person to maintain a state of balance or equilibrium while interacting with the environment. On one end of the continuum is high-level wellness or optimal health. An individual can experience illness, an alteration in the state of health in which there is some inability to meet basic needs. The other end of the continuum, the lowest point, is death.
The environment includes all internal and external physical, psychosocial, cultural, and spiritual conditions affecting individuals, groups, or populations. Unique responses by the individual, group, or population to constant interaction with the environment, result in varying degrees of health. Changes in either the person or the environment require simultaneous change in the other. A focus of professional nursing is to optimize the environment, in diverse health care settings in order to prevent illness; promote, maintain, or restore health; or provide end of life care.
Teaching is a deliberate activity aimed at helping another person attain new skills, grasp new knowledge, and acquire values and beliefs. Using diverse methods of instruction, the teacher acts as guide, facilitator, and evaluator in helping students to attain the educational outcomes of the curriculum.
Learning is the continuous, active process of acquiring new knowledge, skills, and values that bring about actual or potential change in behaviors. Learning occurs within the individual, building on previous educational, professional, and personal experiences. Opportunities are provided for students to participate in directing their own learning within the domain of nursing. Active learning strategies such as, attendance at workshops, community projects, communication with legislators are utilized to enhance learning.
Nursing education is a dynamic teaching-learning process intended to impart a specific, holistic body of knowledge to the learner and serve as a basis for the practice of professional nursing. Nursing education integrates knowledge from the liberal arts and sciences, enhancing critical thinking through utilization of a broad knowledge base. The outcome of nursing education is the attainment of knowledge, skills, and values required to practice as a professional nurse in caring for the sick, in and across all environments, promoting health, and providing population based care. Finally, education at the baccalaureate level prepares nurses for graduate education.
Conceptual Framework
Concepts found in the philosophy of the BSN Nursing Program at Lincoln University form the basis for the conceptual framework and curriculum design. Emphasis within the program is placed on nursing, person, health, and environment as major concepts essential to professional nursing practice as defined by AACN (American Association of College of Nursing, 1998).
The person is a developing holistic being with intrinsic value and worth that interacts continuously with the environment. Each person has similar needs including physiological, psychosocial, cultural, and spiritual. A person's needs vary, as does their ability to meet these needs. Persons from diverse backgrounds are able to choose among alternative outcomes, set goals, and make decisions based on needs and developmental levels. Persons may be categorized as individuals, groups, and populations.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs provides the theoretical basis for defining the basic needs common to all people. The physiological or first level needs include the need for oxygenation, nutrition, fluid and electrolyte balance, rest, mobility, elimination, regulation, comfort, and sexuality. The second level includes safety and security needs. The psychosocial or higher level needs include love and belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization.
Erikson's eight stages of man provide another framework for examining people, as they progress along the life continuum from birth to death. These eight stages are chronologically identified as: infancy, toddler, preschooler, school age, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood and old age.
Health is a dynamic, state of being experienced in a unique way by each individual, group, population. It includes all physiological, psychosocial, cultural, and spiritual needs. It is dynamic because it is constantly changing. Health is best viewed on a wellness/illness continuum in which continued adjustments are made in order to maintain homeostasis. Homeostasis is the ability of the person to maintain a state of balance or equilibrium while interacting with the environment. On one end of the continuum is high-level wellness or optimal health. An individual can experience illness, an alteration in the state of health, in which there is some inability to meet basic needs. The other end of the continuum, the lowest point, is death.
The environment includes all internal and external physical, psychosocial, cultural, and spiritual conditions affecting individuals, groups, or populations. Unique responses by the individual, group, or population to constant interaction with the environment, result in varying degrees of health. Changes in either the person or the environment require simultaneous change in the other. A focus of professional nursing is to optimize the environment, in diverse health care settings in order to promote, maintain, or restore health, or provide end of life care.
Faculty believe that nursing involves the art and science of assisting the diverse individuals, groups, or populations in health promotion, disease prevention, attaining or maintaining optimal health, or dying with peace and dignity. Nursing care is provided to enhance positive health outcomes. Nursing is required when individuals experience actual or potential health problems. We believe the professional nurse is ethically and legally accountable and responsible to self, individuals, community, and society. Theory-based knowledge from nursing and related disciplines is utilized for nursing practice. Roles and competencies as identified by AACN are utilized to optimize patient outcomes (AACN).
The professional role sets include provider of care, designer/manager/coordinator of care, and member of a profession. In the role of provider of care emphasis is placed on holistic provision of health care to an increasingly diverse population across all environments. Through partnerships with patients and multidisciplinary teams, nurses serve as advocates and educators to deliver high quality care, evaluate care outcomes and provide leadership in improving patient care.
In the role of designer/manager/coordinator the nurse is responsible for providing leadership and management in diverse health care settings to promote high quality, cost-effective outcomes. The nurse manages information, designs and coordinates health care in diverse settings, delegates and evaluates nursing care, and supervises other health care personnel in implementing care.
In the role of member of a profession the nurse develops and exhibits professional values, embraces lifelong learning and incorporates professionalism into practice. The values inherent in caring as a professional nurse are altruism, autonomy, human dignity, integrity and social justice. In addition, critical thinking, communication, assessment, and technical skills are core competencies required to practice professional nursing
Critical thinking is the process of purposeful, outcome-directed thinking in exploring a situation, phenomenon, or problem to arrive at a hypothesis or conclusion. Critical thinking includes questioning, analysis, synthesis, interpretation, inference, inductive and deductive reasoning, intuition, application, and creativity. Critical thinking in nursing is driven by patient, family, and community needs and is based on clinical judgment and decision-making skill and principles of nursing process, scientific method and professional standards. Critical thinking is the process utilized to apply knowledge, theories, and research to professional practice.
Communication is a complex, ongoing, interactive process and forms the basis for building interpersonal relationships. Communication includes listening, as well as oral, nonverbal, and written communication skills (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 1998).
Assessment is gathering information about health status of the patient, and is utilized throughout the nursing process. This includes analyzing and synthesizing data, making judgments about nursing interventions based on the findings, and evaluating patient care outcomes. Assessment also includes understanding the family, community, or population and utilizing data from organizations and systems in planning and delivering care (AACN, 1998).
Acquisition and use of technical skills are required for the delivery of nursing care and is ongoing. The nurse must be adept at performing skills. Major roles also include teaching, delegation, and supervising the performance of skilled tasks by others. Skill development should focus on the mastery of core scientific principles that underlie all skills, thus preparing the graduate to incorporate current and future technical skills into other nursing responsibilities, and apply skills in diverse contexts of health care delivery.
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