Faculty believe that the core concepts of the discipline are interactive and dynamic. These concepts are client, environment, health, and nursing. The focus of nursing care is the client, defined as an individual, family, group, community, or population. Clients have intrinsic worth and the right to self-determination in responding to their unique health care needs. Environment is the internal and external phenomena which are the context for the development, expression, and satisfaction of human needs. Health is not merely the absence of infirmity or disease but is a dynamic process of client-environment interaction; health is defined individually and culturally.
Nursing is an evolving practice discipline based on scholarship derived from theory, research, and experience. Nursing practice involves contextual awareness of the physical, emotional, sociocultural, and spiritual state of the client. Faculty emphasize a holistic approach to caring in the human health experience across the life-span, exemplified by recognition of and appropriate interventions for human responses to actual or potential health concerns. This approach is facilitated by self-awareness, effective communication, and reflective, creative critical thinking.
Faculty and students are expected to demonstrate the spiritual and humanistic values of a caring profession. These include respect and concern for persons of diverse cultures and lifestyles, advocacy for social justice, and an ethic or public service. Within an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect, faculty and students exhibit integrity, honesty, and accountability for their own actions. Faculty encourage student participation in the processes of self-nurturance and life-long learning to promote and maintain professional growth.
The nursing curricula are developmental. Faculty believe that the study of liberal arts and sciences is foundational for nursing education. In addition to generating and utilizing its own unique body of knowledge, nursing synthesizes knowledge from other fields and disciplines. The baccalaureate graduate is a generalist who designs, provides, manages, and coordinates nursing care in a variety of health care settings. A master's education in nursing builds on this foundation and prepares nurses for specialist roles and doctoral education. Master's graduates prepared for an expanded scope of practice demonstrate advanced assessment skills, diagnostic reasoning, and comprehensive intervention management for healthy and ill clients.
Graduates at both levels effectively engage clients in health education and collaborate with other disciplines in promoting, preserving, and restoring health across the life-span. Graduates are involved in scholarly inquiry and the application of nursing research. Graduates develop and enhance their roles in leadership of the profession and interdisciplinary management of health care while exhibiting autonomy appropriate to their level of practice.