Mission & Philosophy
Dixie State College of Utah Mission and Philosophy of the Nursing Programs
As an integral part of Dixie State College of Utah, the nursing faculty collectively assumes responsibility for supporting and maintaining the mission and goals of the College. The nursing program contributes to the functioning of Dixie State College of Utah as a state college and a comprehensive community college by offering nursing education. This education in nursing meets educational needs for students desiring a practical nurse certificate, an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Nursing and a Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing. Students in pre-licensure programs (PN and ADN) are eligible to test for state licensure.
The nursing faculty collectively recognizes that these elements will provide students an educational experience which prepares them to function as productive members in society. The nursing program provides academic education through classes which are taught in a way that promotes theory-based learning; clinical-based experiences;problem-solving exercises; cultural, ethnic, and spiritual exploration; and ethical judgments. Students are exposed to technology through its introduction and use in both client care and health promotion.
Changing needs of society require varying patterns of practice and delivery of health services which occur in a variety of health care environments. The Dixie State College Nursing Programs are committed to surveying the changing needs of society and adapting the curriculum to meet these needs. Graduates from these nursing programs will be prepared to enter the workforce to serve society’s current needs. Graduates are prepared for the purpose of becoming educated and qualified personnel who can address needs in client care, wellness education, and participation in community awareness services. The program also affords the opportunity for students to develop in social, cultural, professional, and personal roles.
The nursing faculty collectively recognizes the dignity and worth of individuals and believes that nursing education should be available to all who are capable of achieving the required competencies and expectations. The nursing faculty have defined the following terms as part of their philosophical beliefs regarding nursing and nursing education. This philosophy addresses clients for whom nurses care, wellness as a universal goal, the environment in which nursing is practiced, the practice of nursing, the role of the practical nurse, associate degree nurse, and the bachelor degree nurse, nursing education, and the teaching/learning process.
Clients are recipients of nursing care. Clients in general refer to individuals, families, groups, communities, and society.
Health is a state of homeostasis with oneself. Optimum health is a subjective perception of what makes life meaningful and manageable and is a result of adaptation to life’s immediate experiences to maintain homeostasis. Adaptation is individualized and influenced by environmental factors and experiences. When optimum health is achieved, individuals can effectively function within their internal and external environments. Lack of adaptation often represents illness for individuals.
Environment is defined as the internal (biological) and external (perceptual, interpersonal, social, and ecological) milieu to which human beings are exposed, interact and interrelate. With each new situation, individuals work to recognize a state of balance striving to achieve and maintain it. Through this process, understanding and acceptance is gained which fosters respect for the given environment. The changing environment is a pronounced concept in health care as the individuals themselves change with age and experience.
Nursing is a systematic science artfully applied to assist individuals in meeting their health care needs when the need for assistance arises. Nurses use knowledge from the natural and behavioral sciences along with their understanding of health care needs to assist individuals in promoting wellness and preventing disease. Through application of the nursing process in a caring and consistent fashion nurses assist individuals to meet their health care needs. Nurses assume various interrelated roles in this assistive process. These roles are avenues through which nursing care is given. Roles include but are not limited to care provider, communicator, teacher, collaborator, coordinator, leader, manager, and advocate. Nurses undertake these roles in a variety of care settings tomeet the changing needs of health care. The degree to which roles are expressed is determined by the nurses’ educational preparation and practice expertise and by the care needs of the individual. Nursing care is a collaborative effort with shared responsibilities from practitioners prepared with varying levels of knowledge and skill. As a bottom line, nurses are responsible, accountable, and autonomous for maintaining safe and effective nursing care within their scope of practice.
Practical Nurses (PN) are an integral part of technical nursing and, as such, they are influenced by state regulations. The practical nurse functions as an essential member of the health team under the licensed health professional authorized by regulations of the State Board of Nursing. Practical nurses are service-minded individuals who obtain an intimacy with rewards of the healing process in a highly sophisticated industry. Practical nurses are required to function as a member of the health-care team by exercising sound nursing judgment based on preparation, skills, knowledge, and understanding. They are also required to have a sincere commitment to furthering societal health objectives and a deep concern for the well-being of others.
The primary role of the practical nurse is to provide nursing care for individuals experiencing common well-defined health problems in structured care settings and to make decisions using the nursing process within a defined scope of practice. As members of the discipline of nursing, practical nurses also subscribe to the legal and ethical tenets of nursing practice. Graduates of the Practical Nursing program at Dixie State College are prepared with entry-level competencies at the basic nursing level.
Associate Degree Nurses (ADN) have a broader scope of practice than the practical nurse. Associate degree nurses practice in the roles of care provider, care manager, and as a member within the discipline of nursing. ADNs provide direct care to clients with more complex health needs, adjust care as client situations change; collect and analyze data from clients, families, and other health care resources; formulate appropriate nursing diagnoses, develop and revise plans of care based on client decisions, and collaborate and communicate with clients, families, and other health professionals. ADNs are also accountable for care of their own clients, and of those whose care has been delegated to others, including licensed and unlicensed health care workers.
Bachelor of Science Degree Nurses (BSN) are health care professionals and have more extensive opportunities for practice than Associate Degree Nurses. The BSN practices in the role of provider, manager, and coordinator of care as well as functioning as a leader of care teams. BSN graduates use research, information technology, ethical frameworks, political advocacy, and policy making to organize care for individuals, families, groups and communities. The BSN graduate is accountable for their own practice and care delegated to others. The BSN is generally a pre-requisite for graduate education.
Nursing Education lays solid groundwork for learning which is a life-long process. It encompasses the development of knowledge, skills, and personal and professional values. Nursing education is based upon knowledge derived from liberal arts, nursing, social, biological, and physical sciences to empower the learner to reach their fullest potential. It is concerned with helping individuals through the processes of self-realization and the assimilation of knowledge and acquire eight competencies necessary to effectively and efficiently provide holistic nursing care to meet clients’ human needs across the lifespan. These eight competencies include: a) critical thinking skills, b) technical skills, c) therapeutic communication skills, d) leadership/management skills, e) time management/organizational skills, f) ability to demonstrate professional behavior, g) ability to demonstrate caring, and h) the ability to effectively implement the nursing process at the different levels of nursing practice
Teaching/Learning Nursing instructors are cognizant of teaching and learning theories and use this knowledge to organize and evaluate learning situations. The faculty believes learning is an inherent process which fosters the acquisition of knowledge, understanding, and skills. Higher order learning can be facilitated when an individual gains a picture of the whole, assimilates the content and integrates the information by comparison to past or recent experience.
Teaching is the process of providing guidance for learning. Faculty is given the charge of facilitating a student's natural ability to learn. This is achieved by using a variety of teaching strategies to guide instruction, including democratic teaching principles, which are discussed in the conceptual framework. When used in combination with the diversity of instructors, student understanding is enhanced.
Learning takes place more readily in an accepting and stimulating environment where students are free to express themselves. Sharing of ideas and experiences between instructors and students facilitates learning and encourages the quality of student/instructor interaction. As facilitators and consultants for learning, instructors view each learner as unique.
The concepts of adult learning are utilized to enhance the educational process along with a recognized need for personalized learning events that demonstrate respect, trust, and concern for individuals. Faculty participate in this process by acting as role models, mentors, and facilitators to motivate, guide, and direct the learning experience. Students participate in this process by attentive and active participation in classroom, laboratory, and clinical settings with the emphasis focused on the development of their potential and knowledge acquisition. Ultimately, students are responsible for their own learning, while the faculty is a resource. Continual learning and active participation in professional activities is emphasized throughout the nursing programs.
The program’s purposes and objectives are outlined in the curriculum framework, and are supported by the program’s mission and philosophy.
Curriculum Framework
The curriculum is developed around the concepts from the nursing paradigm: client, health, environment and nursing. The client may be an individual, family, group, community or society. Students interact with the client, health and environment providing nursing care. The nursing care is framed within the competencies of a nurse. The eight competencies that the student develops across the curriculum include:
Critical Thinking is a way of methodically working through a set of five types of considerations when posed with a thinking challenge: 1) purpose of thinking, 2) adequacy of knowledge, 3) potential problems, 4) helpful resources, and 5) critique of judgment/decision. Successful mastery of critical thinking requires an attitude of inquiry. This frame of mind is essential for recognition of the existence of problems.
Technical Skills require technical competence. Such competence is demonstrated by the ability to use equipment and supplies with confidence and skill, thus meeting client needs with minimal distress. It also includes the ability to adapt procedures and equipment to meet client needs in diverse situations and care settings. Technical competence requires study, practice, and clinical experience to perform complex tasks proficiently. Nursing skills are an important part of the teaching and learning process because their mastery is a vital component in the achievement of clinical competency. To facilitate the mastery of nursing skills, a performance checklist for each procedure is presented to the student and a fully equipped nursing practice laboratory is provided for students. The students are required to achieve mastery of critical elements of skills in the laboratory before they are permitted to perform them in the clinical setting with supervision.
Therapeutic Communicationis the ability to apply concepts of communication and therapeutic interaction in building and maintaining relationships with clients, families, groups, communities and other members of the health care team. Communication promotes the significance of each individual, group, or community including their strengths, abilities, and challenges to achieve established goals. It is dependant upon caring. It is essential that the nurse be able to communicate effectively in a variety of situations, both verbally and in writing. Effective communication is necessary for relaying client information, teaching clients, performing nursing procedures, completing health assessments, managing life-threatening crisis, or managing and leading others.
Leadership/Management. Leadership requires personal traits necessary to establish vision and goals for a group and the ability to execute them. Management requires personal traits necessary to plan, organize, motivate, and manage a group of people and their material resources. Leadership comes first, management is second. Peter F. Drucker (1976) stated: “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right thing.” Leadership and management includes delegation, evaluation, conflict resolution, and collaboration with other members of the health care team as respected and reliable colleagues to assure achievement of goals.
Time Management/Organization pertains to responsibility and accountability to client, peers and employer environment through a sound work ethic. It is demonstrated through one’s attendance, one’s work within designated standards, one’s performance of assigned responsibilities, one’s prioritization of tasks and one’s effective use of time.
Professional Behaviorencompasses preparation in the discipline and identification of the unique roles of the different levels of undergraduate nursing practice. It is demonstrated through commitment to the vision and values of the profession, service to the community and participation in organizations. Central to professional role development is an understanding of the process of empowerment and the ethical and legal issues integral to being a member of the discipline of nursing.
Caring is the recognition and acknowledgment of the value of individuals, families, and communities. Caring is an altruistic philosophy of moral and ethical commitment toward the protection, promotion and preservation of human dignity and diversity. Caring does not happen by chance, but can and be learned and practiced. It is an intentionally focused process based on the inherent worth of people. Caring is expressed through competence and is identified by behaviors that advocate for clients, foster trust, and ensure actions promoting the client’s well being.
The Nursing Process involves the methodology of decision-making that gives direction and order to nursing care. The traditional components of the nursing process include client assessment, diagnosis, planning/implementation, and evaluation. They include client and family in planning and providing therapeutic nursing interventions. The nursing process must consider the client across the health continuum and address needs holistically. The nursing process also involves interdisciplinary plans of care that promote consistency and provide optimal timing and sequencing of interventions for clients. Such plans conserve resources and time while maximizing the quality of client care.
These eight competencies are essential to the provision of quality nursing care. The competencies are introduced in initial classes, further refined, and mastered in subsequent theory and clinical courses. Every presentation, reading, writing or laboratory assignment, clinical requirement for client care, tests and performance evaluation facilitates the achievement of these eight important aspects of nursing care.
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