Mission

The mission of the Department of Nursing is to educate generalists and advance practice nurses to meet the health care needs of the service area, provide leadership in nursing and contribute to the body of nursing knowledge.

Philosophy

The philosophy of the Department of Nursing utilizes professional nursing standards, The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice and The Essentials of Master’s Education for Advanced Practice Nursing, which support the mission and goals of the University and College of Health Sciences and Human Services. It is the belief of the faculty that through this blending of academic and professional standards, nursing graduates exemplify characteristics of the MSU graduate.
The philosophy and purposes of the Department of Nursing are congruent with the mission and goals of the University. The mission and goals reciprocally support the faculty’s belief in a liberal education as basis for nursing practice. This document outlines the faculty’s beliefs about person, environment, health, nursing, the teaching-learning process, the learner, and the teacher. The faculty view the person as a constantly evolving holistic, culturally unique being who has needs and who assigns meaning to life experiences. The person has dignity, rights, worth and potential for reasoning, responsible behavior, and self-direction. The person has the right to competent health care that is congruent with these beliefs and needs.The faculty perceive the environment as anything external to and interacting with the person. The environment consists of individuals, families, communities, society, and space.Health is dynamic. The person functions at a maximum potential so that one’s life is both meaningful and manageable. Health is determined by the strengths and weaknesses of a person’s total being.Professional nursing is a scientific practice discipline that integrates and synthesizes theories from nursing, the physical and behavioral sciences and the humanities. Professional nursing involves a commitment to maximize the health of person and environment and is practiced through the interaction with individuals and groups in their respective environments. Professional nursing is guided by standards of practice to promote health and to diagnose and treat “human responses to actual or potential health problems,” and where recovery is impossible, to give support toward a dignified and peaceful death (Social Policy Statement, 1980, p.9).The professional nurse makes comprehensive assessments of individuals, families, and communities through the nursing process and develops quality-nursing care for culturally diverse societies. The professional nurse utilizes the research process to extend and expand nursing knowledge and improve care. Professional nurses are accountable for their behavior, function independently and collaboratively, recognize their limitations, and take responsibility for meeting personal and professional needs. The nurse participates in social and political activities to foster positive changes in health care delivery. The teaching-learning process is regarded as a complementary process occurring between the teacher and the learner. Within this process, teaching creates an environment for learning and fosters a spirit of inquiry. Learning proceeds both independently and collaboratively toward the acquisition of expanded knowledge, attitudes, and skills that enrich the learner’s personal and professional life. The teaching-learning process occurs within an environment that provides flexibility in meeting the learning needs of students who enter the teaching-learning process with differing levels of previous education and diverse life experiences.
The learner is a self-directed, self-motivated individual with unique knowledge and life experiences. Learners initiate teaching-learning as they grow and develop. The teacher is a facilitator of learning, a clear communicator who transmits professional knowledge and values, and who exemplifies professional nursing.